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As for the facilities at Silveridge, there are a series of upgrades going on during the summer…
PICKLEBALL
In response to the continuing surge in pickleball participation, one of the tennis courts is being converted into four pickleball courts. That transformation began in mid-June and should be completed over the summer. Along with the additional lights added recently, pickleball capacity has dramatically increased.
SWIMMING
The larger of the two pools is being redone, matching the work on the smaller pool undertaken last summer. This includes replacing the old plaster with PebbleTec. Why PebbleTec? “It’s less porous,” George explained, “so it lasts longer, is easier to clean, and because it’s less porous it’s harder for algae to form, so it needs fewer chemicals. Plus, it looks better.”
LIGHTING
“We’re adding new lighting on the pathways around the main buildings,” George tells us. “We want to be sure that when people are leaving events in the evenings they can easily see where they’re going. The lights will be motion-activated and they’ll be all around – including by the woodshop, tennis courts, and bike racks.”
PAINTING AND OTHER ROUTINE MAINTENANCE
George was pleased that the main building is getting fresh paint, ahead of schedule: “Mike [Mike Hacker, head of maintenance] came to me and announced, ‘We’re going to paint the building.’ That’s something we have to do every few years because the sun fades the paint and eventually we start to get cracking and peeling. Normally we have an outside crew, but Mike wanted to have his guys take it on and I’ve been impressed — they’re doing a better job than the outside crews. Real attention to detail.”
There’s also some major tree trimming going on over the summer, along with routine work on the streets, parking, and landscaping.
LOOKING FORWARD
Summing up, George said, “With all of the facilities and amenities we have at the parks, it is a huge job to keep everything running smoothly and looking great. Even so, all through the year I keep a list of what improvements we could make. The off-season for most residents is in-season for upgrades and improvements. We want people to come back to the park and think, ‘It’s even better.’”
RENTS: A fresh comparison
Every year, the management team does a rent survey, comparing costs for some of the nearby parks. Unlike Silveridge and The Resort, most other parks have separate fees for water, sewer, and trash, and they require residents to find their own cable television and internet providers. In order to do an apples-to-apples comparison, those costs are added in (or, in the case of cable and internet, conservatively estimated) to create a total cost comparison.
The chart below shows how Silveridge and The Resort compare favorably to other nearby parks.
Remember as you view these, that SR and TR are among the most spacious in the area – some nearby parks have more than double the number of units per acre. (Further, the rates for the nearby parks do not reflect their price increases for the new season, while the costs for Silveridge and The Resort have been updated for the new season.)
The goal of the ownership group is, as Al LaCanne puts it,
“We continue to strive to be the best value for the money.”
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