Notheast Florida's Gem
From Historic Amelia Island to Booming Yulee to Up-and-Coming Callahan. Buyers Love All Nassau County Has to Offer.
For generations, Amelia Island has captivated visitors with tales of intrigue. The southernmost of the Sea Islands, a chain of barrier islands stretching from South Carolina to Florida, it’s the only place in the country to have been ruled under eight different flags.
Its rich history dates back to the Timucuan Indians in the 1500s through rough-and-tumble years as a haven for pirates and later as a refuge for the rich, who built beautiful Victorian and Queen Anne homes around the picture-postcard city of Fernandina Beach, which anchors the island’s northern edge.
Today, despite rapid growth, Amelia Island retains its funky flair. The 50-square-block Fernandina Beach historic district is a lively place packed with eclectic boutiques, intriguing galleries, proprietor-owned eateries and friendly taverns occupying 18th-century buildings.
Annual events such as the Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival, the Amelia Island Jazz Festival, Concours d’Elegance and the Bausch & Lomb Tennis Championships draw thousands of visitors, as do six championship golf courses, upscale resorts such as the Ritz Carlton and 13 miles of coastline.
There are about 13,000 permanent residents on the island, but the population can swell to more than 100,000 when special events are under way.
Obviously, this Nassau County gem is a nice place to visit. But would you want to live there? The answer, apparently, is a resounding yes. So many people agree, in fact, that the island is rapidly approaching buildout.
Yet, while the days of huge projects such as 1,350-acre Amelia Island Plantation, launched in 1973, may be over, attractive infill projects are provide desirable alternatives.
For example, Bryan Lendry, president of Brylen Homes, is developing Amelia Terrace and The Surf and is building within the community of Amelia Park, a Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) featuring historically-themed architecture and rear-entry garages.
“Our specialty is finding niche communities that other developers might think are too small,” says Lendry.
Amelia Terrace is an eight-homesite, boutique community nestled at the south end of the island next to Amelia Island Plantation. The homes, with lap siding and brick entryways, ooze traditional charm and are priced starting at $575,000.
The Surf will offer 37 homes and a prime location on South Fletcher Avenue directly across from the ocean and about a mile north of the Ritz Carlton.
“A lot of our inspiration for The Surf came from Florida’s West Coast,” Lendry says. “The idea was to build driveways that are accessible from behind so that all the homes will have ocean views from the second and third floors.” Prices will start at $1 million.
Also on the island is Oyster Bay Harbour, a 325-home community on Lansford Creek, a deep-water creek that empties into the Intracoastal Waterway.?
“Amelia Island is a throwback town,” says Louis “Lou” Goldman, sales manager for Oyster Bay Harbour. It’s a very interesting place to live. It was a wide open seaport town and has a lot of history.”
Oyster Bay Harbour, with a combination of townhomes and single-family homes, will offer Nassau County’s only yacht club, where buyers can have a deep-water boat slip. Home prices range from $450,000 up more than $1 million.
But Nassau County’s major growth is taking place inland. The U. S. Census Bureau projects the county’s population to grow by as much as 50 percent over the next decade, with most of the growth occurring around Yulee, at roughly 10 square miles the county’s largest unincorporated area.
The residential growth in Yulee, especially around S.R. A1A and Chester Road/Amelia Island Concourse, has already sparked plans for a 150,000-square-foot expansion of the Lofton Square Shopping Center.
And sparking more growth is a planned 3.5-mile extension of Amelia Concourse from its current terminus at LandMar’s North Hampton community to S.R. 107.
Indeed, county planners say that about 70 percent of all new homes expected to be built in Nassau County over the next 20 years will be built in and around Yulee.
?“Nassau County is continuing to grow, and with land on the island becoming hard to find and expensive, the inland area is really coming into its own,” notes Lendry.
Take Amelia National Golf & Country Club, for example. Phases I and II of this 749-home community, which features a Tom Fazio-designed golf course, have been launched and sales have been hot.
