Paradise Found

SAN MARCO

In the 1920s, developer Telfair Stockton and his family vacationed in Venice, Italy, where they visited the elegant Piazza San Marco. Fortunately for Northeast Floridians, Stockton was so enchanted by its quaint beauty that he sought to recreate it along the banks of the St. Johns.

Today, with its graceful homes and welcoming business district, San Marco is one of Jacksonville's neighborhood treasures.

When Stockton first began selling San Marco lots in 1925, he envisioned a community with a Mediterranean motif. That would have been a marked contrast to his successful Avondale project, which was notable for its array of housing styles.

But by the time San Marco began to blossom, public fascination with all things Mediterranean had faded. Although cigar magnates John Swisher and his son, Carl, built two magnificent Mediterranean Revival mansions side by side on River Road, others adopted Tudor, Georgian and Colonial styles.

Likewise in the business district, which had been dubbed San Marco Square despite its triangular shape, a variety of architectural styles emerged. For example, the 1930s Art Deco facade of the San Marco Theater and the neighboring Little Theater were decidedly avant-garde for the time.

San Marco also encompasses some of Jacksonville's most popular eateries, including romantic Matthew's, the city's only four-star, four-diamond restaurant. Newcomer Daniel's is making a name for itself with tableside preparation of classic French dishes, while b.b.'s lures sweet-toothed patrons with obscenely proportioned desserts. Café Carmon offers casual outdoor dining, and more adventurous diners swear by Pom's Thai Bistro, where sea bass in green curry sauce is a favorite.

Several years ago, San Marco merchants, private donors and the city of Jacksonville spent more than $200,000 on a new fountain flanked by carved lions for the small triangular park at the center of San Marco Square.

More recently, the city has begun major improvements to Hendricks Avenue, the somewhat less upscale commercial corridor that provides an entry point to San Marco Square from the west. Utility lines will be buried, historic lighting will be installed and trees will be planted. Likewise, the San Marco branch library has doubled in size.

SPRINGFIELD

Along Springfield's 12-block-long Main Street, local trendsetters dine and drink at Boomtown while enthusiastic crowds listen to live jazz at the Epicurean Market and Café. At Henrietta's restaurant, there's a permanent art gallery and a theater where offbeat films are screened.

Springfield, north of downtown's central business district, is emerging as the city's new arts hub as well as a residential neighborhood where the future is bright and home values are likely to rise as gentrification takes hold.

Still, few would have thought such revitalization was likely just a decade ago. This once-prosperous expanse of 1,800 stately homes and its 22-block commercial district had become a slum, and there was little reason to believe that change was in the offing.

But Springfield through the years has been resilient. Today, those who were savvy enough to buy before the start of the comeback have seen their properties double and triple in value.

In fact, according to the Springfield Preservation and Revitalization Council, more than one-third of the historic neighborhood's homes have now been renovated or restored.

City government, private investors and individual homeowners, assisted by civic organizations such as SPAR, are ensuring Springfield's future by resurrecting its past. Last year the city rebuilt Main Street between First and Fourth streets, installing a tree-filled median with antique-style street lamps and brick crosswalks.

Funding for the project was provided through the Better Jacksonville Plan, which voters approved in 2000 with a half-cent sales tax hike for infrastructure and other improvements.

Now, thanks to a $2.5 million allocation from the state Department of Transportation, the Main Street project will be continued through 12th Street. The work will likely take at least a year to complete, according to city officials, but when it's done the neighborhood's entire primary thoroughfare will have been transformed into a beautiful, landscaped boulevard.

Partly as a ripple effect of the Main Street project, 80,000 square feet of retail and condominium space are slated for construction on the southeast, northeast and northwest corners of Eighth and Pearl streets. And more new businesses are expected to move into now-vacant Main Street storefronts as road improvements are completed.

On the residential side, private investors have spent some $20 million over the past year buying and renovating property in Springfield.

This recent activity marks the latest and most hopeful chapter in Springfield's roller-coaster history. First settled in the 1820s, the subdivision of Springfield was platted in 1882. But it came into its own following the Great Fire of 1901, which wiped out much of downtown Jacksonville but spared Springfield thanks to Hogan's Creek, which acted as a natural firebreak.

Many downtown dwellers who had been burned out of their homes sought to rebuild their lives in Springfield. And because many of the relocators were well-to-do, the homes they built reflected an array of architectural styles, including Queen Anne, Colonial Revival and Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie School.

In fact, one of Springfield's most notable buildings is Main Street's Klutho Apartments, designed and built in 1913 by architect Henry J. Klutho, a Wright disciple. The building has been restored largely through the efforts of developer David Lee, whose one-year volunteer commitment to the project stretched into five years.

But beginning in the 1950s, Springfield, like other urban neighborhoods, fell victim to the growing popularity of suburbs. Neglected homes were purchased by slumlords, crime increased and blight set in.

