Actress Jane Alexander spends a lot of time on the stage or in front of the camera, but when she isn’t filming a movie like “Kramer Vs. Kramer” or “The Cider House Rules” or starring in a Broadway play like “The Great White Hope,” you can find her at SUNY Purchase — auditing classes, mentoring students or befriending the faculty.
Her free time is also filled with singing with the college choir, taking yoga classes, strolling the grounds with friends, and sharing her knowledge and expertise on everything from acting to traveling with the SUNY Purchase community of students, faculty and residents.
That is possible thanks to where the 85-year-old, award-winning actress decided to take up residency. Alexander is among the 332 older adults who call SUNY Purchase home. They are all residents of Broadview at Purchase, a university-based retirement community or URC.
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College living in retirement
Nestled in the rolling hills of Westchester County, New York, and near New York City, Broadview opened its doors in December 2023, designed to provide retirees with the opportunity to take classes, interact with students and build friendships with other retirees within a community on the college’s campus.
When considering a move, residents can choose from 14 floor plans, including one-bedroom apartments and expansive 2,100 square foot villas.
The community offers a variety of amenities and activities. Residents can take classes at the university, attend screenings and discussions, have cocktails or meals at one of the four on-site bars and restaurants, or stay active at the fitness center, which features a gym, indoor pool, and a variety of fitness classes. Additionally, the community offers a 40-acre walkable campus.
A street of homes at Broadview.
The interior of the Shenrock Villa.
The living room and dining room of a Hudson apartment.
While Alexander isn’t retired — she will next appear in the Kevin Kline comedy “American Classic” — when looking for her next home, she was taken by what Broadview had to offer.
“I knew I needed a base of operations in the Hudson Valley, where I have family and have lived for many years. The location and unique set of attributes won me over pretty quickly,” Alexander told Kiplinger.com. “I was quite taken with the idea of auditing classes at SUNY Purchase and interacting with the students in different ways.”
Actress Jane Alexander on the porch of her home at Broadview
Alexander ticks off several reasons why Broadview was the perfect place to set down roots. She says she loves the opportunity to mentor art students, support the LGBTQ+ community on campus and engage with her peers.
“I love the people — there are other artists here, writers, and people from many walks of life who’ve had such interesting experiences,” says Alexander. It doesn’t hurt that Broadview is a train ride away from New York City, where she has work and personal pursuits.
Plus, she says the campus always feels safe and inviting. Alexander lives in one of Broadview’s apartments in the main building, which is easily accessible to all the shared spaces. “I want to be in the middle of the action: yoga, meals, talks, film screenings, and the library,” she says.
University living comes at a cost
Living in Broadview doesn’t come cheap. Like other URCs, there is an entrance fee that ranges from $270,400 to $2,547,000. Of that, 80% is returned to the resident or their estate when the residence is resold or within 24 months of the resident moving out, whichever comes first. The larger the property, the higher the entrance fee. The entrance fee for a one-bedroom apartment is cheaper than for a two-bedroom villa. There is also a monthly fee that starts at $3,800 and goes as high as $12,000 for independent living. Continuing care is $13,000 per month and up and includes assisted living and memory care.
The monthly fee covers certain meals, transportation, housekeeping, utilities, cable and wi-fi, taxes, and insurance. Residents have access to amenities including a gym, salon, classrooms and lecture rooms, indoor and outdoor spaces, a dance and movement studio, a virtual reality and audio-visual learning lab, a lens room, and a card and gaming room.
Broadview's fitness center
A Broadview resident teaching a class.
The salon at Broadview.
Classes without the homework
But it’s the access to the classes and the students that is a big draw for many of the residents, including Steven Shelov, an 80-year-old retired pediatrician and professor emeritus of Pediatrics at NYU Grossman Long Island School of Medicine.
Shelov and his wife moved to Broadview about a year and a half ago after living in Scarsdale, New York, for nearly 50 years. They traded their 5,000 square foot, seven-bedroom home for a 1,385 square foot, two-bedroom apartment at Broadview, drawn by the opportunity to continue learning and mentoring.
