Sequoia Grove Senior Living in Granite Bay: 2026 Costs, Apartments and What Families Should Know

When a longtime Silicon Valley homeowner starts talking about leaving the Bay Area, Placer County comes up a lot. Sometimes a son or daughter already lives in Roseville, Rocklin or Folsom. Sometimes it’s simply that the same money buys a much easier life up the hill, with less traffic and a slower pace. Sequoia Grove in Granite Bay is one of the newest independent living communities in that area, and since it’s only been open a couple of years, there isn’t a lot of solid information out there yet. So I pulled together what I’d want to know if my own parent were considering it: who runs it, what the apartments are like, what’s actually included in the rent, what it costs and how the family home fits into the plan.

Why Granite Bay Is on So Many Bay Area Families’ Lists

I’ve been helping older adults and their families in Silicon Valley for more than 23 years, and the conversation about where to go next has changed a lot in that time. It used to be mostly about moving down the street or into a community in Los Gatos or Saratoga. Today a big share of the families I talk with are weighing a move out of the area entirely, usually to be closer to an adult child who left the Bay Area years ago because they couldn’t afford to buy here. Roseville, Rocklin, Folsom and Granite Bay are some of the most common landing spots, and I wrote a whole guide on moving closer to family in retirement because there’s a lot more to that decision than picking a building.

The numbers explain a lot of it. According to the California Association of REALTORS® September 2026 report, the median single-family home in Santa Clara County sold for $1,920,000, compared with $675,000 in Placer County. When a parent sells a longtime San Jose or Sunnyvale home and moves to Placer County, the proceeds go a lot further, whether they’re paying rent at a place like Sequoia Grove or buying something smaller nearby.

Who Runs Sequoia Grove

Sequoia Grove is operated by Hawthorn Senior Living, a company founded in 2000 that focuses almost entirely on independent living and runs more than 70 communities across the United States. On directory sites you’ll often see the community listed as Sequoia Grove Gracious Retirement Living or Sequoia Grove Retirement Residence, and sometimes with a Roseville address, since it sits right where Granite Bay meets Roseville. It’s all the same place.

One thing Hawthorn is known for is its live-in management model. The community managers live on the property, take part in activities and get to know the residents, and the front office is staffed from 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week. For an adult child who lives a couple of hours away, knowing there’s a manager on site in the evening is a real comfort.

A Brand-New Building

Sequoia Grove opened in August 2024, which makes it one of the newest independent living buildings in south Placer County. Placer County’s planning records describe the project as a single three-story building with 145 senior living suites and two manager residences, with a footprint of about 51,000 square feet. The community includes elevators, key fob entry, EV charging, a guest apartment for visiting family and community-wide Wi-Fi.

A new building has some real advantages for older adults. Hallways, bathrooms and common areas are built to current accessibility standards, the mechanical systems are new, and you’re not paying for the wear and tear of a 30-year-old property. The tradeoff is that the community doesn’t have a long track record yet, so I’d spend extra time talking with current residents when you tour. Ask how long they’ve lived there, what they love and what they’d change. Residents in a newer community are usually happy to share, and you’ll learn more in ten minutes in the lobby than from any brochure.

Location and What’s Nearby

The community sits at 3905 Old Auburn Road, Granite Bay, CA 95661, at the corner of Sierra College Boulevard in the Johnson Ranch area. The Johnson Ranch shopping center is about half a mile away, and the Village at Treelake shops are only a few minutes by car. Roseville’s main shopping and dining corridor around the Galleria is a short drive, and Folsom Lake, the Folsom Powerhouse State Historic Park and the trails along the American River are all close enough for an afternoon outing.

Health care access matters a lot at this stage of life, and this location is well served. Sutter Roseville Medical Center and Kaiser Permanente’s Roseville campus are both within a short drive, as are plenty of medical offices and pharmacies along Sierra College Boulevard and Douglas Boulevard. Family flying in can land at Sacramento International Airport, about 40 minutes away, and the Roseville Amtrak station is about 12 minutes from the community. From San Jose, plan on roughly two and a half hours each way, depending on traffic on I-680 and I-80.

