Westminster Village Acts CCRC, Spanish Fort, FL (10/25-26/2017)

Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Another long drive, from Sarasota to Spanish Fort, AL to tour another ACTS retirement community, which was built in 1983 by the Presbyterian Retirement Corporation. ACTS became affiliated with Westminster Village only in May 2017. Its 56-acre campus has 165 independent-living apartments, 88 single-family cottages, a health center with 28 assisted-living units, and a 60-bed nursing facility.

Westminster Village is a gated community

Due to the time-zone change, we arrived early enough to have the tour today. Chris T, whom we know from Azalea Trace, has been transferred here, and gave us the tour.

Westminster Village apartments and clubhouse entrance

Joseph welcomed us; he is a
Platycercus icterotis/Western Rosella

There are two other birds as well.

Rosie, a Neopsephotus bourkii/Bourke's Parrot

Sunny, a Nymphicus hollandicus/Cockatiel,
lutino mutation (yellow-colored)

Clubhouse atrium

A typical hallway

Dining room

Small salad bar in the dining room;
there is table service, so the buffet is rarely used

Breakfast was available at the buffet if one chose to go through it. There was an omelet chef who prepared other types of eggs as well, then the scrambled-egg chef who also served the breakfast meats, biscuits and sausage, breakfast potatoes, etc. With all the table servers, it appeared there were more staff than "customers"! Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served in the dining room.

Outside of the dining room is the Gallery, which
also holds all the Rollator walkers of residents using the dining hall

The internal mail slots: all the white panels indicate vacancies

A large library

More of the library with a computer station,
and a newspaper vending machine

The auditorium

A small chapel

The pool and fitness room were in a separate building

Large fitness and exercise room

Apparently these three-wheeled bikes are available for use

Putting green

Horseshoes and shuffleboard

Also in a separate building is the Village Mart, the community store of
donated goods; the workshop and crafts room are also in a separate building

The neglected garden plots

The smoking gazebo; ACTS will eventually make
Westminster Village a tobacco-free facility

Our guest room was in a two-bedroom apartment

All the sun rooms in the community have become
enclosed climate controlled rooms

Bathroom with walk-in shower

Not only were we given overnight accommodations, we also had dinner and breakfast here.

A jigsaw table in the second floor lounge

The storage units are 4' x 4' x 4',
and are located in a room at the end of the hall

There is also a laundry room on each floor.

The garden cottages are all quadplexes

Again, all the sun rooms have been enclosed

There is a limited number of covered parking spaces

Westminster Village is across Mobile Bay from Mobile, AL and an hour's drive from the beaches. It is within a mile of Springhill Medical Center, a full-service hospital. Huntingdon College, a United Methodist school, is about 4 miles away.
The closest major airport is New Orleans International/MSY, 163 miles away, although the Mobile Regional Airport is 26 miles and the Pensacola Airport is 50 miles.
Once ACTS refreshes and renovates Westminster Village, it will become an attractive place to live.