SearStone Celebrates First Anniversary, Assesses Positive Economic Impact
SearStone Continuing Care Retirement Community welcomed its first official residents on Nov. 1, 2013. To help celebrate the community’s first anniversary, residents, staff and board members attended a special ceremony on Nov. 7 to recognize the occasion and dedicate the lake around which the community is centered.
The first anniversary also served as an appropriate milestone to assess SearStone’s contributions to the local economy. SearStone’s management team has released the following figures illustrating its economic impact in its first year of operation:
• 81 full-time employees
• 38 part-time employees
• Annual payroll of $3.3 million
• $60 million in construction costs, materials and manpower
(using mostly North Carolina contractors)
• 200 construction workers onsite at any given time
• $336,000 spent annually on food supplies
• $38,400 spent annually on plants/landscaping
• $156,000 donated to local charities so far through the SearStone /
Lutheran Services Carolinas Community Benefit Committee
• $25,000 estimated spent with local moving companies
Upon completion of future phases of the community, SearStone is expected to employ nearly 300. Other positive contributions include resident food drives, donation of meeting spaces, and hosting cultural activities like lectures, concerts and art open houses. As written in SearStone’s charter as a nonprofit organization, it will also continue to donate five percent of its gross revenue to local nonprofits that benefit seniors.
“When SearStone was just a distant dream of our founder Bill Sears’, he knew he wanted it to be an asset to Cary,” said Chris Romick, SearStone executive director. “These figures representing a portion of our positive economic impact show we are well on our way to achieving that goal.”
For more information about SearStone, visit www.searstone.com.
Visit SearStone’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/SearStoneRetirementCommunity
or follow @SearStone on Twitter.
About SearStone
SearStone is a continuing care retirement community located at the southeast corner of High House Road and Davis Drive in Cary. The community is not-for-profit and offers several different home styles for independent residents 62 years and older. SearStone gives residents exclusive access to long-term-care services such as home health care, assisted living, and nursing care. SearStone has been mentioned in numerous national publications such as The New York Times and is currently accepting deposits for membership. For more information, visit www.searstone.com, call 1-866-843-7534 or attend one of our events.