“I had a very academic career. I’ve been a teacher, a chair of a couple of departments, and the founding dean of a medical school,” said Shelov. “Interacting with students as well as taking courses and developing a community of our own was the draw.”
Since moving in, Shelov has taken courses in art, religion, and literature, and also heads up a mentoring group that started with about five pre-med students but has since grown to about 30.
“I wanted to continue to give back and use what I’ve learned all those years going through medical school and my residency,” he says.
Steven Shelov with his mentoring group.
While all that keeps Shelov busy, he still finds time to exercise in the community gym, swim laps in the indoor pool three to four times a week, and attend dance performances, operas, and symphonies through one of SUNY Purchase’s five conservatory programs.
Shelov also serves on a committee within the community and carves out time to socialize with the group of friends he and his wife, who still works part-time as a psychologist, have formed deep bonds with.
“I’m a little too busy, but that’s my own doing. I don’t want to miss anything,” says Shelov. “This is beyond what I expected and hoped for. I had no idea such a community would get built.”
Keep on learning
A desire to continue to learn and the ability to attend college classes are some of the reasons why Broadview has been such a success, says Ashley Wade, executive director at Broadview.
The first phase of Independent Living is currently reserved or occupied. Broadview is gearing up to launch the Horizons program, which will offer the opportunity to join a waitlist for a future residence. Currently, more than 200 households have expressed an interest in joining.
Wade says Broadview appeals to people who aren’t ready to slow down in retirement and want to learn and share their wisdom and experiences.
The retirees like the idea of engaging with the students, and the students like learning from the trailblazers that came before them. It’s why Shelov’s mentoring group grew so quickly from a handful of people to around 30. There are several mentoring groups in every profession, from journalism to business, says Wade.
“We have a high number of folks with advanced degrees who have chosen to live this chapter of their lives in an academic setting,” says Wade. “This is the cocktail party where the people are super good at trivia, they are talking about all the interesting places they’ve gone and things they’ve done and are still interested in learning.”
The most interesting people in the room
The desire to keep learning, engaging, and socializing drew Marilyn Heimerdinger and her husband, lifelong residents of Armonk, New York, to Broadview.
The Heimerdinger’s moved into the retirement community in March of 2024, downsizing from a large home that was getting difficult to maintain. “We weren’t interested in bingo and adult coloring books and that kind of stuff,” says the 84-year-old. “It's (Broadview) a cross between a cruise ship and a day camp. Something is going on all the time.”
Heimerdinger says they were drawn to Broadview because of the exposure to the college courses and the idea of living among very accomplished professional people.
“There’s always somebody interesting at dinner to talk with every night. We made a ton of friends,” says Heimerdinger. That became very important when her husband had a stroke several months after they moved into Broadview.
“Had we been in that big house alone without a first-floor bedroom and shower and no support system or friends around us, it would have been so difficult, I don’t know how I would have managed,” she says.
Marilyn Heimerdinger (center) with the Plastics Committee.
Before her husband’s stroke, Heimerdinger was very active at Broadview, heading up the community’s environmental group focused on plastics, attending seminars, lectures, events and exercise classes. She still gets out, but not as often as before the stroke.
Recently, she attended a culinary demonstration put on by the community’s chef. She learned how the kitchen worked and about wine pairing. “You can do as much or as little as you want,” she says.
Is a University Retirement Community (URC) for everyone?
Retiring to a college campus may seem idyllic. After all, you can take classes without doing homework, immerse yourself in the performing arts, and spend time with interesting retirees. If you get sick or injured, you can move into the assisted living portion of Broadview.
But it’s not for everyone, which is why Alexander says people should look before they leap.
“Have a strong financial plan, and equally important, know how you want to spend your time and who you want to spend it with,” says Alexander. “For me, multigenerational living and lifelong learning opportunities are the key.”
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