Westmont of Santa Cruz: Soquel Senior Living, Care & Pricing

For years, families on the Soquel and Capitola side of Santa Cruz County didn’t have much choice when a parent needed more support than the house could give. Most of the newer senior living options were over the hill in Silicon Valley or down in Monterey County, which meant moving Mom or Dad away from their doctors, their friends and the coast they love. Westmont of Santa Cruz changes that. It’s a brand new community at 5630 Soquel Drive that offers independent living, assisted living and memory care in one building, and it began welcoming residents in 2026.

I’ve been following this project since it was still a construction site being marketed as The Porter at Soquel, and I’ve pulled together everything a family would want to know before scheduling a visit: who operates it, the care levels, the apartments, what daily life looks like, what’s close by and what it costs to live there.

Key Takeaways

Westmont of Santa Cruz is a new senior living community at 5630 Soquel Drive in Soquel, CA, offering independent living, assisted living and memory care on one campus.

The community was developed under the name The Porter at Soquel by Calson Management and RSF Partners and is now operated by Westmont Living, a family-owned senior living company founded in 1996.

It has 82 apartments designed for up to 91 residents on roughly 3.7 acres, and it’s licensed by the California Department of Social Services as a Residential Care Facility for the Elderly (license 435202987).

Apartments include studios and one-bedrooms, with private and companion options in memory care. Rentals are month-to-month with no buy-in fee.

As of October 2026, the community reports starting monthly rents of about $7,550 for a studio and $9,250 for a one-bedroom, with memory care starting at $6,750 for a companion suite.

Dignity Health Dominican Hospital is about 3.2 miles away, and Capitola Village, New Brighton State Beach and Soquel Village shops are all a short drive.

Summary: Westmont of Santa Cruz is a new independent living, assisted living and memory care community at 5630 Soquel Drive in Soquel, California, operated by family-owned Westmont Living. Formerly marketed as The Porter at Soquel, it has 82 studio and one-bedroom apartments for up to 91 residents, chef-prepared dining, a bistro café, a theater, a salon, landscaped courtyards with preserved redwoods and scheduled transportation. Rentals are month-to-month with no buy-in fee, and reported starting rents begin around $7,550 a month. Call (831) 855-8168 to schedule a tour.

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Westmont of Santa Cruz at a Glance

• Address: 5630 Soquel Drive, Soquel, CA 95073
• Phone: (831) 855-8168
• Operator: Westmont Living, family owned since 1996
• Care levels: Independent living, assisted living and Compass Rose memory care
• Size: 82 apartments for up to 91 residents on about 3.7 acres
• Apartment types: Studios and one-bedrooms; private and companion suites in memory care
• Contract: Month-to-month rental, no buy-in or entrance fee
• State license: Residential Care Facility for the Elderly, CDSS license 435202987
• Pets: Pet friendly
• Staffing: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

From The Porter at Soquel to Westmont of Santa Cruz

If you’ve driven down Soquel Drive over the last couple of years, you’ve watched this building go up. The project was developed by Calson Management, a second-generation, family-owned senior housing company, together with equity partner RSF Partners. They held a formal groundbreaking in August 2023, as Senior Living News reported, and the community was originally marketed as The Porter at Soquel, a 3.7-acre assisted living and memory care development that Calson had taken all the way through the county’s entitlement process.

By 2026, the community had taken on the Westmont of Santa Cruz name, with Westmont Living running the day-to-day operations. If you see older directory listings or hear neighbors still calling it “The Porter,” it’s the same place at the same address. The name changed, and the plan grew to include independent living alongside assisted living and memory care, so a resident who moves in fairly independent can stay put if their needs change later.

Who Operates It: Westmont Living

Westmont Living is a family-owned senior living company that has been operating communities since 1996. Its portfolio includes communities up and down California, from San Diego County to Chico, plus two on the Oregon coast. For South Bay families, the closest sister community is Westmont of Morgan Hill.

The company’s stated mission is to provide “inspiring life experiences” for residents and their families, and its core values include compassion, integrity, service and purpose. Local coverage in spring 2026 named Corey Miller as Executive Director of the Soquel community.

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The Parent's Home Transition Plan

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Three Levels of Care Under One Roof

One of the biggest advantages of a community like this is that it’s built for change. When families have to move a parent twice, first to independent living and then to a care setting somewhere else, it’s hard on everyone. Westmont of Santa Cruz offers all three levels in one place.

Independent Living

Independent living is for older adults who don’t need help with daily care but want to stop worrying about yard work, repairs and cooking every meal. Residents get housekeeping and maintenance, social events, fitness and wellness classes, and access to the landscaped outdoor spaces. Westmont also offers an “unbundled services” option in independent living, so residents can choose which services they actually want.

Assisted Living

Assisted living adds hands-on support with daily tasks like bathing, dressing and medications. Each resident gets a personalized care plan, medication management and access to staff around the clock. The community’s directory listings also note help for residents with incontinence needs and non-ambulatory residents, along with respite stays.

Compass Rose Memory Care

Memory care at Westmont is delivered through the company’s Compass Rose program, a secure setting for people living with Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia. The program was developed with a nationally recognized gerontologist and builds each resident’s day around an Individualized Care Plan and a Life History, so activities fit who that person has been and what they still enjoy. There’s a dedicated Memory Care Program Director, routine wellness assessments, 24-hour staffing, help with daily living activities and support programs for families. If you’re still figuring out which level fits, my guide to independent living vs. assisted living vs. memory care walks through the differences.

