How Sequoia Living Seeks to Grow by Getting Better First, Bigger Second

The current year is shaping up to be one of “abundance” for Sequoia Living as occupancy continues to rise and growth plans are underway, according to CEO Sara McVey.

But don’t expect a huge growth spurt from the organization soon, as improvement is a higher priority than simple expansion in 2025, she added.

Founded 60 years ago, San Francisco-based Sequoia today manages four life plan communities in Northern California along with three affordable senior housing properties. The organization intends to build a fourth affordable property once the broader development and financing climates improve, McVey told Senior Housing News.

To expand its reach beyond its communities’ four walls, Sequoia also operates two senior living centers in San Francisco. Alongside its owned portfolio, Sequoia also provides resident services and staff at 16 affordable senior housing communities.

Although growth is on McVey’s mind, Sequoia in 2025 is looking internally to improve operations and service lines prior to seeking scale.

“We’re not looking to be exponentially bigger than we are today, but if we can have a strategic growth pathway, we’d be interested in that certainly,” McVey said. “I think for us, it’s more about getting better at what we already do rather than getting substantially bigger.”

Sequoia has in some communities renovated and upgraded vacant resident units. The “vintage” nature of some buildings and units requires that Sequoia essentially gut them “down to the studs” and refurbish them, McVey said.

Sequoia opened its fourth community, Sequoia Living Viamonte at Walnut Creek, in December 2020, and McVey noted the community was already full. The organization retooled its waiting list at the community to require a more substantial $20,000 deposit that’s credited to residents upon move-in or refunded fully.

“We got rid of the $1,000-$1,500 waiting list because it was a long list of people who weren’t ready to move in,” McVey said. “The trickiest part of high occupancy is the engagement and creating connections with people.”

To help increase engagement, McVey said Sequoia as an organization is mulling the idea of creating a membership program for residents, and exploring partnerships with third-party organizations.

“People say the boomers are changing what people want, but I don’t think that’s true,” McVey said. “I think the boomers are further revealing what everybody wants, which is to live their best life for as long as they can.”

But what is changing are the ways in which senior living operators can use their clinical expertise and lifestyle engagement knowledge to build proactive wellness programming that moves away from the traditional scheduled group classes to emphasizing personalization, she said.

“Personalization is what people need in order to truly live that out in practice,” McVey said.

McVey believes senior living can implement even more proactive and preventive health care services or programming to help residents improve health and wellbeing.

She sees potential in some mainstream longevity and wellness options, including wearable technology-enabled devices. For example, potentially offering Oura ring subscriptions to residents and staff, McVey said. The wearable ring tracks 30 different biometric data points, according to the Oura website.

Internally, McVey sees the biggest challenge in operations being the “white-knuckling of the status quo,” in which changing old practices takes thought leadership, action and time spent to improve culture. To improve employee culture, Sequoia department teams are cross-trained in multiple areas of the community to expose them to the broader organization. To improve retention, Sequoia offers tuition reimbursements for staff and staff family members to support staff.

With the support of its senior centers acting as “hubs,” McVey sees opportunities to serve more residents and older adults living in their homes with services. These operations pair with the organization’s affordable senior housing effort, aiming to improve access to housing for older adults in California.

According to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, people over the age of 50 serve as the fastest-growing group of people experiencing homelessness with figures expected to double by 2030.

“Affordability is the elephant in the room for senior living,” McVey said.

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