"I think we have a critical mass of buyers now who are interested in living downtown," says Myrtice Craig of Prudential Network Realty. "They love these old homes and they love the atmosphere. They don't have preconceived ideas based on what Springfield has been. They see it for what it can be."

An opportune time to see Springfield at its most appealing is during the neighborhood's annual holiday home tour, during which horse-drawn carriages rumble past restored homes. Back in the 1980s, say organizers, police cars followed the carriages to offer protection to attendees.

That such drastic measures are no longer thought necessary speaks volumes about how far Springfield has come.

SOUTHSIDE

Want to see a movie, grab dinner or go shopping? If so, you're likely to end up on the Southside, which is generally considered to lie north of J. Turner Butler Boulevard, south of Atlantic Boulevard, east of University Boulevard and west of St. Johns Bluff Road.

The Cinemark Tinseltown, a movie megacomplex with huge screens and comfy, stadium-style seating, has established itself as one of the most popular draws in Northeast Florida, bringing crowds to Southside Boulevard to catch a flick and enjoy the nightlife.

New on the Southside is The St. Johns Town Center, an open-air mall at J. Turner Butler Boulevard and St. Johns Bluff Road. Ben Carter Properties of Atlanta and Simon Property Group of Indianapolis developed the 1.5 million-square-foot plaza, which opened in March.

Among the tenants are Dillard's, Dick's Sporting Goods, The Cheesecake Factory, P.F. Chang's China Bistro, Maggiano's Little Italy, Sephora, Old Navy, Staples, Design of the Interior, Urban Outfitters, J. Crew, Guess, Ann Taylor Loft and Sharper Image.

Not surprisingly, this burgeoning where-the-action-is ambiance has kicked the Southside's residential appeal up a notch, especially for younger people, many of whom work at nearby office parks. In fact, about 27 percent of Southside residents are between the ages of 25 and 34.

Among these buyers, condominiums are particularly hot, with multifamily offerings ranging from affordable apartment conversions to upscale, amenity-rich new construction. The nearby campuses of the University of North Florida and Florida Community College at Jacksonville are added draws.

But the Southside also encompasses plenty of old and new single-family developments in a variety of price ranges. You can spend $1 million for a home in Deerwood Country Club, first developed 30 years ago, or you can pick up a new home from $300,000 or more in several newer neighborhoods.

The new interchange connecting I-95 and I-295 with the Florida 9A beltway should help ease the Southside traffic situation.

WESTSIDE

Perhaps Jacksonville's most affordable housing can be found on the Westside, a vast expanse that encompasses Naval Air Station Jacksonville and Herlong Airport as well as dozens of older subdivisions and shopping centers.

In addition to numerous neighborhoods, the Westside includes four small incorporated cities: Baldwin, Marietta, Maxville and Whitehouse.

Much of the land surrounding these cities remains rural, offering opportunities for hunting, boating and fishing. Baldwin, in fact, marks the terminus of the 14.5-mile Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail, which runs between Imeson Road and C.R. 121. The trail follows abandoned railroad lines and is frequented by cyclists, inline skaters, walkers and horseback riders.

Another Westside treasure is the 509-acre Westside Regional Park, with a nature center, outdoor classrooms, picnic areas, biking trails and an elevated platform from which to view the expansive wetlands.

Much of the commercial development is in the Wesconnett neighborhood, particularly along Blanding Boulevard, Timuquana Road and 103rd Street. The city's only remaining drive-in, Playtime Family Drive-In and Flea Market, is on Blanding Boulevard.

A new Sleiman Enterprises project is breathing some new life along Roosevelt Boulevard just north of Roosevelt Square. The company is redeveloping the former St. Johns Theatre site near Avondale into a two-building retail center flanking both sides of St. Johns Avenue along Roosevelt Boulevard. The 40,000-square-foot project, called Roosevelt Plaza, will feature two restaurants and seven or eight stores.

Flagler County at a glance

LAND AREA: 485 square miles
PERSONS PER SQUARE MILE (2000): 102.7
POPULATION (2001 ESTIMATE): 54,964
POPULATION INCREASE, 1990-2000: 73.6%
COLLEGE GRADUATES: 21.2%
MEAN TRAVEL TIME TO WORK (MINUTES): 25.9
MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME: $40,214
FACTOID: In the early 1930s, both Charles Lindbergh and Amerlia Earhart landed airplanes at the Flagler Beach Airport.

For decades, even most Jacksonvillians regarded Flagler County as significant only because of the monolithic blue water tower at Palm Coast, which served as a convenient milepost indicating that the journey to Disney World was roughly halfway complete.