The Apartments

Independent and assisted living residents choose from studio and one-bedroom floor plans, and memory care offers private or companion (shared) suites. Apartments include kitchenettes, ample storage and most utilities, and some look out over Soquel. Rentals are month-to-month with no buy-in fee, which is a big difference from the entrance-fee continuing care communities many families tour first. Nobody has to hand over a large lump sum up front to move in.

Because the community is new, every apartment is new construction. That matters more than people think when you’re moving someone who has lived in the same house for 40 years. Fresh finishes, modern accessibility and a building designed from day one for older adults make the adjustment easier.

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Selling Mom or Dad's Home to Pay for Care?

Bay Area assisted living runs $7,800 to $8,300 a month, and the house is usually the only asset big enough to cover it. This guide walks you through timing the sale, who has legal authority to sign, the capital gains rules for seniors in care, and how a sale affects Medi-Cal and VA benefits, so the decision gets made from strength instead of in a crisis.

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Dining, Amenities and Daily Life

Meals are chef-prepared and served restaurant style in the dining room, which sits around a full commercial kitchen. There’s also a bistro café for coffee and casual bites. Directory listings note room service, guest meals and accommodations for special diets.

Beyond the dining room, residents have:

• An on-site theater and movie lounge
• A library and reading room
• A game and social lounge
• A creative arts studio
• A salon and barber services
• Fitness and wellness programs designed for all ability levels
• An outdoor courtyard, walking paths, a community garden and preserved redwoods on the grounds
• Scheduled transportation
• Housekeeping, laundry and linen service
• Pet-friendly living

Programming runs through Westmont’s Live Your Way wellness and enrichment program, which is modeled on the National Wellness Institute’s Six Dimensions of Wellness. Westmont organizes it into health and fitness, lifelong learning and innovation, connections and experiences, creative expression and art, inspiration and fellowship, and intention and purpose. In practice that means things like art classes, book discussions by the fireplace, card games, gardening, music, outings and field trips, yoga and stretching.

What Westmont of Santa Cruz Costs

Westmont doesn’t publish rates on its website, but the community has reported starting monthly base rents to the senior living directory A Place for Mom. As of October 2026, those starting rents are:

Those are base rents. In assisted living and memory care, the total monthly cost depends on the level of care a resident needs, which is set after a personal assessment. Westmont’s website has a free five-minute care assessment and a cost comparison tool that weighs senior living against staying at home, and both are worth running before your first visit. Since rates and move-in specials change, call the community to confirm current pricing and any incentives.

For a lot of the families I work with, the house is what pays for this. If you’re weighing the numbers, my aging in place vs. moving cost comparison and my guide to paying for assisted living while the house sells are good places to start.

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Location and What’s Nearby

The community sits on Soquel Drive in Soquel, a few minutes from Capitola and Aptos and about five miles from downtown Santa Cruz. Here’s what’s close by, using Westmont’s own distance estimates:

That location is a big part of the appeal. For a longtime Santa Cruz County resident, moving here doesn’t mean giving up the beach walks, the same grocery store or the same doctors at Dominican. And for adult children coming from Silicon Valley, it’s an easy drive over Highway 17 to visit. For a sense of the local housing market around the community, see my Santa Cruz home prices page.

Planning the Move From the Family Home

Choosing the community is usually the easy part. The harder part is everything that has to happen at the house: sorting decades of belongings, deciding what fits in a studio or one-bedroom, and figuring out whether to sell before or after the move. Because Westmont of Santa Cruz rents month-to-month with no buy-in, you have more flexibility on timing than you would with an entrance-fee community, but you still want a plan.

Here’s what I usually recommend to families. Measure the new apartment early and plan furniture around it, so you’re only moving what fits. Bring in a senior move manager if the downsizing feels overwhelming. Use my checklist for moving a parent into assisted living so nothing falls through the cracks. And talk with a tax professional before you sell, because a long-held California home can carry real capital gains and property tax considerations.

How to Visit Westmont of Santa Cruz

• Address: 5630 Soquel Drive, Soquel, CA 95073
• Phone: (831) 855-8168
• Website: Westmont of Santa Cruz
• Tours: Schedule through the community’s website or by phone
• State records: You can look up the license and inspection history on the California Department of Social Services care facility search using license 435202987

When you tour, bring your questions about care assessments, how care charges are calculated, what’s included in the base rent, the memory care daily routine and current move-in incentives. Visit at a mealtime if you can, since the dining room tells you a lot about a community’s culture.

Free Family Strategy Session

Paying for Mom or Dad's care with the house? Find out how many months of care it will fund.

In a 30-minute call, we'll estimate your parent's net proceeds after selling costs and taxes, map that against the care costs you're looking at, and sort out timing: sell before the move, after it, or bridge the gap. You'll leave with real numbers and a clear order of operations. No listing agreement, no pressure.

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If you’re helping a parent get ready for a move to Westmont of Santa Cruz or another community in Santa Cruz County, and the family home is part of the plan, I’m happy to talk through timing and options with no pressure. You can reach me at 408-413-3087 or book a time on my calendar.

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