Residents move into The Mather’s new building
BY BOB SEIDENBERG bseidenberg@pioneerlocal.com January 31, 2012 9:50PM
New resident, Michael Duhl talks with Chet Painter, of Graebel American Movers at The Mather in Evanston Friday. (Michael and Judy Duhl were moving in at new retirement community.) | Brian O'Mahoney~for Sun-Times Media
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Updated: March 3, 2012 11:29AM
New residents Judy Duhl, onetime owner of Scotland Yard Books in Winnetka, and her husband, Michael, a retired tax attorney, faced a challenge moving into their new residence Friday on the ninth floor of The Mather, at 425 Davis St.
The Duhls were moving from a 17-room home in Winnetka “that we lived in 25 years,” observed Judy as packers swirled around her Friday.
“Downsizing was not easy,” she said, “but our children took a lot of our furniture.”
With the second building close to done, Mather LifeWays will see a lot of move-in activity over the next month.
So far, roughly 20 families, including individuals and couples, have moved into 20 residences in the new building, said Sara McVey, vice president and experience director of the organization’s continuing care retirement community in Evanston.
“We have two to three scheduled for every day for the foreseeable future,” she said.
Mather LifeWays already has held its first Meet, Munch and Mingle session with the new residents, said McVey.
“The people who are coming in to the community are so excited and exuberant,” she said. “There is this whole infusion of energy and excitement. I couldn’t be more pleased with how things are going and the whole thing hasn’t opened yet.”
The Mather LifeWays project dates back to 2003 and it has been “a long birthing process,” said McVey.
The first building, which opened in 2009, fit in with the historic tone and style of buildings on east Davis Street. The second Mather LifeWays building appears to be in that line, too.
Most units sold
Currently, McVey said 116 of the 140 residences in the first building, north of Davis Street on Hinman, are occupied.
In the new building, “we’re over 80 percent sold,” she said.
The two buildings together include gourmet restaurants, a first-of-its-kind computerized wine bar, custom-tiered theater and a 10,000-square-foot fitness center among their special features.
Underground access
A climate-controlled corridor that runs under Davis Street connects them.
From the residence, “you can to walk to the restaurants, you can walk to the shops... Whole Foods ... to the train,” Michael Duhl noted, a key selling point.
Mather LifeWays’s status as continuing-care retirement community, assuring the couple that their health needs will be taken care of as they age in their new home, was also key, said Judy.
The Duhls’ daughter and four grandchildren live in Evanston, some six blocks away. They’ve already visited, and Judy sees the pool, once opened, as coming in handy when the children visit.
“Okay, you’re acting up. You’re going in the pool,” is one possible course of action.
Mather LifeWays provides a move-in specialist. Staff, including concierge service, have been unbelievably helpful, said Judy Duhl.
Even the weather has been special.
Since moving on Friday, “there have been three sunny mornings,” said Judy Duhl, one of Evanston’s new residents. “We haven’t had a gray one yet.”
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