News Release (March 29, 1968)

PAGE 1

FOR HARCH 29 1968 1 147 3/22/68 SARASOTA--Sarasota's newest retirement residential community, the 210-apartment Jefferson Center, will be dedicated tomorrow (Saturday, March 30) at 4 p.m. Coming here to speak at the dedication and at a special banquet in the evening will be Dr. Dana McLean Greeley; president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, the denomination sponsored the cer:.ter. Jefferson Center Founding President Dorlald Johns will pres;de at the dedication which will formally open the 10-story building, on a four acre site at U.S. 41 and lOth Street, across from Sarasota's Civic Center. Center was planned as a pilot project to provide housing for active retirees with modest incomes. Only .those with 1x;.comes of $4100 or less, exclusive of Social Security, may reside in :, e center. to be present for the dedication ceremor.ies will be city. county and state officials, atea legislators, church officials; and other community leaders. After the official dedication,. the building will be opened for visitors and tours will be arr-anged for the publie. mot:e

PAGE 2

Page 2 Jefferson Center was erected at a cost of $2.35 million under provisions of the Community Facilities Administration of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Dr. Greeley, the leading speaker at the dedication and also at the evening banquet at the Sarasota Motor Hotel, has been president of the UUA since 1961 and before that president of the American Unitar ian Association. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Divinity School, Dr. Greeley was for 23 years minister of the famed Arlington Street Church in Boston. A past president of the Massachusetts Council of Churches, the Harvard Divinity School Alumni Association, and the New England Citizens' Crime Commission, Dr. Greeley also was one of a group of religious leaders that traveled to Viet Nam seeking to reduce tensions in that country. He also was a delegated observer at two of the sessions of the Second Vatican Council Johns has been president of Jefferson Center, Inc. since its founding and together with the organization's board of trustees, had spearheaded the organization, developing, planning and financing of the new center. Jefferson Center, Inc., as a non-profit organization, operates the center. Soon to be added to the center complex will be a recreation center which will include space for meetings, workshops for crafts, and card rooms and other recreation space. The center has two types of apartments, efficiencies and one-bedroom units. In the main building there are also a furnished more -

PAGE 3

Page 3 lounge, library and first-aid station. Expected to be attracted to the new center are retired persons who are interested in participating in the many activities available within walking distance of the center including all of those at the Civic Center, the Players, and downtown Sarasota. 30 -