Greystone Announces Diamond Award Winners at The Event

Greystone presents the Diamond Awards each year to honor the most accomplished Greystone-managed senior living communities from around the country. The Diamond Awards take into account several components:

Resident satisfaction
First impressions
Financial performance
Hospitality
Professional employee growth
Community accomplishments
Leadership development

To be considered, each community submits a binder that documents its performance in these areas and more. Holleran conducts resident and employee satisfaction surveys, and Greystone conducts an unannounced first-impressions visit. Finally, Greystone evaluates each community’s submission and scores to determine if it qualifies for a Diamond Award.

The Diamond Awards feature four tiers: one Diamond (score of 82–86), two Diamonds (87–90), three Diamonds (91–94), and four Diamonds (95 and higher). This year’s ceremony also included a special Diamond Award presented to LeadingAge CEO Larry Minnix.

While the Diamond Awards are not an end to themselves, they do help communities deliver on service excellence and provide the very best senior living management services. Here are this year’s honorees:

Two-Diamond Recognition

Edgemere
Sponsor: Senior Quality Lifestyles Corporation
Location: Dallas, Texas
ED: John Falldine

Santa Marta
Sponsor: Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas
Location: Olathe, Kan.
ED: Chet Surmaczewicz

One-Diamond Recognition

Aberdeen Heights
Sponsor: Presbyterian Manors of Mid-America
Location: Kirkwood, Mo.
ED: Jamie Kneen

The Buckingham
Sponsor: Senior Quality Lifestyles Corporation
Location: Houston, Texas
ED: Julie Fenske

Edgewood Summit
Sponsor: ABH, Inc.
Location: Charleston, W.Va.
ED: Diane Gouhin

Gulf Coast Village
Sponsor: Volunteers of America
Location: Cape Coral, Fla.
ED: Kevin Ahmadi

Querencia at Barton Creek
Sponsor: Senior Quality Lifestyles Corporation
Location: Austin, Texas
ED: Nate Weyand

See photos from the Diamond Award presentation in the gallery below.

Photos: Follow-Up From The Greystone Event

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Each summer, The Greystone Event welcomes senior living professionals from organizations and locations around the country to Texas for three days of networking and education sessions that share best practices and industry trends.

This year’s Event kicked off with a special presentation by Dave Ferguson on the recent merger between American Baptist Homes of the West and be.group. The merger between these two non-profit senior living providers formed a new entity with nearly $1.5 billion in assets and $360 million in annual revenue. Together they serve 9,800 residents and employ 3,700 staff members at 83 total communities.

The behind-the-scenes look at this merger set the perfect tone for the rest of the education sessions, which covered other important topics, including:

Leadership strategies
The economic downturn’s current impact on capital markets
Executing strategic change
Resident expectations and the Fair Housing Act
Innovation in design and development
Finding success with healthcare brands
The science behind sales
Service quality excellence

Optimizing market share served as the theme throughout the presentations, further highlighted by an address from LeadingAge CEO Larry Minnix. As always, The Event served as a valuable mid-year opportunity to look at our industry and our individual organizations — and to consider how we can collectively take advantage of the opportunities ahead.

See photos from The Greystone Event 2015 in the gallery below. Stay tuned in August for video highlights and more content from these three days in Texas.

Boise’s First Life Care Community Welcomes Residents

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Idaho’s newest continuing care retirement community is now open. Comments from one of the first residents of The Terraces of Boise say it all:

From Susie Nystrom: “After the movers left, I closed the door to my house and entered the combination for the new owners. I said ‘goodbye house’ and ‘hello to my new adventure.’ I’m not looking back; I’m only looking forward.”

Two couples and two individuals moved into The Terraces on Monday, July 27 — the senior living community’s first day of operation. These first few residents spent their initial day at The Terraces by settling into their apartments and cottages, dining on a patio that overlooks the mountains, and breaking in the main dining room.

Sponsored by American Baptist Homes of the West, The Terraces at Boise is the first life care community in its namesake city. Construction began in late 2013, and it now includes 161 independent living apartments, 40 assisted living apartments, 24 memory care suites and 48 skilled nursing beds. Greystone served as development consultant on the project.

Learn more about The Terraces of Boise.

In the gallery below, see photos from June that show the final stages of construction.

Tour The Terraces at Los Altos From the Air

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Get a drone’s-eye view of progress on Phase III of redevelopment at The Terraces at Los Altos, an ABHOW-sponsored CCRC in Los Altos, Calif.

After a Phase I that included new memory support and skilled nursing units, and a Phase II that added assisted living and commons, The Terraces is currently in Phase III of redevelopment — 87 independent living units, commons and a garage. This third phase is expected to open in late 2016.

While the Terraces continues to be a thriving senior living community even during this redevelopment project, it will become one of California’s premier continuing care retirement communities once Phase III is complete.

Take an aerial tour using the video player below.

Click here to learn more about The Terraces at Los Altos.

Almost Complete: Punch Process Underway at East Ridge

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The expansion of East Ridge at Cutler Bay is looking more and more complete as summer moves forward. New photos taken on July 9 show the installation of sidewalks, roadways and landscaping. The punch process is underway in new assisted living, memory support and skilled nursing apartments. And the project team is preparing for state health department inspections in August — and a certificate of occupancy if all remains on schedule.

East Ridge is a continuing care retirement community that first opened in 1961 in Cutler Bay, Fla. SantaFe Senior Living announced its $70 million expansion in 2013. When the expansion project is complete, East Ridge will include 195 independent living apartments, 90 assisted living apartments, 31 memory care suites and 74 private skilled nursing rooms. Greystone is serving as development consultant on the project.

See the latest aerial photos from East Ridge in the gallery below.

Click here to learn more about East Ridge at Cutler Bay.