Fire!

About 150 residents were displaced for a few hours late Tuesday afternoon, October 16, after a small ceiling fire spread into an unoccupied apartment, authorities said.

 

The fire was reported about 4:30 p.m. in the C building and likely started as a result of workers soldering air conditioning units, according to Capt. Frank Chambers of the Schaumburg Fire Department.

 

The fire spread into the third-floor apartment but was extinguished about 20 minutes after emergency crews were called to the scene, Chambers said. Residents were evacuated as a precaution, but they were able to return after fire officials deemed it safe.

 

Damage was contained to the attic and apartment, estimated at $5,000.

 

No injuries were reported.

Nonovirus invades Friendship Village

It's everywhere, including Friendship Village.

Village Dispatch 01-11-2012

Twas a hot weekend at Friendship Village

If you like it hot (your room temperature that is), you would have loved this last weekend at Bridgewater Place. The air conditioning was out. Room temperatures reached 80 degrees plus. The solution...open your windows (if you have the strength to lift the 75 pound blinds).

Culprit is the work on the faulty dielectric unions (plumbing, not labor) was not completed on time (see below Village Dispatch). One really has to ask oneself why a two year old building has faulty dielectric unions; but then again, this isn't the first construction problem faced by this building. Hopefully it will be the last.

What happened Steve Yencheck, were you on vacation during that phase of construction?

Unions

Froehlich resigns from Schaumburg Library board

On Tuesday, September 8, Friendship Village staff member Marilyn Froehlich submitted her letter of resignation to the Schaumburg Township Library Board of Trustees. The resignation is expected to be discussed at the board's September 21 month meeting. See details here

Keep an eye on Marilyn Froehlich

The 56th District race will be tight, and there's concern about every vote cast in the district. On Election Day, there will be special focus on the voting that goes on at the senior community Friendship Village, where Froehlich's wife Marilyn is on the executive staff and where 500 residents could be voting (source)

Friendship Village bonds go deeper into the "Junk" category

Fitch Downgrades Friendship Village of Schaumburg (Illinois) to 'BB-'; Outlook Negative


Last update: 12:04 p.m. EDT Aug. 15, 2008
CHICAGO, Aug 15, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Fitch Ratings has downgraded Friendship Village of Schaumburg's (FVS), Illinois outstanding $80.5 million of series 2005 A&B revenue bonds to 'BB- from 'BB' (issued through the Illinois Finance Authority). The Rating Outlook remains Negative.
The downgrade to 'BB-' reflects the increasing difficulty of converting sales to move-ins, lower than projected occupancy in the Bridgegate (BG) apartments and a rate covenant violation in fiscal 2008. The continued weakness in the local residential real estate market combined with poor investment returns has made converting sales to move-ins exceptionally challenging. Management has been proactive in developing several marketing initiatives to counteract the current market environment. Fitch believes these strategies have been successful in improving overall sales relative to the initial contract offerings. However, the getting potential residents to move-in is taking longer and requiring greater incentives which has negatively affected of FVS' financial performance in fiscal 2008.

Meeting the special dietary needs for those living in Senior Housing -- Guess who rated below average?

Recently, Nutritional Concepts of Northbrook Illinois was asked to explore the quality of menus currently available at local Senior Housing facilities.

They focused on six random facilities, taking into account size (number of residents and locations), for profit or non profit, national and/or Illinois-centric, nursing and/or assisted living. They have no association or interest in any of them. They examined several issues they thought would be of interest to their clients.

What is the quality of the food and menu?
Do they accommodate for special dietary needs?
How is the food prepared (chef or food service)?
Has a health professional helped create and periodically evaluates the menu?
In their opinion, only one out of the six facilities passed muster.

They rated Friendship Village as BELOW AVERAGE and commented:
Friendship Village of Schaumburg (only IL location)
The menu is loaded with heavy sauces, cream soups, and gravy.

