In Good Com­pa­ny: Why Jane, Jean, Lin­da and Ken Chose The Arlington

Excep­tion­al res­i­dences. Viva­cious lifestyle. Five-star ameni­ties. Health­care secu­ri­ty. The Arling­ton has it all. But the best way to learn all about our award-win­ning, lux­u­ry Life Plan Com­mu­ni­ty is from the engag­ing peo­ple who make their homes here.

Jane R. and her hus­band were among The Arling­ton’s first res­i­dents, and she says it was one of the best deci­sions they ever made. ​“It’s a main­te­nance-free lifestyle with a fab­u­lous staff who take very good care of the residents.”

Plan­ning for their future, Lin­da and Ken S. decid­ed to move from their sin­gle-fam­i­ly home in a 55+ com­mu­ni­ty to a Life Plan Com­mu­ni­ty. ​“We began look­ing at oth­er com­mu­ni­ties in the Naples area,” Lin­da says, ​“and The Arling­ton was the only one that offered sin­gle-fam­i­ly homes.” Not only that, The Arling­ton Estate Homes were designed by the same lux­u­ry builder, STOCK Sig­na­ture Homes, as was their pre­vi­ous res­i­dence. ​“We felt right at home from the sec­ond we walked in the door,” she says. ​“Even our fur­ni­ture fit per­fect­ly. We didn’t have to give up any­thing to find exact­ly what we were look­ing for.”

The Arling­ton Estate Homes fea­ture light-filled, open floor plans; con­tem­po­rary kitchens; two-car garages; and gen­er­ous­ly sized bed­rooms. But it was the expan­sive lanai and back­yard space that par­tic­u­lar­ly appealed to Jean. ​“We were inter­est­ed in an Estate Home, in part, so that my hus­band could build a koi pond and enjoy one of his favorite hob­bies,” she says. She also fell in love with the inti­mate scale of their Lake­side Estate Home neigh­bor­hood, with its qui­et, walk­a­ble streets and friend­ly peo­ple. ​“You have a sense of pri­va­cy here,” she says. ​“But you also know you can walk out the door and see your neigh­bors at the mailbox.”

Ken and Lin­da whole­heart­ed­ly agree. ​“We live on a cul de sac,” says Ken. ​“There’s a group of six homes. And it’s easy to make friends with the neigh­bors.” They felt wel­come as soon as they moved in. ​“It’s a very friend­ly, inclu­sive and pos­i­tive envi­ron­ment,” he says. ​“And you’ll feel com­fort­able from the first day you get here.”

Choos­ing a com­mu­ni­ty ​“is a big deci­sion” says res­i­dent Jean O., ​“and I think you ought to real­ly look at what’s out there and decide exact­ly what you want.” It’s impor­tant that you don’t leave your lifestyle behind when you make the move.

At The Arling­ton, Jean and her hus­band dis­cov­ered the same friend­ly and relaxed way of life that had made their pre­vi­ous home so spe­cial. ​“We lived on Mar­co Island for over 26 years,” she says. ​“And when we moved­to The Arling­ton, we real­ly didn’t feel we were leav­ing Mar­co at all. It was all right here.” And with Mar­co Island (and Down­town Naples) just a con­ve­nient 15-minute dri­ve away, it’s easy to vis­it friends or dine at a favorite restaurant.

If you’re plan­ning a move to a retire­ment com­mu­ni­ty, it’s impor­tant to con­sid­er that your needs may evolve. At some com­mu­ni­ties, you’ll have to move to access high­er lev­els of care. Because The Arling­ton is a Life Plan Com­mu­ni­ty, res­i­dents can age com­fort­ably in place and main­tain greater independence.

“It’s very com­fort­ing,” says Jane of The Arlington’s award-win­ning Oak­ton Place Health­care Cen­ter, ​“know­ing that we have a real con­tin­u­um of care: Assist­ed Liv­ing, Mem­o­ry Care, and Skilled Nurs­ing Care.”

A Life Plan Com­mu­ni­ty is also ide­al for cou­ples who may be aging at dif­fer­ent rates. That was a big con­sid­er­a­tion for Jean. ​“My hus­band end­ed up with Parkinson’s. And I thought, ​‘You know, we ought to be think­ing about ​‘down the road.’’” With a full con­tin­u­um of care avail­able, Jean knew that when her husband’s symp­toms advanced, they would still be able to remain near to each oth­er at The Arlington.

“I love The Arling­ton,” says Jean. ​“It’s absolute­ly beau­ti­ful. And it’s been perfect.”