Independent Living Only: What That Means

This is the most important thing to understand about Sequoia Grove. It’s an independent living community, and it doesn’t offer assisted living or memory care on site. The staff takes care of meals, housekeeping, transportation and the building, but they don’t help with bathing, dressing or managing medications.

That doesn’t mean someone has to leave the moment they need a little help. Sequoia Grove lets residents bring in outside help, whether that’s a family member, an independent caregiver or a professional home care agency, and residents pay only for the care they actually use. For many people that combination works well for years. If you’re trying to figure out how to budget for it, my guide on paying for in-home care walks through the hourly costs and funding options.

Where families get into trouble is when a parent already needs daily hands-on help or is showing signs of memory loss, and they choose independent living because it’s less expensive. Outside care adds up quickly, and a second move a year later is hard on everyone. If your parent needs more support now, a licensed assisted living or memory care community is usually the better fit, and my guide on how to vet an assisted living facility explains what to look for.

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Apartments and Floor Plans

Sequoia Grove offers three apartment types:

• Studio: one bath, roughly 386 to 586 square feet depending on the layout
• One bedroom: one bath, a good fit for a single person who wants a separate bedroom
• Two bedroom: the largest option, popular with couples or anyone who wants a guest room or office

The community hasn’t published square footage for the one and two bedroom plans, so ask for current floor plans and availability when you call. Apartments include a kitchenette with a refrigerator and freezer, individual heating and air conditioning, handrails, an emergency intercom and plenty of closet space, and the apartments are smoke-free. Bed linens and towels are provided and laundered weekly, which is one less thing to pack.

If your parent is coming from a 2,000-square-foot house in Willow Glen or Cupertino, a studio or one bedroom is a big adjustment. That’s not a reason to rule it out, but the downsizing has to start early. My guide to clearing out before a move walks through how to tackle 40 years of belongings without wrecking anyone’s weekends or relationships.

What’s Included in the Rent

Sequoia Grove uses an all-inclusive pricing model, which makes budgeting a lot easier than at communities with long lists of add-on fees. According to the community, monthly rent covers:

• Three chef-prepared meals a day, served restaurant style, plus snacks, beverages and ice cream throughout the day
• Weekly housekeeping, plus weekly laundering of bed linens and towels
• Utilities including electricity, gas, water, sewer, basic cable and Wi-Fi
• Scheduled transportation for doctor visits, errands, shopping and group outings
• Activities, classes and events on a full monthly calendar
• Building and appliance maintenance and landscaping
• A Lively Mobile2 medical alert device with 24/7 emergency support

Think about what that list replaces. Property taxes, insurance, utilities, a gardener, a housekeeper, groceries, home repairs and a car most people barely drive anymore. When I sit down with families and add up what it costs to stay in the family home, the all-inclusive number often looks a lot more reasonable than they expected.

Dining, Amenities and Daily Life

Meals at Sequoia Grove are made from scratch on site and served in the main dining room, with options for special diets. There’s also a private dining room you can reserve for birthdays, holidays and family visits. Mealtimes are a big part of the social life in independent living, and they’re often how new residents make their first friends.

Common areas include an atrium, lounges, a fitness center, a library, a game room, a media room for movies and an on-site salon and spa run by licensed stylists. Outside, there are landscaped grounds with space for walking, gardening and relaxing. The activity calendar includes fitness classes, arts and crafts, book and garden clubs, discussion groups, on-site shows and outings to museums, parks and local events.

Sequoia Grove is also pet friendly, and the community says it doesn’t charge pet deposits or pet fees, which is unusual. For a lot of older adults, the question of what happens to the cat or the little dog can make or break the whole move, so that’s a real plus. Ask for a copy of the pet addendum so you know the rules ahead of time.

