Arté Resort Retirement definitely isn’t your bubbe’s retirement home, but maybe it should be. This 3-year-old independent and assisted-living facility in Scottsdale boasts on its website, “Retirement that lives like a resort,” and from the moment you step into the front lobby, it’s easy to understand why. “It looks like a cruise ship, with Art Deco furniture, fixtures and more than 500 Art Deco pieces of art displayed throughout the facility,” says Kim Koppert, Arté’s lifestyle director. “We are a resort. It feels different when you walk in.”
The luxurious atmosphere permeates all of Arté’s activity spaces: Bogart’s Sports Lounge has a large pool table and wide-screen TVs for watching sports events, and Josephine’s Piano Lounge (named for the 1930s sultry French chanteuse Josephine Baker) hosts Happy Hour and live music. Residents can play mah-jongg, bridge or poker in the Vanderbilt Bridge Room, get lost in a good book in the elegant Kipling Library or catch the latest films at the Clark Gable Movie Theatre, with its plush lounge chair seating.
Stylish, comfortable living spaces are well enough, but what really sets Arté apart is the degree to which its staff interacts with and cares about the residents. “Some of our residents see us more than their own families,” says Koppert. “Our staff actively participates with the residents in their daily activities: we play poker with them, take them to baseball games, or join them for bridge or mah-jongg or the art class taught by one of our Jewish resident’s daughters. We laugh and joke with them; there’s great respect between residents and staff.”
As the lifestyle director, Koppert welcomes activity ideas from residents and implements them as soon as possible. “Arté is their home, and I want them to be happy and content.”
Arté currently has 63 residents, but the facility can house up to 173 people. “We opened in 2009, at the bottom of the economic downturn,” Koppert explains, “but our enrollment is steadily growing.” Arté also offers a “snowbird” senior vacation package. Koppert explains, “People come and stay for a month or some just come for a vacation. Instead of booking a hotel and renting a car, they come here because they have other people to socialize with, lots of activities and access to transportation.”
About 15 of Arté’s residents are Jewish. Phoebe Maurer, who moved with her husband to Arté 20 months ago, has organized many of Arté’s Jewish activities, starting with monthly Shabbat dinners. “We had the first Shabbat dinner in a private dining room,” says Maurer. “All the women lit the candles, and the men blessed the bread. It was a warm, caring communal atmosphere, which is what we’re all about: family.”
Maurer organized a Hanukkah cooking demonstration, with “out of this world” latkes, according to another resident, Goldie Gelbard. Maurer also organized Arté’s first Passover seder. “We’ll have about 25 to 30 people attending, and my son is coming in from New York to lead the seder. It’ll be my pride and joy to have him do it,” Maurer commented before the seder.
Arté is also associated with Smile on Seniors, a nonprofit organization that provides Jewish services to seniors in retirement communities in Arizona. Once a month, a young Chabad Lubavitch rabbi, Levi Levertov, comes to Arté to host “Table Talk.” Levertov draws the residents into discussions about different topics, like love or family, from a Jewish perspective. Levertov’s wife, Chani, also comes to Arté regularly to teach challah baking and talk over tea with the residents. Goldie Gelbard can’t say enough about Arté. “It’s wonderful; they have everything here. You couldn’t ask for anything more. The staff directors are special: warm, caring, helpful and extremely capable. No request is too difficult for them. I guarantee anyone who comes here will love it. I’m mighty independent, and I wouldn’t stay here if I didn’t love it.”
Gelbard’s son, who lives in Scottsdale, helped her look at different facilities when she was choosing her retirement community a little more than a year ago. Arté caught Gelbard’s eye at once. “It doesn’t look like a senior home; it looks like a beautiful hotel on Broadway,” says the former New Yorker. “In our apartments, everything is brand new: all the appliances, the granite countertops, everything. Plus nobody ever lived in my apartment before me.” Gelbard also appreciates the intimate size of Arté’s grounds. “It’s compact and close together, which makes it easier to get around. The surroundings are just lovely, so you feel good about yourself here.”
Arté’s wide range of activities appeals to Gelbard, who plays poker and bridge regularly. She also attends daily exercise classes, like t’ai chi and yoga, and is a regular at the pool and hot tub. Like Maurer and Gelbard, Roz Vannik was also drawn to Arté’s “inspired five-star luxury.” “I thought it was the most physically beautiful place, and figured I’d enjoy living in it,” says Vannik.
Unlike some Arté residents, Vannik is still deeply rooted to her community in nearby Scottsdale, where she and her husband lived for 20 years. “I’ve had a life outside Arté which I still enjoy,” she explains. Many of Vannik’s activities center on Scottsdale’s Valley of the Sun Jewish Community Center, which named her Volunteer of the Year in 2012. “I still go there a lot to play mahjongg and bridge,” she says.
Vannik considers herself one of the more active residents at Arté. “Maybe it’s my Jewish background; I’m used to being around people who are interested in a lot of different things,” she says. Vannik also appreciates the warm, compassionate staff. “At some other facilities I looked at, I didn’t find the staff as congenial.
I also like Arté smaller size; it makes it easier to meet and know people than at a larger facility.”
Elizabeth Schwartz is a freelance writer and musician.
