Paradise Found

Almost everybody knows the first rule of buying real estate: Location, Location, Location.

But what makes a good location? Just take a quick look at the First Coast and you'll get a snapshot of the many elements that make the area one of the most desirable relocation destinations in the nation.

First, water. Almost everybody wants to live on or near water. Consequently, waterfront property is one of the few investments that can accurately be described as a no-brainer. After all, as another timeless real estate adage goes, "They ain't making any more of it."

But Jacksonville already has plenty. Blessed with beautiful, uncrowded beaches as well as the mighty St. Johns River and the Intracoastal Waterway, you can't drive far in Northeast Florida without running into beautiful bodies of water. Compared to many parts of the country, it's an embarrassment of riches.

Second, natural beauty. It's all around. Take a trip north on A1A from Mayport at sunset on an autumn day and gaze across the vast golden marshes. While away an afternoon exploring the Black Creek/Ravines Conservation Area. Head over to the Jacksonville Beach Pier and scan the horizon for a pod of Northern Right Whales, which winter off the coast.

Third, affordable homes, still. The Jacksonville area remains a bastion of home value, at least relatively speaking. A little more than 63 percent of homes sold in greater Jacksonville are affordable for families earning the region's median household income of $57,700, according to the most recent National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo Housing Opportunity Index. That makes it the 66th most affordable market in the country out of 158 surveyed.

In Florida, where price appreciation has soared, Jacksonville remains the most affordable major market, ahead of Tampa, where just more than half of homes sold were affordable for families earning the median income. The Housing Opportunity Index rating was 47.1 percent for Orlando and 22 percent for Miami.

Fourth, livability. The Jacksonville area boasts most of the same cultural and recreational perks found in glitzier (and more expensive) Florida cities such as Palm Beach, Naples and Sarasota. And Jacksonville boasts a distinction those cities don't-it's on a prestigious list of Top 5 most livable large cities in the country.

Jacksonville was voted fifth, behind Charlotte, N.C.; Cincinnati, Ohio; Denver, Colo.; and Fort Worth, Texas by Partners for Livable Communities, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that studies quality of life issues. Jacksonville impressed the organization's panel of evaluators with its combination of a vibrant economy, strong governmental leadership, eclectic arts and cultural organizations, diverse housing options and vast natural resources. Making the honor even more special-it's given only once a decade.

"This is really a unique honor for Jacksonville," says Irene Garnett, director of public programs for Partners for Livable Communities. "That's why we only give it every 10 years. We want to see communities that are not only livable now, but that have a plan in place that creates a good life for their residents over the long haul."

Clearly, Jacksonville is being discovered-and residential building permit numbers support that statement. The number of permits issued in the Jacksonville metropolitan area, including Duval, Clay, Nassau and St. Johns counties, has almost doubled in the last eight years, from 6,955 in 1997 to 13,636 in 2004. And this year is on pace to be another record-breaker. Indeed, more than 1,000 permits were issued in August for Jacksonville" target="_blank">Duval County alone.

"This is the first time a county in Northeast Florida has broken the 1,000 mark [in a month], and all the counties showed a solid increase over July," says Bryan Lendry, president of the Northeast Florida Builders Association.

With so many new neighborhoods and new homes added to a healthy existing stock of resale homes, where should a newcomer begin the search for a home on the First Coast?

Jacksonville Homebuyer can help. Following is a neighborhood-by-neighborhood primer, in which you'll find everything from new master-planned developments to charming historic neighborhoods. Undoubtedly, there's a home just right for you and your family.

Clay County at a glance

LAND AREA: 601 square miles
PERSONS PER SQUARE MILE (2000): 234.3
POPULATION (2001 ESTIMATE): 147,542
POPULATION INCREASE, 1990-2000: 32.9%
COLLEGE GRADUATES: 20.1%
MEAN TRAVEL TIME TO WORK: 33.5 minutes
MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME: $48,854
FACTIOD: In the early part of the 19th century, pirates sailing the St. Johns River often stopped at Green Cove Springs to refill their casks with fresh water. The spring they frequented, which still bubbles behind today's city hall, provides water for the municipal swimming pool.

