News, The Birches at Chambers
Senior complex dedicated in Ulster
By Michael Novinson, Times Herald-Record, 7/9/2010
ULSTER — Boca on the Hudson?
Between a 50-seat movie theater with plush, reclining seats, a fitness studio with a trainer certified in physical therapy, and a mahogany-paneled game room that looks and presumably smells like the library from the board game Clue, The Birches at Chambers seems like an elegant, exclusive community.
“I feel like I live in Florida again, except that the ocean isn’t nearby,” said Birches resident Margrit Salimone, who spent 23 years in the Sunshine State.
But The Birches at Chambers, in the Town of Ulster, isn’t an affluent, gated community — it’s an affordable senior housing complex, with monthly rents ranging from $331 to $862. The $16 million complex has 14 two-bedroom apartments, 52 one-bedroom apartments and about 75 residents.
U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey, state Sen. John Bonacic and Ulster County Executive Michael Hein spoke at the formal dedication of The Birches at Chambers on Thursday, but the complex was filled long before then. In fact, the complex was fully rented by the February 2009 groundbreaking ceremony, thanks to a 400-person waiting list at the adjacent Chambers Court, said Birches founder Steve Aaron.
People 62 or older — or under that age with a disability — with an annual gross income of less than $29,480 for a single person can live in The Birches at Chambers.
Even though the complex is Aaron’s fifth affordable living community to open in the past half-decade, he doesn’t plan on stopping now.
Several dedication speakers mentioned a proposed senior complex in Fishkill.
At The Birches, no detail is left unpolished. Chambers resident Candy Belles said fellowresidents were unnerved by footsteps outside their rooms late at night. To quell their fears, Aaron had his security guards don bright yellow T-shirts.
“We’ve added years to these folks’ lives,” Aaron said.
mnovinson@th-record.com Photo: Candy Belles and Rabbi Yitzchok Hecht share a laugh in Belles’ new apartment at The Birches at Chambers in the Town of Ulster on Thursday. A dedication ceremony took place earlier at the state-of-the-art senior living community. CHET GORDON/Times Herald-Record also credit for introductory photo.