Sizzling in St. Johns

County Road 210 meanders across the top of St. Johns County, connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the north-flowing St. Johns River. In many places, it remains a quiet country road dotted by marshes and bays stretching inland from the Intracoastal Waterway and flanked by open fields where horses graze

But along the length of C.R. 210 and throughout the northern reaches of St. Johns County, those views are changing.

Now there are huge master-planned developments, some the size of small cities, springing up in this once-rural setting south of Jacksonville. Such projects will add more than 21,000 residences to the C.R. 210 corridor over the next 15 years, according to the St. Johns County Planning and Zoning Agency.

"Whenever I show homes in the area, I always take people to look at what's available along 210," says Rosemary Kristoff, a Realtor specializing in the Beaches and St. Johns County. "There's just so much selection there. There's something to suit almost every budget and every need. People look at the homes, then they visit the schools and they're sold."

"Sold" is the operative word. St. Johns County grew by 46.9 percent from 1990 to 2000 according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and much of that growth was in the county's northwest sector-defined as roughly 80,000 acres south of Jacksonville" target="_blank">Duval County, east of the St. Johns River, north of S.R. 16 and C.R. 208 and west of I-95

Indeed, growth in the northwest had become so rapid that in 2000 the St. Johns Board of County Commissioners imposed a 19-month building moratorium in order to prepare for the impact that thousands of new homes and tens of thousands of new residents would bring.

When the moratorium expired in February of last year, plans were in place that officials hoped would allow infrastructure to keep pace with growth and preserve the county's quality of life. Still, building resumed at a fevered pitch, with a trend toward mixed-use developments and amenity-rich country club communities.

For example, St. Johns Golf and Country Club (800 homes), which features a golf course, a tennis complex and a health/fitness center, is nearly two-thirds built. And to the west, Durbin Crossing (2,500 homes) and Aberdeen (2,000 homes) are attracting buyers with attractive village centers and a combined 90 acres of parks and two schools.

Southstar, developer of Durbin Crossing and Aberdeen, will spend $35 million on road improvements that would benefit the developments as well as the surrounding area by including the first leg of a north-south corridor that would divert traffic from bustling C.R. 13.

Bordering Aberdeen on the west is Julington Creek Plantation, a pioneering St. Johns County master-planned community that remains by far the hottest-selling real estate development in Northeast Florida. With more than a dozen distinctive neighborhoods and every imaginable amenity, the development will contain some 6,400 homes at buildout.

Primarily as a result of Julington Creek Plantation's success, the county will build a $1.8 million annex in Fruit Cove and Baptist Medical Center has announced plans for a new hospital near the Jacksonville" target="_blank">Duval County line. New shopping centers are also springing up and a South Florida company has announced plans to build a 10,000-seat, open-air theater south of the St. Johns County Agricultural Center on the west side of I-95.

Other northwest success stories include South Hampton (776 homes), a golf-course community offering a plethora of recreational amenities, and St. Johns Forest (545 homes), which surrounds a 38-acre ranch in the unincorporated farming community of Sampson. Upscale Bartram Plantation (125 homes) and Stonehurst Plantation (474 homes) have also proven popular with buyers.

Despite the competition, builders think there's plenty of business to go around. For example, Johns Creek (400 homes), which sits across C.R. 210 from Cimarron Golf and Country Club (682 homes) and next to South Hampton, was just getting under way at presstime.

"We expect it to be awesome out there," says Eric Watkins, sales agent for Admiral Homes, developer of Johns Creek. "It's an exciting time to be building in northwest St. Johns County. Things are just exploding."

Testing that assumption will be several huge new projects, including Arvida's Rivertown. Assuming remaining approvals are granted, the developers could build 4,500 homes on a 4,170-acre tract south of Greenbriar Road and northwest of C.R. 210.

Rivertown's plans also envision 300,000 square feet of retail space, 100,000 square feet of industrial space, an 18-hole golf course, 350 acres of parks and three public schools. Arvida will also spend $33 million on road improvements.

In northeast St. Johns County the biggest project looming is Nocatee, a 15,000-acre self-sustaining "town" that will straddle C.R. 210 and stretch into Jacksonville" target="_blank">Duval County.

Upon buildout in 25 years, it will add 14,200 single and multi-family homes to the area as well as retail centers, office parks, schools and conservation areas. The project is being developed by The Parc Group on land controlled by Jacksonville's Davis family, founders of the Winn Dixie supermarket chain.

"Nocatee will surround many of the developments that are already here," says Matt Wilkinson, a Realtor with KB Home who recently bought a home in Walden Chase on C.R. 210 near Ponte Vedra Beach. "It will bring in retail and offices and a lot of amenities that will bring up property values in the area. A lot of us feel lucky to get in now-the earlier the better."

The boom in northern St. Johns County is also impacting southern Jacksonville" target="_blank">Duval County. Bartram Springs, located at Phillips Highway and Racetrack Road on the county line, has just debuted a multi-million-dollar community center and model village where Atlantic Builders, Morrison Homes and Ryland Homes have five fully decorated models ready for inspection. The site is dotted with lakes and the community center features a fitness facility, two swimming pools, a slide tower and tennis courts.

With growth accelerating, St. Johns County officials and residents are concerned about maintaining the area's quality of life. Plans to widen C.R. 210 to a four-lane road, said to be necessary to relieve congestion as well as to ensure efficient hurricane evacuation, will likely cut into the 9,800-acre Guana River Wildlife Management Area. While that may be necessary for public safety, county commissioners have said they want to limit such encroachments on the natural environment.

Last year, [2003] a task force of 180 citizens, called St. Johns Vision, released a strategic plan for the county pinpointing six "foundation areas" including education, economic development, infrastructure, quality of life, government and private sector leadership.

Vision committees identified problems and set goals, and groups continue to meet to come up with ways of implementing the plan. Civic groups from Palm Valley and Ponte Vedra have joined the effort. The overall goal, according to Vision executive director Jim Sutton, is "to make St. Johns County the No. 1 place in the country to live and work."

No. 1 in the country may take some doing. But based on what's happening in the county's northern sector, a pretty strong case can be made that's it's already No. 1 in Northeast Florida.