Sid Silver and his wife Sophie lived in a single-family home on Verree Road until moving to Lafayette-Redeemer about a year ago.
The Silvers live in a seventh-floor penthouse overlooking Pennypack Park.
"It’s the best move I ever made," said Sid Silver, 82. "This is the best place for the best value."
The Silvers were among the goodwill ambassadors last week as the Lafayette-Redeemer held an open house to show off its renovations.
The facility’s 10-acre campus, at 8580 Verree Road, offers independent, assisted living and long-term care for older adults. It is a division of Holy Redeemer Health System but is religiously mixed.
The population is about evenly divided between Catholics and Jewish people, with priests, nuns and rabbis available to meet their spiritual needs.
The Lafayette-Redeemer lobby area received a complete facelift in "streetscape" fashion.
New amenities include a 24-hour pub that features a television and offers free coffee and tea. There’s also a beauty parlor and barbershop, a Huntingdon Valley Bank branch, an automated teller machine and a country store.
The atmosphere is enhanced with awnings, fancy lighting and dry stack stone walls.
"It’s like going down the street to different retail establishments," said Ben Pieczynski, vice president of Lafayette-Redeemer. "It’s definitely a community."
The country store is a popular spot. It sells drinks, sandwiches, snacks, frozen and hot food, groceries, candy and gum.
"It’s kind of like a Wawa," said Doris Colosimo, a leasing agent who was among the tour guides during the open house.
The community room has been expanded. It features a projection television and piano and is home to a bunch of activities.
The library is bigger with new rugs and shelving. The dining room has two seatings for both lunch and dinner. Waiters and waitresses serve the food.
The rest rooms have been modernized and enlarged, with no doors and wide entrances like the ones at sports arenas.
The centerpiece is the living room, with a new fireplace, flooring, tables, chairs, benches, artwork and decorations.
The renovations took 12 months to complete.
"The whole floor was redone," Pieczynski said. "If you were here a year ago or five years ago, it’s totally different."
Outside the main entrance, there are new porches with ample seating. They are covered to block out the sun and the elements.
A bus is available to take residents to doctors’ appointments, the supermarket and on trips.
There’s a notary on staff, and the site serves as a polling place for the 63rd Ward, 7th Division.
The staff wasn’t left out during the upgrades. A new employee lounge includes a computer station.
Of course, medical staff is on site around the clock in case of an emergency.
According to Pieczynski, it’s best that older people look for a place to live when they are healthy enough to make the best decision.
That’s what Phyllis Brownholtz was doing during the July 8 open house. Brownholtz has an apartment in a local independent living facility that is affordable but lacks many amenities.
While hardly ready to make such a big move to change apartment complexes, Brownholtz was impressed with the renovations and the rooms with a balcony.
"This is beautiful in here, and the people are very friendly," she said. ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com