Today, Flagler County is the fastest-growing county in the nation on a percentage basis, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The raw numbers don't sound that impressive-6,309 new residents in 2004-but that's a 10.1 percent increase since 2003.

And people are coming from everywhere, attracted by subtropical forests, freshwater lakes, unspoiled beaches and resort-like housing developments.

Visitors who leave the interstate and explore the real Flagler County will be surprised to find upscale subdivisions along the Intracoastal, lavish condominium towers along the ocean and world-class golf courses designed to accentuate the area's natural splendor. Quite a change for a place once regarded as little more than a handy pit-stop for southbound tourists.

But Palm Coast, which was marketed heavily in the Northeast and Midwest, was an idea ahead of its time. By the early 1980s there were only a few thousand residents, most of them retirees.

ITT, the tech conglomerate that had tried to create a bustling city in this once-remote stretch of coastal Florida, phased out its development division in the 1990s and sold its Flagler holdings.

Palm Coast became an incorporated city in 1999 and today is the population center of Flagler County, with some 44,568 residents. And because every city needs a clearly defined downtown, the city council last year approved plans for a 1,550-acre project called Town Center at Palm Coast, located just south of Palm Coast Parkway.

Developed by Palm Coast Holdings, it will ultimately contain 2,500 multifamily residential units, 1.4 million square feet of office space, 3.4 million square feet of commercial space, 640,000 square feet of institutional space as well as a movie theater, a hotel and a nursing home.

City Hall may also relocate to Town Center, where a nostalgic ambiance will be enhanced by traditionally designed storefronts and parallel street parking. Construction will be completed in three phases over the next 15 years.

Although Palm Coast is Flagler's fastest-growing, highest-profile city, three other municipalities lie within the county: Flagler Beach (population 3,850), known for its 656-foot fishing pier and boardwalk; Bunnell (population 2,156), a sleepy inland city that serves as the unlikely county seat; and Marineland (population 10), a tiny city that encompasses a venerable dolphin-themed tourist attraction.

Built in 1927, the Flagler Beach Pier still lures serious anglers who catch tarpon, snook, bluefish, whiting and snapper.

Other local attractions include a Friday farmers' market, a wonderfully picturesque historical museum and such ecotourism treasures as Flagship Harbor Preserve and the Gamble Rogers Memorial State Recreation Area, named in honor of a quirky Florida folk singer who immortalized the state's colorful characters and turbulent history in his songs.

Flagler Beach is the only municipality on The Hammock, a sparsely populated barrier island where sand roads front upscale beach houses and mobile homes. Residents there fear eventual annexation by land-hungry Palm Coast. If that happens, they say, the island's laid-back way of life would be endangered by too much growth.

At the northern edge of the county, Atlanta-based developer Jim Jacoby is moving ahead in his effort to remake Marineland, which opened as the world's first oceanarium in 1938, into a thriving multi-use community in which the attraction and its performing dolphins will play a central role.

Residential development will include about 100 condominiums, 80 single-family homes and 25 mixed-use buildings. An 80-room hotel with retail shops and a restaurant will overlook the marina.

Flagler County residents don't mind commuting to work; fully 40 percent have jobs in Jacksonville, St. Augustine or Daytona Beach. That's fine with county economic development officials, who aren't focused on attracting huge employers. Instead, they woo small operations with 10 to 25 employees that provide products and services for larger companies headquartered elsewhere.

WHATS NEW in Flagler County

WCI Communities has opened a decorated model at Casa Bella Carriage Homes at Hammock Dunes. Each three-story building consists of just three one-story homes. Each home has a private, two-car garage and screened lanai. Prices start in the high $600s. .

WCI has started construction for Le Jardin, a luxury oceanfront condominium, also at Hammock Dunes. The project will feature penthouse-sized units and exceptional amenities, including a private dune walkover to the ocean. Prices start at $2 million-plus. Portofino, Savona, Cambria and Tuscany are other luxury WCI condominiums at Hammock Dunes. .

D.R. Horton is building three-, four- and five-bedroom homes in its newest Flagler County community, Riviera Estates. Homes range in size from 1,531 to 3,030 square feet with prices starting in the $170s. .

Whitehall Quality Homes is building Riverview Homes, the only condominium project in Grand Haven, a master-planned community comprised of intimate neighborhoods linked by winding trails and tree-lined streets. Bike paths, parks and an adjacent 4,000-acre nature preserve highlight the community's natural beauty. Units are priced from the $500s. Amenities include the project's Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course, a world-class country club, a village center, on-site fitness facilities and the security of a gated community.

Nassau County at a glance

LAND AREA: 652 square miles
PERSONS PER SQUARE MILE (2000): 88.5
POPULATION (2001 ESTIMATE): 59,830
POPULATION INCREASE, 1990-2000: 31.2%
COLLEGE GRADUATES: 18.9%
MEAN TRAVEL TIME TO WORK: 28.2 minutes
MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME: $46,022
FACTOID: The neighborhood just north of Centre Street in Fernandina Beach was dubbed "the silk stocking district" in the late 1800s because people who lived there could afford to buy the uncommon luxury item. The stockings fell out of style, but the name has endured.

