Insight NewsletterSpring 2015

© 2015 Coldspring. All rights reserved.

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Michigan Memorial Park Finds Creative, Beautiful Niche Opportunities

Located in Flat Rock, Mich., the family-owned Michigan Memorial Park has served southeastern Michigan since 1926. This 290-acre memorial cemetery on the banks of the Huron River offers a wide variety of options, from traditional burial to mausoleum units and cremation niches. For the past 25 years, Michigan

Memorial Park has worked closely with Coldspring to develop memorable choices for permanent memorialization. Recently, Coldspring has produced a unique granite water feature niche for

the park. “It came to me last year that a water feature would be a perfect addition near our existing lighthouse columbarium,” said Kelly Dwyer, President, Michigan Memorial Park. “After consulting with Coldspring about our idea, we decided that an urn-shaped fountain surrounded

by niches would be perfect.”

Like Michigan Memorial Park, many cemeteries are looking for creative ways to add niche space to their properties. As cremation rates continue to rise, this trend will continue as cemeteries seek to maximize their existing land space. “Due to the rising cremation rate, niche spaces are now at a premium,” said Johnny Phillips, Director of Sales, Coldspring. “A few years ago, a particular memorial park might construct a mausoleum/columbaria complex with 300 crypts and 50 niches; today those numbers are reversed.”

In addition to facing a rising demand for niche space, memorial parks are increasingly focused on their landscaping and efforts toward beatifying their columbaria and mausoleum spaces. “Today’s cemeterians are looking for ways to increase the aesthetic appeal of their columbaria,” explained Greg Terhaar, Director of Sales, Coldspring. “By beautifying their property, cemeterians can differentiate themselves from their competitors.”

Michigan Memorial Park’s water feature was

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Michigan Memorial Park Finds Creative, Beautiful Niche Opportunities

formed from Carnelian® and Rockville Beige® granite to match the park’s existing lighthouse columbarium. The water feature stands at 6 feet, 6 inches tall and more than 16 feet wide. Completed in the fall of 2014, the water feature columbarium includes 132 niches. The result is a unique columbarium that adds sound and movement to the park. “It’s so massive and beautiful,” said Dwyer.“I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s such a nice addition to our park.”

Another beautiful niche feature at Michigan Memorial Park is the bronze angel niche wall on the exterior of the Garden of Angels Mausoleum, created with Coldspring’s Expressions in Bronze® technology. Unique and eye-catching, the photo-realistic angel is the first thing visitors notice when approaching the mausoleum. The angel is constructed of individual bronze pieces secured to the two-story niche wall. The park has individually priced each niche space, and premium locations such as the angel’s face have a higher price than other locations such as the sky.

According to Dwyer, the angel niche wall has been very well received and, like the water feature niche, helps set the park apart from others in the area. Michigan Memorial Park is currently adding four private mausoleum units from Coldspring to the area surrounding the water feature.

“Working with Coldspring is wonderful,” said Dwyer. “That’s the first word that comes to mind. Coldspring’s quality is always excellent, and they have been so great in capturing my vision and the look that signifies Michigan Memorial Park.”

“Coldspring’s quality is always excellent, and they have been so great in capturing my vision and the look that signifies Michigan Memorial Park.”

Kelly Dwyer Michigan Memorial Park

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Coldspring began an initiative to source and supply its own glass-front niches. The addition of our new glass-front niche offering will enable us to expand and better service our customers’ needs in the future.

Glass-front niches remain one of the most prevalent methods of memorialization, and they are an important segment of the memorial market. They offer numerous benefits, including:

Maximizing new or unused space to generate revenue

A memorialization method many families prefer to visit more frequently

Availability in different sizes

Options for phasing/expansion

Ability for families to personalize

As the trend towards cremation continues to rise, it’s important for cemeteries, funeral homes and churches to understand the options and inform consumers of the possibilities. Many consumers don’t understand the importance of memorialization when a loved one chooses cremation. It’s important for cemeteries to continue to educate families about options for cremated remains, and the importance of a permanent place for remembrance. You can rely on a trusted partner such as Coldspring to assist you in your efforts.

Visit our website for more information.

Our Personal Reflections® online memorial design system improves customer experience while saving your business time and money. Personal Reflections is the industry’s most advanced web-based selection system. To learn more about the system, view our new video here.

With our Expressions in Bronze® process, you can tell a story and share memories of your loved one with a personalized memorial, permanently cast in bronze. Your personal photos create a collage that conveys the narrative of your loved one’s life with photo-realistic detail. The beautiful, high-definition memorial creates a tribute and legacy as individual as the person being honored. To learn more about Expressions in Bronze, watch our new video here.

New videos now available

Coldspring Integrates Glass-Front Niches

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Precast foundations from Coldspring allow for year-round construction, unlike poured-in-place foundations. For our customers, the method is proving highly successful and for many reasons. During project installation, disruption at your cemetery is minimal. Utilizing a truck and crane, both the foundation and columbarium or private estate are installed at the same time. This allows for installation time to be reduced to a fraction of the time of poured-in-place, which often times can take weeks to complete. This makes the process streamlined and efficient. Customers benefit from a turnkey solution without having to hire numerous businesses or contractors for the various steps involved with poured-in-place foundations.

The benefits of precast foundations are significant. If you’d like to learn more about precast, watch our video of a recent precast installation in action.

To discuss a precast foundation for your next project, contact your Regional Sales Manager at 800.328.5040.

A Strong Foundation – Precast Foundations Increase Efficiencies for Coldspring Customers

17482 Granite West Road Cold Spring, MN 56320

T: 800.328.5040 F: 320.685.8490

www.coldspringusa.com

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