In 1803, when Zephaniah Kingsley purchased 1,880 acres on the western shore of the St. Johns, the property was lush with laurel trees. The wealthy land baron and slave trader dubbed his plantation Laurel Grove.

By the late 1870s, the tract had been redeveloped as a resort community and renamed Orange Park for the abundance of citrus groves that surrounded it. During its brief heyday as a tourist destination, such luminaries as Ulysses S. Grant, Buffalo Bill Cody and Sitting Bull stayed in luxurious hotels and enjoyed the scent of orange blossoms wafting through open windows.

Today, however, you'd be hard pressed to find any orange groves in this bustling Clay County municipality, a popular suburb dotted with dozens of subdivisions and hundreds of businesses. More than half the residents of Orange Park work in Jacksonville, according to the Clay County Economic Development Council.

And more are coming. Clay County's population more than doubled from 1970 to 1980, then grew another 33 percent between 1990 and 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That pace is expected to continue, in part because there's still undeveloped land here. In fact, Clay remains one of the most sparsely populated urban counties in Florida, with about 262 residents per square mile versus a statewide average of 315.6.

Orange Park's residential development first gathered momentum in the early 1920s when Caleb Johnson, president of the Colgate Palmolive Company, built Villa Mira Rio, a $500,000 estate on the banks of the river. Other millionaires followed Johnson's lead, as did less ostentatious families who were attracted by the community's natural beauty and its convenient location.

Vestiges of that era remain in Orange Park's small commercial historic district at the east end of Kingsley Avenue, where a few vintage buildings stand around what was once a watering trough and hitching post that served as the community's unofficial gathering spot.

A scattering of gracefully aging residential showplaces can be seen along River Road, while Johnson's Mediterranean-style mansion survives as Club Continental, one of Northeast Florida's most popular special-event destinations.

The region's past is celebrated each year through Carrie Clarke Day, sponsored by the city and run by the Historical Society of Orange Park and the Orange Park Garden Club's Founders Circle. Clarke and her husband William were Orange Park pioneers, and their circa-1914 home is now a centerpiece of popular Clarke House Park.

Otherwise, Orange Park is a thoroughly modern place, where amenity-rich, master-planned communities attract hordes of buyers. For example, Eagle Harbor, a huge mixed-use development that boasts a Disneyesque water park, ranked as the sixth-busiest development in the region last year, with 209 housing starts.

Residential development along U.S. Highway 17 and Highway 220 in northeast Clay County is also moving forward with projects such as Fleming Island Plantation, which notched 218 starts last year and will contain 2,000 homes at buildout.

Indeed, planners expect the Fleming Island area to experience the highest growth rate in the county-about 24 percent-between 2005 and 2010. But even that torrid pace represents a slowdown from the 40 percent spurt that occurred between 2000 and 2005.

Also in the northeast, OakLeaf Plantation, with 581 starts last year, was one of the busiest communities in the region-second only to St. Johns County's Julington Creek. And the Doctor's Inlet area is exploding, with 22 percent growth expected over the next five years.

Additional mixed-use developments containing at least 11,000 homes have been approved for 20,000 acres straddling Brannan Field Road, which extends from Blanding Boulevard in Middleburg through the Argyle area to I-10.

Clay County's highly rated school system is a major point, as is the presence of Naval Air Station Jacksonville and a plethora of retail and entertainment outlets, including the sprawling Orange Park Mall and the Orange Park Kennel Club, a 5,100-seat greyhound racing mecca.

But while attracting new residents to Clay County has required little effort, attracting industries offering high-paying jobs has been more of a challenge.

That's why the Clay County Chamber of Commerce has launched a $1.25 million economic development effort dubbed "Focus on the Future." The five-year goal is to attract $175 million in new commercial construction and add $75 million in annual payroll.

Other Clay County communities include Green Cove Springs, Keystone Heights, Middleburg and Penney Farms, which department store magnate J.C. Penney founded in 1926 as a retirement home for ministers and their wives.

Despite frantic development, much of Clay County remains rural, with Gold Head Branch State Park, Kingsley Beach, Strickland's Landing, Jennings Forest and Black Creek/Ravines Conservation Area offering camping, hiking, fishing and hunting.