After seven years of planning and building during relatively good economic times, it has been about a year since Woodland Pond at New Paltz held its grand opening. And while the recession is biting sales, it is not harming enjoyment of those who moved in.
The $64 million project with 201 units of apartments and duplex townhouses is officially called a continuing care retirement community (CCRC). It offers a number of residential options for those 62 and older from independent apartments and cottages to supervised care centers.
The lingering recession has slowed implementation of its business model somewhat, by for example, leaving some seniors who plan to move in stuck in limbo with an unsold house.
But the community has been a resounding success in helping create a high quality of life for those who live there. There is a library, an on site pub with a happy hour, live musical performances, day trips for pleasure or medical matters and on Election Day it had shuttles to the polling place.
“We have a well-rounded program that meets people”™s educational, physical, social and spiritual needs,” said Sarah Hull, the resident services director at the facility. The programs also include on-site lectures and lessons as part of lifetime learning opportunities from SUNY Ulster and SUNY New Paltz, to quigong classes.
These opportunities are not chosen at random by staff members. “The residents are extremely involved in the activities that happen here,” Hull said. “They run the lecture series and make the choices.”
“It definitely removes the stereotype of a retirement place,” said Jack Ritchie, Woodland Pond executive director. “They are not retired. They just moved in to another residence.”
Ritchie has been in his new job only five weeks and is still familiarizing himself with the details of the sprawling facility on 85 acres on North Putt Corner Road in New Paltz, on a ridge overlooking the Shawangunk Ridge across the Wallkill River valley. The facility footprint uses 35 acres and the rest of the land is being used to develop walking trails and outdoor recreation.
But in the down economy, programming and vistas have not been enough to fill the facility, which is a member of the Health Alliance of the Hudson Valley, which also includes Kingston, Benedictine and Margaretville hospitals.
As part of its marketing plan, Ritchie said, the company has been targeting residents living within 25 miles of New Paltz who wish to remain in the area.
“We need to go beyond that now, to advertise in Westchester County and up into Albany,” Ritchie said. “The story here is the same story anywhere, the economy is down and people selling homes are finding it is slow, so you have to do marketing in the right places. If people don”™t know you are here, they aren”™t going to move in.”
The facility is about two-thirds full, he said, “And we have a lot of people on the waiting list now, who could move in pending sale of their home.”
“We have reduced some of our pricing in some of our larger units, set them back to 2007 rates,” he said. “We are trying to address some of the concerns.”
Woodland Pond is also offering residents and their families and friends a $2,000 referral bonus. “We trust that by making you a member of our marketing team, it will greatly enhance our ability to fill the buildings,” Ritchie wrote in the most recent monthly newsletter to residents.
