Erickson Communities builds its business on first impressions. The company caters to discerning adults who seek active retirement living in quality homes.

It is not surprising that the company's first priority for its newest retirement community construction project, Maris Grove, located 25 miles southwest of Philadelphia, was to build a state-of-the-art Welcome Center. The purpose of the Welcome Center is to make a great first impression and also to educate and sell prospective buyers.

What might be surprising is that the company decided to re-use modular space units from an earlier, similar project to establish the important new Maris Grove Welcome Center.

"We worked with ModSpace on many, many interior design details of our new Maris Grove Welcome Center," said Chris Jedd, Erickson project manager. "Selecting modular units from ModSpace that we had previously used at another site actually gave us a leg up on planning our newest Welcome Center. These previously used units gave us a running start on how to design both the inside and the surrounding landscape to create the true feel of Maris Grove before we began the actual construction phases of the project."

The ModSpace and Erickson team agreed that the decision to repurpose previously used modular space assets for the project in no way detracted from achieving an impressive visual and functional outcome. The result was achieved with frequent communication, responsiveness by ModSpace to stay abreast of interior design upgrades or changes, and learning from the site where the units were previously used for a similar application.

"We were impressed with the consistency ModSpace displayed at keeping up with the modifications our team felt were necessary to update the modular space into a Welcome Center that worked hard on several levels but that also would provide a comfortable and inviting ambiance," said Chris Jedd.

The new Welcome Center comprises seven double wide modular units from ModSpace to create an interior space of more than 5,000 square feet. The Erickson team was very specific about many details they wanted covered in the interior design strategy of the Welcome Center. The company wanted to establish a particular ambiance inside the Welcome Center that would provide an elegant education about the new community and also would facilitate the actual marketing of Maris Grove.

The Maris Grove Welcome Center will act as an introductory headquarters for the new Erickson Community for up to two years and features two retention ponds, custom landscaping, and paved, well marked parking. It features seven offices including a Design Center, a Retirement Counselor's office, operations offices, work rooms and a pantry. The waiting and reception area has been constructed with Level 5 drywall that will accept 8' x 15' custom graphics of the new community. The unit also provides men's and women's bathroom facilities; telephone and high-speed Internet; and a custom main entrance vestibule for safe and easy entry and exit. The vestibule also helps maintain a comfortable and consistent interior temperature.