The History of Sun City, Arizona

Opening Day, January 1, 1960

Del Webb was a contractor and baseball team owner — he built the original Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas and co-owned the New York Yankees. When he turned his attention to retirement housing on 20,000 acres of cotton farmland northwest of Phoenix in the late 1950s, his bankers told him no one would move to the desert to retire and certainly no one would want to live in a community restricted to older adults.

On New Year's Day 1960, Webb opened Sun City to the public. He expected a few hundred visitors. A hundred thousand people showed up in the first weekend. Traffic backed up for miles on the two-lane road from Phoenix. The model home sales office sold 272 homes in the first three days. Webb had invented an entirely new category of real estate.

The concept was radical for its time: sell retirement not as the end of an active life but as its continuation. Instead of nursing homes and quiet neighborhoods, Sun City offered golf courses, recreation centers, swimming pools, and a calendar of organized activities. The pitch was “active retirement living” — a phrase Webb essentially coined. The country had never seen anything like it.

How the RCSC Model Was Born

Del Webb built Sun City over 25 years, completing it in 1978 with roughly 27,000 homes. Throughout construction, he operated the recreation centers and golf courses directly. When the community was complete, Webb faced a decision: who would run the facilities permanently?

The answer was the Recreation Centers of Sun City (RCSC) — a non-profit member organization that Webb transferred ownership of the facilities to in 1975. Residents pay an annual fee (currently around $530 at purchase as a one-time transfer fee, then annual assessments) and in return own — collectively — all of Sun City's recreation infrastructure. There is no outside management company taking a cut. Every dollar of RCSC revenue goes back into the facilities and programs.

This structure is why Sun City has no traditional HOA. There is no monthly HOA fee in the conventional sense. The RCSC assessment model is different — and it is why buyers who understand the structure often prefer it to private-HOA communities where a management company controls costs and quality.

The Sun City Timeline

What This History Means for Buyers Today

Sun City original is 65 years old — the oldest homes date to 1960, the newest to 1978. That age is the single biggest factor shaping the buyer decision. You are buying 1960s–1970s construction with all that implies: smaller floor plans, single-car garages, original electrical and plumbing systems in many homes, popcorn ceilings and harvest gold kitchens in the unrenovated units.

The RCSC assets, by contrast, are well-maintained and continuously upgraded. The golf courses, fitness centers, pools, and recreation buildings receive ongoing capital investment from the member fees. The community infrastructure is excellent — it is the homes themselves that require more due diligence than newer communities.

For buyers, this creates a genuine opportunity: Sun City prices are typically 20–40% below comparable square footage in Sun City West or Sun City Grand, and the RCSC amenity package is equal to or better than either. Buyers who are comfortable with older construction — or who budget for renovation — can get exceptional value. Buyers who prioritize move-in-ready new construction should look at Sun City Grand or the Trilogy communities instead.

Sun City's Legacy Across Arizona

Every 55+ community built in the 65 years since Sun City's opening is, in some form, an answer to what Del Webb started. The communities that followed chose either to emulate the RCSC model (open, non-profit, member-governed) or to build private HOA alternatives (gated, developer-controlled, subscription-model amenities). Understanding which model a community uses is the most important structural question any buyer can ask.