For many years, retired faculty, alumni and
friends encouraged the University of Florida to consider sponsoring
a retirement community in Gainesville. Professor Gordon Streib
from the Department of Sociology, a proponent of the concept,
had researched the benefits of living in such a community.
He and others were convinced that an affiliation with the
University of Florida would further enhance the sociological
and health advantages of the people who lived there.
In 1997, Dr. Streib and Dr. Ray Coward, the Director of the
University of Florida Institute of Gerontology, arranged for
President John Lombardi and a key group of University and
Foundation staff members to attend a presentation regarding
the development of a University-sponsored Continuing Care
Retirement Community (CCRC).
The outcome of that meeting was the formation of an ad hoc
committee to consider such a project for the University of
Florida and to visit other CCRCs. A not-for-profit corporation
was formed to separate the financial and legal obligations
of the CCRC from the University.
Formal incorporation of Oak Hammock at the University of Florida,
Inc. occurred in early 1999. Praxeis, LLC and FORCE Financial,
Ltd. were selected to lead the development team. And the rest,
as they say, is history. The landmark community opened its doors to members in Spring 2004.
