John C. Erickson

Who is John C. Erickson?

John C. Erickson 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 by 2000, with 2,500 residents.

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. The company currently employs nearly 12,000 individuals, who serve more than 22,000 residents in ten states.

Other Erickson communities, built following the success at Charlestown, include a joint-venture with the Ford Motor Company on a $135 million campus in Novi, Michigan; Oak Crest Village in Parkville, Maryland; and communities in Springfield, Virginia; Ashburn, Virginia; Bucks County, Pennsylvania; Delaware County, Pennsylvania; Tinton Falls, New Jersey; Pompton Plains, New Jersey; Highlands Ranch, Colorado; Overland Park, Kansas; Houston, Texas; Dallas, Texas; Silver Spring, Maryland; Peabody, Massachusetts; and Hingham, Massachusetts.

Erickson Retirement was in the midst of a major expansion in several metropolitan markets when the severe downturn in housing sales brought on by the financial crisis of 2008 made it impossible for the company to continue meeting all of its loan obligations. On October 20, 2009, after an unsuccessful search for alternative funding sources, Erickson Retirement Communities filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. The company emerged from bankruptcy within a few months of filing and has since been re-branded as Erickson Living.