By Catherine Reagor and Lesley Wright | The Republic | azcentral.com
Retirees might not line up to buy homes in Sun City as they did when it opened on New Year’s Day 1960. Nor are the two bowling alleys as busy as they once were, or golfers having to endure long waits anymore before they tee off on its eight courses.
But today’s Sun City isn’t a fading image of yesterday’s retirement dream. Powered by a stream of renovation-minded younger buyers, the first big retirement community in the West is evolving.
Updated stucco exteriors are found across the street from the 1960s and 1970s cement-block houses. Pickleball courts and upgraded gyms coexist with golf carts and bowling shoes.
And most of the 27,000 Sun City houses built by Del Webb are occupied as Sun City catches some of the first wave of Baby Boomer retirees, many of who are young enough to be the grandchildren of its original residents.
