Aventura is a planned, suburban city located in northeastern Miami-Dade County, Florida. The city name is from the Spanish word for "adventure", and was named "Aventura" after one of the developers of the original group of condominiums in the area remarked to the others, "What an adventure this is going to be. The name predates the well known mall (Aventura Mall) built near the condominium develop
ments. According to the U.S. Census estimates of 2007, the city had a population of 29,475. Most of what would later become the City of Aventura was initially developed during the late 1970s and into the 1980s as a high-rise residential area by Oxford Development Company, when the area was still mostly swampland known as "Biscayne Gardens". Although Aventura functions as a separate city, incorporated in 1995, it is still served by Miami-Dade Fire and rescue, and the official addresses in Aventura are still Miami addresses. Aventura holds and funds its own police department, which was formed in 1997. Aventura is also home to the Aventura Mall, a high-end regional mall which was developed by Ray Parello, Don Soffer, and Eddie Lewis of Oxford Development and is currently owned by Simon Property Group and Turnberry Associates. The enormous success of the mall encouraged explosive growth in the area and includes an expansive AMC movie theater, as well as Nordstrom, Bloomingdale's, Macy's, JCPenney, Sears, and Equinox. The Waterways contains a variety of residential communities known as "villages" The epicenter of The Waterways is The Waterways Marina and The Waterways Shoppes. The residential communities include One Island Place, The Point, The Courtyards at The Point, Golden Pointe, Harborside, Portsview, Harbor Towers, Townhomes at Portsview, Harbor Village, La Mirage, Costain Villas and Townhomes, Marina Cove and Mariner Village
