Our History at Morningside House
Assisted living began to emerge as an attractive senior housing alternative in the early 1990s. Instead of moving a to nursing home, families were now seeking a more residential environment for their loved one that still provided a high level of care and services.
The Morningside Group was founded in 1992 by three British gentlemen who had successfully developed hotels and strip malls oversees and decided to try their model here in the States. For their first American venture, they purchased a lot located in the historic district of Leesburg, Virginia with the intention of developing a strip mall. They quickly discovered that zoning prohibited this type of use and instead changed their focus to building an assisted living community. Morningside House of Leesburg (Leesburg, VA) successfully opened its doors in October, 1993.
The Englishmen decided to grow the company and raised equity to develop four additional communities:
- Morningside House of Laurel (Laurel, MD) opened July, 1996;
- Morningside House of Friendship (Hanover, MD) opened May, 1998;
- Morningside House of St. Charles (Waldorf, MD) opened August 1998;
- Morningside House of Satyr Hill (Parkville, MD) opened July, 1999.
In the fall of 1999, massive overbuilding and overcapacity hit the assisted living industry, and the Morningside Group was impacted along with everyone else. As a result, new facility fill-up slowed dramatically throughout the country, competition became intense, and new construction slowed to a trickle. The industry’s focus, and that of Morningside, switched to operations and management. Kelly Mason was recruited from a national chain to join Morningside as Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing in December of 1999, and charged with dramatically increasing occupancy and growing revenues.
In October, 2000, Morningside took over the lease of Morningside House of Ellicott City (Ellicott City, MD), which had been constructed in May, 1999 by The CareMatrix Corporation in Needham, Massachusetts. This acquisition gave Morningside a serious presence in the Baltimore/Washington market, with a consolidated portfolio of six upscale freestanding assisted living communities.
In July, 2001, Morningside’s Board of Directors decided the company needed a change in leadership and Fred Bierwirth, who had been associated with the company’s capital needs since 1995, and a Board member since 1997, was made CEO and President. Mr. Bierwirth’s background was in finance and investment banking, and he understood the need to bring in a strong, seasoned management team to successfully operate and grow the company. Kelly Mason was promoted to Chief Operating Officer, Elizabeth Shockley was brought on board as Senior Vice President of Finance and Kim Norton was internally promoted to Senior Vice President of Operations.
Since coming on-board, the senior management team has led a complete change in management philosophy, company culture and a complete restructuring of the company to position Morningside as the premier quality care and service provider in the Baltimore/Washington market. Morningside communities have an excellent reputation for providing superior care and customer service and enjoy strong word of mouth referrals from physicians, hospitals, healthcare professionals, state and local agencies, churches, and, most importantly, residents and families.
Sadly, after a long and difficult battle with Esophageal cancer, Fred Bierwirth passed away in March 2008. During his illness, Mr. Bierwirth and the Board of Directors, selected Kelly Mason to take over as President and CEO of the Morningside entities. Since that time, Mrs. Mason, Mrs. Shockley and Mrs. Norton have joyfully carried out Fred’s vision of unrelenting quality care and service, and taken Morningside to higher levels of success and profitability.
Today, Morningside is one of the most highly respected operators in the assisted living industry. The management team routinely speaks at national conferences and industry symposiums, and are guest instructors at colleges and universities.