The Lafayette in Lexington is home to 124 seniors. On Monday night, a majority of them packed into the building's library as John Baillie attempted to make the pitch for a new open-to-the-public restaurant and lounge serving alcohol, which would replace their current dining program.
"You guys are going to see great Sunday brunches where some family members might come in," he said.
"Terrible," an audience member said. "It's all about the money. You don't care about these people."
"I promise you that I care. We're going to agree to disagree. I promise you, I've dedicated my life to this profession," Baillie responded.
Baillie is the director of dining for Phoenix Senior Living, which manages The Lafayette. Phoenix's line of restaurants, Beau and Belle, have been implemented in some of their other communities - and, Baillie claimed, with great success.
"Folks, I'm a chef. I love senior living. I've been cooking my whole life. The food that we're putting out for you is near and dear to my heart. It's fresh, it's simple, it's delicious," he explained. "Yes, we're charging for it. I understand that that's the pain point, but I promise you the food is delicious. We've had such increased resident satisfaction, or would have stopped doing this program."
It's a hard sell. Seniors at The Lafayette have a long list of concerns. One resident says she worries about safety with the dining area open to the public. Others are frustrated with transparency and communication; residents say they weren't told of the restaurants arrival until it was a done deal.
But the main issue most residents voiced was cost.
The lease, signed by some residents as recently as this past month, promises three meals per day served restaurant-or buffet-style. Residents will not be refunded, meaning if they wish to eat in, they'll have to pay à la carte prices on top of the rent they agreed to with the expectation of meals being covered.
Baillie said no resident would be required to go to the new restaurant and could choose to visit other restaurants, order take out, or buy groceries and cook for themselves. However, that poses a financial difficulty to residents on a fixed income and an impossibility for those living in rooms on the first floor, which lack an in-unit kitchen.
Beth O'Donnell, president of the residents council at the Lafayette, says residents were informed of the change at the end of October. She then drafted a letter to be sent to Phoenix Senior Living CEO Jesse Marinko.
"I presented it to the all the residents. They voted whether to send or not. Overwhelmingly out of 124 residents, 116 voted [to] send the letter," she tells WUKY.
The letter, posted at the end of the article, declares the change "unacceptable." O'Donnell says residents, in return for losing the expectation of meals being covered, have been promised no rent increase in 2025, but it would increase at market value after that without any decrease for meals no longer being covered.
During Monday night's meeting, residents discussed means by which to delay the restaurant's set opening on January 2. Some cited zeroing in on zoning and licensing requirements, which had not yet been met. The Lafayette is zoned R5 for high density residential, which stipulates that, though restaurants are approved as a conditional use, they must not offer a cocktail lounge or have a public alcoholic drink preparation area, like a bar. Lexington's Alcoholic Beverage Control Office also confirmed that a liquor license has not yet been issued.
O'Donnell says her ideal scenario is that Phoenix calls the whole thing off, but failing that, "at the very least, to grandfather [in] those who have signed leases that explicitly stated the meals would be included."
WUKY has reached out to Phoenix Senior Living for comment and is awaiting a response.
Text of the full letter from the residents council at The Lafayette to Phoenix CEO Jesse Marinko:
Dear Mr. Marinko:,
On October 24 at the board meeting our executive director informed us of your new meal plan where our rent stays the same, but we start paying for our meals, beginning January 2, 2025. On October 29, this information was shared at the all-residents’meeting.
This is unacceptable to those of us who signed our leases with the expectation of our rent including all meals. We have never signed an amendment to our leases providing otherwise.
While we have been informed that it’s your desire to provide us with a premier restaurant experience as a result of this change, our perspective is different than yours. Firstly, this representation is a bit of “a pig in a poke”. It also seems to reveal a troubling opinion of our current restaurant experience.
More importantly, we are losing a valuable inducement that influenced our choice to live at the Lafayette. The loss of this inducement will weigh heavily in our decision to remain at The Lafayette. It is our understanding that a nearby competitor lost 18 of their residents due to a similar change.
The executive director has represented to us that in return for losing included meals, we will avoid a rent increase in the year 2025. If this is meant to be consideration for the value of the forgone meals, the consideration is woefully inadequate. The market value to us of these meals must be considered for there to be any semblance of equity.
A better solution is to grandfather all residents who signed their lease with the expectation of meals being included in their rent. Plainly stated, the meal charges would not apply to these residents as long as they live at the Lafayette. In addition, Phoenix should not seek to increase the rent to the grandfathered residents in such manner as to covertly reflect the new meal charges.
We hope you will see the reasonableness of our proposal. It respects us as human beings to whom a commitment was made. It also allows you to fulfill your goals to become a restauranteur without undue cost to your bottom line in any given year.
It avoids the unseemly prospect of the seniors living at the Lafayette being forced to subsidize your business venture. Finally, it allows you to evolve the restaurant toward your goals in a more realistic timeframe.
Sincerely,
Beth O’Donnell
President of the Residents Council