Erickson Retirement Communities, now known as Erickson Living, is the largest developer and operator of campus-style, continuing care retirement communities in the United States.[1] The company currently employs nearly 12,000 individuals, who serve more than 22,000 residents in ten states.The company emerged from bankruptcy within a few months of filing and has since been re-branded as Erickson Living.[2] It is currently owned by the investment firm Redwood Capital.
John C. Erickson[3] developed an industry-recognized prototype lifestyle for moderate-income retirees at the Charlestown Retirement Community in Catonsville, Maryland in 1983. Erickson converted the turn-of-the-century abandoned seminary at Charlestown into America's largest continuing care retirement community (CCRC) by 2000, with 2,500 residents.[1]
Other Erickson communities, built following the success at Charlestown, include a joint-venture with the Ford Motor Company on a $135 million campus in Dearborn, Michigan; Oak Crest Village in Baltimore, Maryland; and communities in Springfield, Virginia; Tinton Falls, New Jersey; Silver Spring, Maryland; Peabody, Massachusetts; and Pequannock, New Jersey.[4]
On October 20, 2009, after an unsuccessful search for alternative funding sources,[5] Erickson Retirement Communities filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.[6] The company emerged from bankruptcy within a few months of filing and has since been re-branded as Erickson Living.[7]
Erickson Living is affiliated with the Erickson School [8] at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, through common ties to John Erickson and the Erickson Foundation. In 2008, the company was identified as one of the best places to work in America.[9]