Riviera Beach 55+ Communities

With an average annual temperature of 75 degrees paradise, Riviera Beach 55+ Communities offer retirees and active adults the optimal all-year-round Florida living.  Incorporated in 1922, Riviera Beach is around 9.8 square miles of land and water, with a barrier portion on Singer Island, an ecologically diverse stretch of Florida beauty between the Intracoastal and the Atlantic Ocean.  Adventure waits around every corner with countless unique, easily accessible, one-of-a-kind experiences and conveniences close to home.  Riviera Beach is the 11th largest municipality in Palm Beach County, with a population of 37,604 in April 2020, as noted by the U.S. Census Bureau.  This picturesque beach town is considered the most eastern city in the Miami metropolitan area.  With over 6 million residents, the Miami Metropolitan area is the 7th largest densely populated urban metro area in the United States.

There are only two Riviera Beach 55+ Communities, Sugar Sands and Palm Lake Estates, each with monthly dues ranging from $600 - $729.  Constructed in the 1970s, Sugar Sands has 2 and 3 story buildings filled with delightful 1-4 bedroom condos with total square footage ranging from 987 to 2,662.  Residents have an opportunity for a private boat dock and many other resort-style amenities such as an Olympic-sized swimming pool, a clubhouse with a full kitchen, well-kept tennis courts, and ocean access.  Constructed from the 1970s and on, Palm Lake Estates features adorable Florida mobile homes, each with total square footage ranging from 689 to 3,055, with 1-3 bedrooms and 1-2 baths.  This co-op community also features outstanding amenities such as multiple clubhouses and swimming pools, horseshoe pits, and shuffleboard courts, to name a few.  Both of these communities allow pets but have particular rules regarding them.  For more detailed information on restrictions, click on the "Association Information" box toward the bottom of the neighborhood of interest.

Lifestyle

With a down-to-earth, friendly, warm, and inviting atmosphere, the community vibe in Riviera Beach welcomes all different walks of life.  Per the city's website, Riviera Beach's mission statement is as follows: "To provide the people of Riviera Beach with reliable, secure, sound business and technology solutions that increases productivity, fosters education to our residents, employees, and businesses while engaging directly with the community and aligning its strategic goals to the business goals and Vision of The City."  There are phenomenal locally owned businesses, non-profits, parks, recreational facilities, live theater, art galleries, exhibits, live music, special events, top-tiered restaurants, and exceptional shopping within the city's vicinity.  Each Sunday, the Riviera Beach Community Redevelopment Agency, or RBCRA, puts on a TikiMarket at the Marina Event Center from 10 am - 3 pm.  Local vendors offer island-inspired snacks and drinks, plus Afro-Caribbean-influenced music, crafts, and trinkets.  Including The Peddler Produce and Gourmet Market, residents of Riviera Beach 55+ Communities enjoy fresh local produce at the beautiful farmer's markets nearby.  Making it easy for those with a particular set of tastes who relocate from the northeast, it's a quick drive to Joseph's Classic Market.  Established in NYC, Joseph's Classic Market features hand-butchered meats, fresh seafood, house-made specialty cheeses, delectable pastries, and other gourmet foods.

There are a handful of locally owned boutiques within the city like Cheri Dior's and Classy but Sassy.  Plus, it's a short drive to world-class shopping at Worth Ave on Palm Beach Island and The Gardens Mall in PBG.  Theater, comedy, and other top-scaled high production events are happening close by at places like the Lake Park Black Box Theater and the notable Kravis Center.  The Square, a massive indoor, outdoor mall in West Palm Beach, is only a fifteen-minute drive from Riviera.  The Square has it all!  Delicious restaurants, refined retail stores, locally-owned shops, and events at places like the Improv Comedy Theatre.  Clematis Street is home to many outstanding restaurants, clubs, and live music venues for those looking for a bit more action.  The city of West Palm Beach offers a free trolly system that runs from Clematis to The Square.

Nature enthusiasts appreciate the distinctive biodiversity of the "Real Florida" displayed in Riviera Beach.  There are freshwater, brackish, and saltwater ecosystems, each with an array of species of plants and animals that make for some of the most exciting nature sightings, wild experiences, fishing, snorkeling, diving, and boating in the world.  Local parks feature outdoor events, nature centers, boardwalks, trails, fitness courses, and recreational facilities for sports.  Riviera Beach is a superb location for diving enthusiasts, known for some of the best snorkeling and diving spots in the continental United States.  From beginner to professional and everything in between, reefs are accessible to all levels.  Peanut Island is close by, the size of around 80-acres, reachable only by boat.  In the heart of Riviera Beach, find Phil Foster Park at the Blue Heron Bridge, home to the world-renowned underwater snorkel and scuba diving trail.  Also, John D. MacArthur State Park is a few miles north, showcasing 1.6 gorgeous miles of untouched Atlantic shoreline accessed by trolley or foot on a charming wooden boardwalk bridge over the Lake Worth Lagoon.  In west Riviera Beach, Winding Waters Natural Areas is a terrific spot to take in the beauty of the wetland Everglades ecosystem.