The Resident Travel Program

One perk that sets Hawthorn communities apart is the Resident Travel Program. Residents can stay in a guest suite at any of Hawthorn’s 70-plus communities across the country for up to a week at a time, with meals and activities included and no extra charge for the stay. If your parent has a daughter in Seattle or grandkids in Phoenix, that can turn a visit into an easy, affordable trip without imposing on anyone’s guest room.

What Sequoia Grove Costs

Sequoia Grove advertises an all-inclusive starting rate of $3,795 a month. The starting rents listed on A Place for Mom and Caring.com as of this writing are:

• Studio: from $3,795 per month
• One bedroom: from $4,745 per month
• Two bedroom: from $6,515 per month

Those are starting rates, and the actual rent depends on the specific apartment, its size and location in the building and what’s available when you’re ready to move. Ask for a written quote that shows the monthly rent, any second-person charge for a couple, any move-in or community fee and how much rents have increased in recent years. If you’ll need outside care, add those hourly costs to the budget as well.

Independent living is almost always private pay. Most residents cover it with Social Security, pensions, retirement savings and, very often, the proceeds from selling a home. That’s where I spend most of my time.

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How the Family Home Fits Into the Plan

For most of the families I work with, the house is by far the biggest asset, and it’s usually what makes a move like this possible. Selling a longtime Silicon Valley home well takes some preparation, and the timing has to line up with the move-in date. My Best Move Method is built around working out the money, the house and the move together, so nobody is scrambling or paying two sets of bills longer than necessary.

Taxes deserve attention before you list. The federal home sale exclusion lets a single owner exclude up to $250,000 of gain and a married couple up to $500,000, as explained in IRS Publication 523. Homes bought in Silicon Valley decades ago often blow past those limits, so read my piece on capital gains tax when selling a Silicon Valley home and talk to a CPA early.

If your parent would rather buy a smaller home in Placer County than rent at Sequoia Grove, or if one spouse moves in while the other buys nearby, Prop 19 can help. Homeowners 55 and older can generally carry their existing property tax base to a replacement home anywhere in California, including Placer County, and my Prop 19 guide explains how the math works. And if the hardest part is starting the conversation, my tips on talking to aging parents about selling the family home can help you open that door gently.

Is Sequoia Grove the Right Fit?

Based on what the community offers and where it sits, Sequoia Grove looks like a strong fit for older adults who are active and mostly independent, want to stop worrying about cooking, cleaning and home maintenance, and want family close by in the Roseville, Rocklin, Folsom or Granite Bay area. It’s also a nice option for couples who want a two bedroom apartment and for anyone who wants a newer building with a predictable monthly cost.

It’s probably not the right choice for someone who already needs daily hands-on care or has moderate memory loss, since that care would have to come entirely from outside providers. In that case, a community that offers assisted living and memory care on site, like the ones in my senior living community guides, is usually the safer long-term plan.

Couples are a special case worth thinking through. When one spouse is still very independent and the other is starting to need help, independent living with outside care can let them stay together in a two bedroom apartment for quite a while. Just go in with a clear picture of what that outside care will cost each month, and talk openly as a family about what the plan looks like if one of them eventually needs a higher level of care.

Questions to Ask When You Tour

Bring a notebook, and if you can, bring the parent who’ll be living there and stay for a meal. Here’s my short list:

• Which apartments are available right now, and what’s the square footage and rent for each?
• Is there a move-in fee, a second-person fee or any current move-in incentive?
• How much has rent gone up each year since the community opened?
• What’s the minimum age, and what’s the lease term?
• Which home care agencies do residents use most, and what do they charge?
• At what point would a resident be asked to move to a higher level of care?
• How far does the community van go, and how often does it run to medical appointments?
• Can we see the activity calendar and this week’s menu?

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If your parent is thinking about Sequoia Grove or anywhere else in the Roseville and Granite Bay area, and the family home back here in Silicon Valley is part of the plan, I’d love to help you think it through. I’ve spent more than 23 years helping older adults and their families sell longtime homes, and I can coordinate the sale, the clear-out and the timing so the move goes smoothly on both ends. You can book a free Best Move Strategy Session with me here or call 408-413-3087.

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