“Amelia National is more of a country club atmosphere and is a private club,” says Karen Sutherland, ICI Homes North Florida division vice president and director of marketing. “This course is one of the best new courses in the country, and it’ll only get better as it matures.”
ICI is developing Amelia National in partnership with Montgomery Land Corporation and is one of four homebuilders in the community. The company is also building in an adjacent community, North Hampton, which is nearing sellout.
“Many of our buyers currently live on Amelia Island and are moving inland,” Sutherland adds. “They’re finding better home values and using their equity to buy into a different lifestyle. Perhaps they’ve had the beach and now they want the exclusive country club experience.”
The private golf country club will offer around 430 memberships to property owners in the community. Home/lot packages typically start from the $500s and golf-front, lake and preserve/wooded lots are offered.
Another dazzling waterfront community near Yulee, Grande Oaks Amelia, sits right on the banks of the Amelia River.
Developed by Crosswinds Communities, homes at Grande Oaks are priced starting in the S400s. Amenities for the 78-home community include a 4,000-square-foot clubhouse.
The main attraction for the community, says Debbie Marton, vice president of sales, is the Amelia River location.
“Plus, Grande Oaks has all the things that homebuyers will love,” she notes. “It’s only five miles from Amelia Island, so there’s resort-style living with beaches, water and charming restaurants.”
Other hot inland communities include Engle Homes’ Amhurst, Standard Pacific’s Hickory Village and Richmond American’s Heron’s Isles and the Marshes at Lanceford. Nassau County does indeed “have a little bit of everything,” says Clyde Goodbread, executive vice president of the Amelia Island/Nassau County Association of Realtors. “It’s a work town but it’s also a resort. We have the beaches and still have shrimp boats leaving every morning.”
?Location is also a plus. Interstates 95 and 10 are easily accessible from anywhere in the county and Jacksonville International Airport, located in north Jacksonville" target="_blank">Duval County, is also nearby.
Consequently, Nassau County is soliciting more industry and business and about seven years ago created an economic development board.
“We’re trying real hard to bring industry into the county so they’ll [residents] stay here to live and work,” Goodbread adds. “We have nothing against our neighbor to the south, but we’d like to be more than a bedroom community.”
Its rich history dates back to the Timucuan Indians in the 1500s through rough-and-tumble years as a haven for pirates and later as a refuge for the rich, who built beautiful Victorian and Queen Anne homes around the picture-postcard city of Fernandina Beach, which anchors the island’s northern edge.
Today, despite rapid growth, Amelia Island retains its funky flair. The 50-square-block Fernandina Beach historic district is a lively place packed with eclectic boutiques, intriguing galleries, proprietor-owned eateries and friendly taverns occupying 18th-century buildings.
Annual events such as the Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival, the Amelia Island Jazz Festival, Concours d’Elegance and the Bausch & Lomb Tennis Championships draw thousands of visitors, as do six championship golf courses, upscale resorts such as the Ritz Carlton and 13 miles of coastline.
There are about 13,000 permanent residents on the island, but the population can swell to more than 100,000 when special events are under way.
Obviously, this Nassau County gem is a nice place to visit. But would you want to live there? The answer, apparently, is a resounding yes. So many people agree, in fact, that the island is rapidly approaching buildout.
Yet, while the days of huge projects such as 1,350-acre Amelia Island Plantation, launched in 1973, may be over, attractive infill projects are provide desirable alternatives.
For example, Bryan Lendry, president of Brylen Homes, is developing Amelia Terrace and The Surf and is building within the community of Amelia Park, a Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) featuring historically-themed architecture and rear-entry garages.
“Our specialty is finding niche communities that other developers might think are too small,” says Lendry.
Amelia Terrace is an eight-homesite, boutique community nestled at the south end of the island next to Amelia Island Plantation. The homes, with lap siding and brick entryways, ooze traditional charm and are priced starting at $575,000.
The Surf will offer 37 homes and a prime location on South Fletcher Avenue directly across from the ocean and about a mile north of the Ritz Carlton.
