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Leisure World Seal Beach, which in 1962 introduced many of the innovations that would distinguish later senior living developments, saw certified community manager Jessica Sedgwick assume the top job June 22 in the 60-year-old community.
Leisure World, which houses people 55 and older in over 6,600 living units, recruited Sedgwick from her position as the general manager of San Bernadino County’s Ontario Ranch, which is California’s top-selling master-planned development.
Sedgwick, a UCLA graduate, holds two of the highest community management certifications, and has qualified for the examination necessary to gain the field’s most prestigious designation, Professional Community Association Manager.
In her new position, Sedgwick will be supervising approximately 170 employees who maintain miles of streets and infrastructure, a 2,500-seat amphitheater, and multiple clubhouses in the mile-square community. In fact, Leisure World is virtually its own city, hosting a library, 24/7 security, newspaper, bus system, pharmacy and a 16,000-square-foot healthcare facility.
Sedgwick will be inheriting many new improvements. In the two years before its 60th anniversary, Leisure World upgraded and enlarged its fitness facility, and significantly expanded its swimming pool. It also built a second performance venue, an internet-wired learning center and game room, and refurbished its arts studios and woodshop.
Leisure World Seal Beach opened to residents in June 1962. It was the first of Ross and Alona Cortese’s Leisure World senior communities, and nationally promoted as offering country club living for active seniors. After Leisure World Seal Beach, the Corteses built Leisure World communities in Laguna Woods and Walnut Hills, California. There are other Leisure World developments in Florida, Maryland, Arizona and New Jersey.