Everybody, it seems, wants a piece of Amelia Island. Florida's northernmost barrier island, 32 miles from downtown Jacksonville, has been ruled under eight different flags since French explorers first came ashore in the mid-1500s.

In addition to the French, Spanish and English, past conquerors have included Mexican rebels, Scottish mercenaries, local insurgents and the Confederate Army.

Nowadays, the Stars and Stripes are firmly entrenched in this Nassau County oasis, which has more in common with Key West than with West Jacksonville.

Of course, the 13.5-mile-long island still endures invaders, but they're generally friendly tourists seeking pampering at posh resorts, relaxation at pristine beaches and good times at frolics and festivals held in funky Fernandina Beach, the historic city that anchors the island's northern edge.

Fernandina's 50-block downtown district, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is packed with intriguing shops, incomparable restaurants and inviting taverns that occupy charming 18th-century buildings. Victorian mansions, many of them built between 1870 and 1900, front the brick-lined residential streets.

The heart of the historic district is Centre Street, which stretches the width of the island from the Intracoastal Waterway to the ocean.

There you can stop for breakfast at the Marina Seafood Restaurant or a cup of coffee and a pastry at Amelia Island Gourmet Coffee and Ice Cream.

Then take a stroll to the junction of Centre Street and the Intracoastal, where Fernandina's docks bring in nearly 80 percent of Florida's sweet Atlantic white shrimp-nearly 2 million tons per day.

Amelia Island is definitely a cool place to live-but space is running out.

Massive Amelia Island Plantation, a 3,500-acre luxury resort and residential community at the island's northern reaches, is finally nearing buildout after more than 30 years. Although resales are available in the environmentally friendly community, the only new construction consists of luxury condos.

Elsewhere on the island are several infill residential projects, but the bulk of Nassau County's growth is inland. The U.S. Census Bureau projects the county's population to grow by as much as 50 percent over the next decade. Most of that growth will occur around Yulee, at roughly 10 square miles the county's largest unincorporated area.

The residential boom around Yulee, especially in the vicinity of S.R. A1A and Chester Road/Amelia Island Concourse, has already sparked plans for a 150,000-square-foot expansion of Trevett Construction Group's Lofton Square shopping center. The expansion will be anchored by the county's first multi-screen movie theater.

Facilitating more growth is a planned extension of Amelia Concourse from its current terminus at LandMar's successful North Hampton community to S.R. 107. Several new subdivisions are slated along that 3.5-mile, four-lane corridor, including Amelia National, an upscale golf community.

In fact, county planners expect that of 10,000 new homes to be built in Nassau County over the next 20 years, 7,000 of them will be in and around Yulee.

Fortunately, however, state- and federally protected wetlands make up huge tracts of Nassau County, a happenstance that ensures some breathing room between developments. Commercial pine forests buffer the towns of Hilliard and Callahan in western Nassau, where one can still find working family farms.

WHATS NEW in Nassau County

Amelia National promises to be a golfer's—and a homeowner's—dream come true with its Tom Fazio-designed golf course and homes by ICI Homes, American Homebuilders, Morrison Homes and David Weekley Homes. Fully decorated models are in progress. Home and homesite packages are priced beginning in the $300s. .

Allegiance Development has begun construction at Cape Sound on Amelia Island. The first phase of the condominium project is sold out while the second phase is 60 percent sold. Eighteen two- and three-story buildings will surround a 2.5-acre spring-fed lake with boardwalk and gazebo. The gated community, where prices begin in the $500s, is a quarter-mile from the Atlantic Ocean.

WHO WAS YULEE?

Thousands of people are moving to the Yulee area every year, but it's a safe bet that few know how the unincorporated community got its name.

David Levy Yulee, born in St. Thomas in 1810, was the son of Moses Elias Levy, a Moroccan who made his fortune in Caribbean timber before buying 50,000 acres near Jacksonville. Levy intended to use the vast expanse as a "New Jerusalem" for Jewish settlers.

David Levy-he added the name Yulee after one of his ancestors-studied law in St. Augustine and in 1845 became the first Jewish United States Senator. He also founded the Florida Railroad, envisioning a string of commercial centers joined by his rail lines.

But the Civil War halted his plans. Yulee, a supporter of slavery, joined the Confederate Congress in 1861 and was held in federal prison for nine months following the war. After his release, Yulee resurrected his railroad, later known as the Atlantic, Gulf and West India Transit Company.

"The Father of Florida's Railroads" moved to Washington, D.C., in 1880 and died there six years later.