The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Senior building lauds updates
Residents celebrated recent renovations at a Lorain senior living facility with a cookout Sept. 29.
Management at the Firelands Retirement Center, 1025 W. Erie Ave., is pouring money into improvements of the seven-floor building, which has 77 apartments and is for those age 50 and older.
This summer, crews replaced the front and back patios with new concrete and installed new outdoor furniture.
In addition, a pergola was placed on the back patio, which when completed, will provide shade for the residents on summer days.
Additionally, the firstfloor community area was updated with new flooring and new appliances.
About 50 percent of the apartments were updated as well, with new vinyl flooring and appliances among the improvements, said Noel Santiago, the building maintenance manager, who also served as the cook for the cookout.
“New kitchens, new floors, new bathroom,” Santiago said. “Everything brand new; brand new carpet in the hallway.”
The owners dumped a lot
of money into this building, he said as he ran off a mental checklist of the improvements to building units.
“He makes the magic happen,” the building’s property manager Melissa Klena said of Santiago’s efforts.
The weather for the picnic could not have been better.
Temps in the 70s, bright sunshine and a gentle breeze.
However, most residents chose to eat indoors.
Lois Carpenter has called the building home for four years and appreciates the recent updates to the facility.
“It looks good,” Carpenter said of the updates.
John Hovey and his wife, Doreen, also are residents.
“Fantastic,” John Hovey said of the renovations. “It’s prettier and the new concrete has made it easier to move around outside.”
The facility offers affordable housing for seniors. Rent is income-based. Residents pay no more than 30 percent of their gross monthly income to live there, which also includes utilities.
The building and its residents are just getting back to normal after being shut down to the public due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Klena said there were no cases of the illness during the shutdown, but just recently, a resident became ill
after being exposed to the virus while at a cookout.
The building was closed to the public from March 2020 until June this summer, when Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine lifted all of the coronavirus restrictions, Klena.
As residents gathered at small tables in a first-floor common area and dined on grilled hotdogs, hamburgers and potato chips, Klena said it was good to once again see residents out and about.
“It was a little rough, but we made it through,” she said of the shutdown. “We were happy when things started going back to normal, and we are hoping they stay that way.”