The Tragedy of Modern Retirement Communities

When Sun City, the first 55-plus retirement community, opened 52 years ago, average life expectancy for Americans was 69.7. It seemed like the perfect spot to live out the last 10 or 15 years of your life. They’d be golden years indeed, colored by sunny days and the carefree lifestyle of age-segregated developments: no traffic, no kids, no nonsense. Just heated pools and exercise classes and nights full of Mah Jong and bridge. Amid cookie cutter homes, retirement communities promised companionship.

But what happens now that the average life expectancy is 78.7, and those original residents are still there, 20 or even 30 years later, having outlived their spouses and many of their friends? That’s the subject of a new documentary by filmmaker Sari Gilman called Kings Point, the name of the Floridian retirement community in which her own grandmother lived for 30 years.