“I do drink the kool-aid!” Erica Thrash-Sall laughs as she lists reason after reason she’s fallen in love with Horizon House, the First Hill senior-living nonprofit where she serves as CEO. There are the immediately obvious attributes like the museum-quality art, the library with a section for resident authors, the cozy nooks and ample green space, as well as the resident-curated calendar of events. But what she’s most taken with is actually beneath all that: It’s the community that ties everything here together.

This is the reason why Thrash-Sall is thrilled that Horizon House’s community is on the cusp of significant expansion—in December 2025, the life plan community (where a variety of services from independent living to memory care are offered so folks can age in place) broke ground on a 33-story West Tower that will increase the number of residences by approximately one-third. When it’s completed in 2029, it will be one of the tallest purpose-built senior-living high-rises in the country. And though the project had already been green-lighted when Thrash-Sall stepped in as CEO in 2023, she’s been instrumental in the project’s success, both logistically and socially, making sure residents and staff feel heard and valued through a period of exponential change.

There are  three pivotal moments Thrash-Sall credits for her journey from University of South Carolina history major to Horizon House CEO. They play like a movie montage.

Thrash-Sall at the construction site for forthcoming West Tower residences.

Photo by John Vicory

In the first scene, she’s an enthusiastic young employee at Detroit’s Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring organization, becoming acutely aware that though she wants to work in the service of others, her passion is behind the scenes. “I really don’t have the gift of hands-on service,” she says. “But I realized then what I do have is a ton of admiration and respect for the work that they do. And I wanted them to be able to do the good work without ever having to worry about funding, supplies, any of that.”

In the next scene, she’s a year into a job at Ascension, one of the country’s leading nonprofit Catholic healthcare systems. Her boss, faced with eliminating half the department due to the 2008 financial crisis, chooses to keep Thrash-Sall because of her drive, tenacity, and problem-solving abilities. (Cue audience cheering for the underdog.) She spends a decade rising through the ranks, from volunteer coordinator to community benefit lead.

In the final look back, she’s in Flint, Michigan, ready to use her education and experience to uplift her hometown community. She lands a role as the first executive director of a 100-year-old assisted living and affordable housing community where she can focus on her priorities: older adults, women’s health, and education. She’s able to spend time with her family, particularly her 99-year-old grandmother, in the last months of her life.

Combined, these vignettes illustrate a life and career driven by purpose. When she began to consider a career move, “I really wanted to be smart and strategic about it. I wanted to work somewhere that had capacity for me to grow and for me to help it grow,” Thrash-Sall says. “I also started to look at the quality of my own life—I’m aging as well. And I wanted to live and work in a place that contributed to the quality of life. Seattle and Horizon House checked every single box.”

“It’s really an example of what you can do when all the things go right around investing in longevity, purposeful living.”—Erica Thrash-Sall, CEO, Horizon House

Compared to the organizations and populations she served in Michigan, Horizon House is “at the other end of the spectrum,” she says. “It’s really an example of what you can do when all the things go right around investing in longevity, purposeful living.” But the throughline she’s found, regardless of socio-economics, is the social connection. It’s the people, after all, that make the place. “That’s the priceless thing—that’s the key.”

And people are what Thrash-Sall invests in most. When she started at Horizon House, residents already understood why the West Tower was needed: It’s no secret that with Baby Boomers heading into their 80s, occupancy rates in senior living are at an all-time high. Reports confirm that demand is outpacing  development in most areas. And perhaps nowhere in Seattle is as desirable to this population as First Hill, where access to shopping and arts performances join a conflux of nationally renowned hospital facilities within blocks of one another.

Horizon House’s resident-led, community-first culture is at the heart of the new development.

Images by Plomp for Mithun

But just because residents understood didn’t mean everyone was happy about it. Thrash-Sall quickly saw that Horizon House invested in its residents. It took an extra three years—plus a substantial financial investment—to relocate the 50 residents displaced by the necessary teardown to start construction on the West Tower. “It’s a heavy lift to do a $600-million project!” Thrash-Sall explains. “But what makes Horizon House special is what we’re able to do under one roof, with resident engagement. That’s what’s allowed us to be successful for 65 years and will allow us to be successful for 65 more.”

Some staff has been with Horizon House for nearly 40 of those 65 years; Thrash-Sall says they’re a testament to the kind of community Horizon House has cultivated. In her short tenure, she may not be able to take credit for the impressive retention rate, but one of her priorities as CEO is making sure no employee feels left behind “in an age of disruption in every single industry.” She works hard to offer staff education opportunities, scholarships, and leadership training, and she encourages friendships at work through karaoke parties, dress-up days with residents, and other bonding experiences, noting “we want you to feel like a whole person—whatever feeds your soul.”

Ready to make your deposit? You’re not the only one. More than 80 percent of the West Tower units are already reserved, and Thrash-Sall is thrilled to welcome more residents into the mix. “I always joke, I think the only criterion to live here is you have to be interesting,” she says. “It’s a place where people are still growing, still developing, still producing, even in their 90s. That’s why they want to live in this urban core—they want to live where life is vibrant. This is their city, and they want to stay a part of it.”