Century Village

Of perhaps greater significance are the figures derived from tax surveys. The tax records from three thirteenth-century villages, located in Asia Minor and the coastal islands, demonstrate that from a total of fifty-one households two provided care for underage relatives, a nephew and a young sister, probably cases of guardianship, but that no households sheltered adopted children. ... 

One of the best examples of a large scale, planned retirement community, a geronclave, is Century Village in Pembroke Pines. The Century Village concept was originated in 1967 by H. Irwin Levy, a Palm Beach lawyer. The Cenvill... 

Century Village Boca Raton (Palm Beach) Jewish... 

Century Village Deerfield Beach (Broward) Jewish and French... 

Century Village Pembroke Pines (Broward) Jewish and Hispanic... 

Development Corporation constructed four Century Villages in South Florida (West Palm Beach, Deerfield Beach, Boca Raton, and Pembroke Pines) with a combined total of more than 30,000 units and more than 50,000 residents (Fig. 102.2). Century Village became the model for other retirement communities throughout South Florida (Colburn deFlaven-Smith, 2002 55), although Cenvill Development Corporation did not take the model nationwide. 

Fig. 102.2 Aerial photo of Century Village, Pembroke Pines...

Fig. 102.8 Century Village, Trolley Transportation Service Provided...

Fig. 102.8). Chafetz avers that Century Village is just guys and gals having a blast at summer camp (Chafetz, 1988 237). Sanua (2007) posits that Century Village was somewhat modeled after the borscht belt in the Catskill Mountains in New York (Kanfer, 1989), where much of its Jewish clientele had vacationed previously. 

Advertisements in Jewish newspapers in the New York metropolitan area invited people to luncheons in the New York metropolitan area to see movies of Century Village and to hear about the Century Village experience. Partially paid trips were offered to Palm Beach County. Potential buyers would fly or drive to Florida at then-own expense, but then Century Village would pay for their hotel room and food and would even arrange for them to be picked up at the airport. Anyone purchasing an apartment would be given a credit for their airfare at the closing, so the entire trip would actually be covered (Sanua, 2007). 

Illustrating the catering to a mostly New York Jewish market, is that of the 60 shows in Century Village clubhouse theaters from November 2008 to March 2009, no fewer than 12 shows contain either Jewish comedians or Jewish themes. All four Century Village theaters book the same shows each season. Thus, only two of the 60 shows are oriented toward the Hispanic audience. Note that the theater season runs during the months when the Jewish snowbird population is in Florida. 

Note that a number of other communities used the word century as part of their name- Century City, Century Town, Century Community-to take advantage of the large-scale advertising done by Century Village. These developments benefitted when people called the wrong Century (Sanua, 2007). 

Century Village in West Palm Beach has also shown significant ethnic change. This Century Village is a Census Designated Place (CDP) and thus there are Census... 

Major new strip centers and shopping malls follow in the vicinity of the large-scale, planned retirement communities. Figure 102.2 shows a shopping center abutting Century Village Pembroke Pines on the northeast with a supermarket, dmg store. Home Depot and other small shops. In 2008, the Home Depot moved about 1.5 mi (2.4 km) to the east to be more central to their entire customer base now that Century Village is fully occupied. 

Doctors offices, hospitals, chiropractors, acupuncturists, magnetic resonance imaging offices, opticians, physical therapy centers, and pharmacies locate just outside large-scale retirement communities (Fig. 102.19). Figure 102.2 shows the Memorial West Hospital within one mile (1.6 km) of Century Village. 

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