7 Independent Living Communities in Melbourne, Florida

Riley

I moved from upstate NY to Melbourne and chose Parasol sight unseen. I dealt with Haley to choose my apt. I couldn't be happier with all the amenities, staff and fellow residents.

Pat

12 directors in 12 years sums it up. Management is unresponsive. Residents have been having buffet dinners for over two weeks and food quality is poor. Physical plant is starting to go downhill. Outside needs to be cleaned and repainted. The only positive is the overworked housekeeping staff who have kept the interiors clean while everything around them falls apart.

Diane

I went to Victoria Landing. It was all very positive, and she answered all my questions. It's clean, and the residents seemed happy. I saw them walking around and eating breakfast, and I talked to a few of them. The dining seems to be good. They have a pool, so they can swim. It's right on the river, so they can go fishing. Every month they have a calendar with tons of activities for them to do. The doctors go there, and they can get a haircut there. It seemed that they have a lot of personal care involved. It's beautiful, it's right on the river, it's very nice, and it's a place where people could feel calm and look at the water.

Joan

I stayed at Sonata Viera. They got money to apparently fix up the interior, but they used all the money on the public areas and none on the apartments, which could've used some help. Overall, I did not like it. The food was horrible. They had a cook who didn't know how to cook. We had no choices really on the menu, and he would make something and run out of food because he didn't make enough, and people would end up having to eat a sandwich or something. The food was crap. The working staff was very nice and very kind, but undertrained, and overworked. I would give the management staff a two out of five. They had bingo and that was about it. They had no amenities. They had a barber shop, but I didn't use it. The problem they had was their parking lot was way far away from the door, and they had quite a few people living there who still drove cars, and they didn't have enough parking spaces. It was just not real thought out at all. They should get new management. They're obviously in it for the money. Everything was cut corners. They just didn't really care about what went on inside.

Chris

I toured The Brennity at Melbourne. It was beautiful and a very large facility. It's a hotel style facility with individual rooms and 2 dining rooms that you could choose from. It had several sitting areas inside where residents could play games and watch TV. It also had outside sitting areas, and a garden. My two choices were between The Brennity and the other community. We chose the other one just cause the way the other community was setup. Their staff was as attentive as the ones from the other community. I tried to get my mom to the side between the two styles of facilities, and she wouldn't make the decision so I made it for her. They looked like they have what the other community has, they have a lot of things for the residents to do.