Palm Beach County attracts Golf connoisseurs from all over the world.  Residents of Riviera Beach 55+ Communities have terrific, top-rated rolling greens and tropical landscapes all year long.  There are some of the best private and public golf courses in the country, including the renovated municipal North Palm Beach Country Club, given to the city of North Palm Beach by Jack Nicklaus.  The region hosts well-known golf events such as The Honda Classic, established in 1972.  This world-famous golf tournament is hosted at the PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, around a twenty-minute drive from Riviera Beach.  History buffs have in-depth opportunities to dive into the rich culture and history of Palm Beach County at museums, for instance, the Richard and Pat Johnson Palm Beach County History Museum and Palm Beach Gardens Historical Society.  For a calendar of what's happening around the area, check out the Real-ativity Monthly Happenings under the insights tab.  There is so much to do!  With all of the options, we narrow it down for you - and also offer unusual, new, off-the-beaten-path events for those who want to expand their paradigms and try something new.

History

In 1513, when Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León arrived in South Florida, he found a prosperous native community of around 20,000 people.  The land where Palm Beach County sits today was mainly home to the Ais, the Jaega, the Jobe, the Mayaimi, and the Tequesta.  The settlements found by European explorers in the 16th century are all thought to have lineal descent from ancient tribes and cultures, including the Belle Glade, dating back to 1000 BC.  The Ais, the Jaega, and the Jobe spanned east from Lake Okeechobee up the northeast coastline.  The Mayaimi lived in the Belle Glade Area or Okeechobee Basin.  Southeast down the coast, the Tequesta primarily reined in the Everglades area.

Studies indicate the Ais and Jaega likely called the land where Riviera Beach sits home, building an enormous sandbank, plus two mounds from shells and other materials.  Centuries of war, disease brought from Europe, and enslavement wrecked the native tribes of Florida, and by the end of the Third Seminole War in 1858, there were only a couple hundred left.  In 1882, Allen E. Heyser purchased 80 acres of lakefront land, including a 30ft native shell mound, from current day 10th st to 12 st in Riviera Beach.  He married Mattie Spencer, daughter of the postmaster in Lake Worth, six years later.  Cited as the first residents of Riviera Beach, the couple began building a modest residential home on the land.  The two continued to expand on the ground, and the home grew into a hree-story building with 20 rooms named the Oak Lawn House, the name inspired by five colossal oak trees on the property.  Mr. Heyser sent an application to Washington D.C. and received approval for a local post office.  Mattie Spencer Heyser ran the post office out of the hotel, which opened in February of 1889.

Thought to be inspired by the French Riviera, in 1893, the Heysers renamed the hotel and post office "Riviera."  In 1901, Charles N. Newcomb purchased the hotel after the Dade County seat switched back to Miami, and the Heysers returned to Miami.  Newcomb's upgrades and expansion of the hotel were so impressive, regular visitors included many notable names, including railroad tycoon Henry Flagler.  (For more information on Flagler's impact on South Florida development, check out our West Palm Beach history section.)  Intending to shape Riviera Beach into a resort community, in 1913, Newcomb purchased and sold around 30 lots.  Other notable developers such as G.W. Bingham, the Perry family, William Taylor, and George Currie were making things happen in other parts of the city.  Local businesses began to pop up, a grocery store and a gas pipe, the city began to grow.

Additionally, from around 1906 on, a micro-community of anglers and their families began forming on the south end of Singer Island.  The land became locally referred to as Inlet city, and since the majority of the residents were Islanders from the Bahamas, residents became referred to as "conchs."  When the community moved to the mainland in 1919, Riviera swiftly became the leading seafood supplier on the east coast, supplying notable businesses such as New York's Fulton's Fish Market.  Within a few years of moving to the mainland, around seventy-five commercial fishing families called Rivera Beach home.  In 1976, A History of Riviera Beach, Florida, was published by the Bicentennial Commission, providing in-depth details about the origins of this extraordinary land in South Florida.