“A lot of our inspiration for The Surf came from Florida’s West Coast,” Lendry says. “The idea was to build driveways that are accessible from behind so that all the homes will have ocean views from the second and third floors.” Prices will start at $1 million.
Also on the island is Oyster Bay Harbour, a 325-home community on Lansford Creek, a deep-water creek that empties into the Intracoastal Waterway.?
“Amelia Island is a throwback town,” says Louis “Lou” Goldman, sales manager for Oyster Bay Harbour. It’s a very interesting place to live. It was a wide open seaport town and has a lot of history.”
Oyster Bay Harbour, with a combination of townhomes and single-family homes, will offer Nassau County’s only yacht club, where buyers can have a deep-water boat slip. Home prices range from $450,000 up more than $1 million.
But Nassau County’s major growth is taking place inland. The U. S. Census Bureau projects the county’s population to grow by as much as 50 percent over the next decade, with most of the growth occurring around Yulee, at roughly 10 square miles the county’s largest unincorporated area.
The residential growth in Yulee, especially around S.R. A1A and Chester Road/Amelia Island Concourse, has already sparked plans for a 150,000-square-foot expansion of the Lofton Square Shopping Center.
And sparking more growth is a planned 3.5-mile extension of Amelia Concourse from its current terminus at LandMar’s North Hampton community to S.R. 107.
Indeed, county planners say that about 70 percent of all new homes expected to be built in Nassau County over the next 20 years will be built in and around Yulee.
?“Nassau County is continuing to grow, and with land on the island becoming hard to find and expensive, the inland area is really coming into its own,” notes Lendry.
Take Amelia National Golf & Country Club, for example. Phases I and II of this 749-home community, which features a Tom Fazio-designed golf course, have been launched and sales have been hot.
“Amelia National is more of a country club atmosphere and is a private club,” says Karen Sutherland, ICI Homes North Florida division vice president and director of marketing. “This course is one of the best new courses in the country, and it’ll only get better as it matures.”
ICI is developing Amelia National in partnership with Montgomery Land Corporation and is one of four homebuilders in the community. The company is also building in an adjacent community, North Hampton, which is nearing sellout.
“Many of our buyers currently live on Amelia Island and are moving inland,” Sutherland adds. “They’re finding better home values and using their equity to buy into a different lifestyle. Perhaps they’ve had the beach and now they want the exclusive country club experience.”
The private golf country club will offer around 430 memberships to property owners in the community. Home/lot packages typically start from the $500s and golf-front, lake and preserve/wooded lots are offered.
Another dazzling waterfront community near Yulee, Grande Oaks Amelia, sits right on the banks of the Amelia River.
Developed by Crosswinds Communities, homes at Grande Oaks are priced starting in the S400s. Amenities for the 78-home community include a 4,000-square-foot clubhouse.
The main attraction for the community, says Debbie Marton, vice president of sales, is the Amelia River location.
“Plus, Grande Oaks has all the things that homebuyers will love,” she notes. “It’s only five miles from Amelia Island, so there’s resort-style living with beaches, water and charming restaurants.”
Other hot inland communities include Engle Homes’ Amhurst, Standard Pacific’s Hickory Village and Richmond American’s Heron’s Isles and the Marshes at Lanceford. Nassau County does indeed “have a little bit of everything,” says Clyde Goodbread, executive vice president of the Amelia Island/Nassau County Association of Realtors. “It’s a work town but it’s also a resort. We have the beaches and still have shrimp boats leaving every morning.”
?Location is also a plus. Interstates 95 and 10 are easily accessible from anywhere in the county and Jacksonville International Airport, located in north Jacksonville" target="_blank">Duval County, is also nearby.
Consequently, Nassau County is soliciting more industry and business and about seven years ago created an economic development board.
“We’re trying real hard to bring industry into the county so they’ll [residents] stay here to live and work,” Goodbread adds. “We have nothing against our neighbor to the south, but we’d like to be more than a bedroom community.”
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