Towers Transformed For The Next Generation

“L’dor v’dor.”

Gus Keach-Longo, president & CEO of The Towers at Tower Lane invoked that Hebrew phrase meaning ​“from generation to generation” Sunday to sum up the purpose of a community garden groundbreaking and ground-floor kick-off ceremony.

The ceremony celebrated the latest expansion of the senior living facility on Tower Lane.

The event also featured a community family carnival, complete with game booths, face-painting, corn dogs, and a dunk tank. 

“The Towers is not just where people feel safe and secure but also where they feel embraced during their most vulnerable years,” Keach-Longo told a spirited crowd of 150 residents, staff, as well as family and community members gathered on a dilapidated basketball court that will soon sprout flowers and plants. 

“This building has been a gift to this generation, and the past two generations have lovingly taken care of it,” he said of the nonprofit apartment and assisted living retirement community. ​“We are now going to prepare this building for its next 50 years of service.”

The Towers campus facelift will be interior as well as exterior, comprising the 39,000 square-foot ground floor of The Towers, as well as the basketball court and a strip of land that will become a community garden and a meditation garden. 

“It’s going to be beautiful to sit among the flowers,” said resident Sylvia Rifkin, 101, as a clown with a hula hoop strolled by. 

For the ground-floor renovations, Keach-Longo outlined several additions aimed at improving quality of life among the residents. 

“We’re going to open up the kitchen so the food is made in front instead of behind a wall,” he said. ​“We know through our research that when people can see and smell and be a part of food that’s being prepared, it actually helps them eat.”

An enclosed sunroom will be built around the patio. ​“Many of our residents don’t have access to the sun, especially if they live on the north side of the building,” he said. With the sunroom, ​“people will be able to enjoy the feeling of sun on their skin and be able to feel they’re in nature regardless of the weather.” 

A massage studio inside a beauty salon will likewise serve a salubrious function. ​“Many residents, especially as they get older, don’t get touched enough, so we will ensure that people can get that feeling of human touch,” he said.

Then there’s a new creativity studio. ​“We don’t have one right now, so people will be able to work on art projects and be messy and if something spills on the floor, no big deal.” 

In thanking the City of New Haven, among the numerous donors for both ventures, board member Gayle Slossberg highlighted ​“inclusive growth” as a hallmark of The Towers.

“This is about making sure that every project that we do improves the lives of every person that we can,” she said.

Mayor Justin Elicker (pictured above) picked up on that theme. 

“This is about inclusivity, about ensuring that we provide spaces that provide dignity for people, and to do it in a way that is thoughtful and compassionate and focuses on health, not just from the medical health perspective, but from a mental health one,” he said. 

He might as well have been referring to the renovation of the overgrown basketball courts and strip of land. 

According to board member Cindy Leffell, the Towers granted an easement for use of that area to Church Street South housing complex. But since Church Street South’s demolition in 2018, the land has reverted back to The Towers. 

Catherine Moore, 93, a resident at The Towers for six years, expressed enthusiasm for the community garden. 

“I’ve grown tomatoes and herbs, and petunias, zinnias, and marigolds every year, but they’re in tubs and we share,” she said. ​“Now we’ll all have our own plot.” 

Ian Ganassi, another resident, agreed. ​“We have a garden club, but it’s limited to bins. This will be more satisfying.” 

Plans call as well for a bocce court, dog run, and a chicken coop on the land.

“Not enough to feed everyone, but enough to name the chickens and make sure they are well taken care of,” Keach-Longo said. 

A wheelchair-accessible meditation garden will feature raised beds and meandering streams. 

“We’ll be able to hear the water and contemplate our life,” he said, before honoring board members, staff, and friends of The Towers for their support. 

Soon each participant was opening thank-you boxes, releasing mechanical butterflies into the air, and kicking off the ground-floor celebration. A backhoe broke ground on the community garden. A DJ announced the carnival was beginning. The Rolling Stones’ ​“Start Me Up” boomed through the speakers.

“I’m excited about all this,” said Keke Wise, who was serving footlong hotdogs, corn dogs, and kielbasa with Carlos McLeya to hungry carnivalgoers. Both work in the kitchen at The Towers. 

Wise said she grew up in Church Street South. ​“My grandmother has lived in The Towers since 1991, maybe earlier than that,” she said, as residents and their families gathered at tables amid the air of jubilation. ​“I used to pay basketball on that court.” 

“The renovations, they’re going to be a beautiful thing,” she said.