For the full story, see Bonnie's Blog

Seasons restauraunt -- too small to serve the community

Listen to the Bridgewater Place Marketing pitch and they will tell you about the great on site restaurant "Seasons"...and it is wonderful! Problem is, poor planning resulted in a restaurant facility that is too small to serve the community. Initially, you could just come down whenever you were ready and get a table. Then more people started moving in. Now you need a reservation. Sounds innocent enough, until you try to get one. Everyone scrambles to the Hospitality desk when it opens in the morning to get a reservation, resulting in a traffic jam and many frustrated customers.

But wait, there's more! Read the post below. Bridgewater Place is only 70% occupied. If you think it's busy now, wait until the other 51 people move in. It will be a disaster.

Friendship Village management, are you ignoring this situation? How come we don't see any effort to resolve this? Can I suggest longer hours? How about more tables outside of Seasons, like you did this past weekend for Mother's Day.

Bridgewater Place population below target -- an opportunity for buyers!

There are a total of 170 units in Bridgewater Place, but only 119 are occupied. Budget is 123 and there are 51 vacant. So if you're looking to buy; know that you are in a position to negotiate yourself a great deal. Friendship Village is struggling to fill the place and will do whatever they can to get you to sign up!

At the same time, Friendship Village is offering residents a $500 referral reward. So if you know someone living here, make sure they get the bonus.

Name tags -- Good idea / Poor execution

Friendship Village has given all the residents a name badge. This is a wonderful idea as many of us can occasionally forget a name soon after an introduction. The badges have magnetic clasps and are an attractive gold color, BUT, the names were printed on label stock using an inkjet printer and are easily smudged if they get wet. So be careful when you eat and don't drip anything on your name tag.

Schaumburg adult day care will end May 2

Chicago Daily Herald - Chicago,IL,USA
By Eric Peterson | Daily Herald Staff Friendship Village in Schaumburg was hoping to be helpful when it started its adult day care program five years ago, ...

Fitch Downgrades Friendship Village of Schaumburg, Illinois' Bonds to 'BB'; Outlook Negative

Down again...

Fitch Ratings-Chicago-23 January 2008: Fitch Ratings downgrades to 'BB' from 'BB+' the rating on Friendship Village of Schaumburg's (FVS), Illinois, outstanding $80.5 million of series 2005 A&B revenue bonds issued through the Illinois Finance Authority. Furthermore, Fitch removes the bonds from Rating Watch Negative and has assigned a Negative Outlook.

see:
http://www.fitchratings.com/corporate/sectors/sector.cfm?sector_flag=10&marketsector=1&body_content=about

November 01, 2007 03:51 PM Eastern Time
Fitch U.S. Public Finance Third-Quarter Rating Actions

Business Wire (press release) - San Francisco,CA,USA

... three credits were placed on watch negative during the third
quarter: friendship village of schaumburg's general revenue
bonds ('bb+'); jordan school ...

Why are these cars ALWAYS in the visitor's lot?

Parking in the visitor's lot is scarce. Who do these cars belong to, and why are they ALWAYS parked there?

Business Wire - Press Release
Fitch Affirms Friendship Village of Schaumburg, Illinois Bonds at 'BB+'; Bonds on Rtg Watch Neg
07.19.07, 4:45 PM ET
Fitch Ratings has affirmed the 'BB+' rating on Friendship Village of Schaumburg's (FVS), Illinois, outstanding $80.5 million of series 2005 A&B revenue bonds issued through the Illinois Finance Authority. Fitch has also placed the bonds on Rating Watch Negative.

Ever wonder what's really going on at Friendship Village in Schaumburg? Especially those of you involved in moving into the newest community named Bridgewater Place. I've created this forum for us to share stories of our "adventures" of this "but wait! we're almost done" building and all the rest of the campus.

Visit and share your stories of pain and pleasure on this blog. Perhaps by doing so we can help others who are moving into this community.

My intent here is to provide a forum for current and future residents of Friendship Village to enhance their experience even if a few of the posts upset the Friendship Village management team.