Take Note

CLAY COUNTY
Richmond American Homes is introducing its latest neighborhood: Eagle Landing at OakLeaf Plantation. the builder’s grand opening event featured its Piermont model, a 3,350-square-foot plan with a butler’s pantry and an airy loft overlooking the foyer. other floorplans, priced from the low $200s, are also available.

DUVAL COUNTY
Lennar is introducing its energy-efficient Powersmart line of homes to its communities in northeast Florida. the Powersmart homes are reviewed and rated by an independent third party through the environments For living Certified green program. Powersmart homes are built with more efficient windows, lighting, appliances, insulation and heating and cooling systems to reduce electricity costs and
water usage.

Hampton Golf has been selected to provide management services and reenergize Selva Marina Country Club in Atlantic Beach. Under the contract, hampton golf will make improvements to the club’s existing facilities and will manage all aspects of the club’s operation. About 45 new employees are being added. Several levels of membership will be available, including: a full membership with access to all golf and recreational facilities; a sport membership with unlimited use ofall facilities, excluding golf; a social membership; and a summer/pool membership that runs from may 1 to sept. 30.

At Ocean’s Edge, a beachside community of condominium homes in south Jacksonville Beach, qualified first-time homebuyers and their parents can get low-down-payment, fixed-rate mortgages at competitive rates through Federal Housing Administration (FHA) financing options known as “Kiddie Condo” loans. The program allows students and young professionals to buy a condo as a cobuyer using their parent’s credit and income history without the parent being the primary occupant of the property. The co-borrower, often an adult offspring, is required to live in the home. Interest rates are the same as a traditional FHA loan. The primary requirement is that the owner and co-owner be blood relatives, but the occupant may charge rent to roommates.

FLAGLER COUNTY
ABD Development Company is finishing two ready-to-move-in homes at Toscana, a luxury community in Palm Coast. The new four-bedroom homes, with special discounted pricing from the mid- $400s, range in size from 2,600 to 2,800 square feet and will feature a covered lanai, courtyard drive and minimum 10-foot ceilings throughout.

Only five homesites – including one slated for an inventory home – remain at the Seagate Homes community of Rivergate, a waterfront development of 165 homesites in Palm Coast. Rivergate offers homes ranging in size from 1,420 to more than 2,200 squarefeet with closeout prices starting in the $160s. Meanwhile, the builder has purchased homesites in the St. Augustine communities of Whisper Ridge Reserve and St. Augustine Shores, with plans to build an inventory home at each location.

ST. JOHNS COUNTY
Mattamy Homes has acquired 84 single-family homesites at Old Sebastian Point in north St. Augustine. The builder is set to begin construction of three-, four- and five-bedroom homes priced from the $190s. Homes will range in size from 1,700 to 2,900 square feet on 60-foot homesites. A model opens in January.

The PARC Group, developer of Nocatee, has announced the opening of the final segment of nocatee Parkway, a limited-access, divided highway stretching from the intracoastal waterway to U.S. 1 at Race- Sharon Montes Amy Ogden Carol Hill Track Road. The completed Parkway includes multiple-grade separated interchanges allowing for uninterrupted traffic flow from the east and west, several overpasses, on- and off-ramps at U.S. 1 and Racetrack Road and a new high-speed flyover for southbound U.S. 1 traffic. The completed thoroughfare will allow easy access by nocatee residents to Jacksonville, I-95 and the new S.R. 9B. The Parkway also will serve as a critical hurricane evacuation route for beach residents.

Deltona Realty, a subsidiary of the Deltona Corporation, has opened two new real-estate offices: the shoppes of MuraBella, at 52 Tuscan Way, Suite 209; and St. Augustine Shores, at 49 Shores Blvd. Both locations will operate as full-service general real estate offices serving St. Augustine,World Golf Village, northwest St. Johns County, Jacksonville and surrounding communities. The offices are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturdays, and noon to 4 p.m. on Sundays.

Toll Brothers has broken ground on two new model homes at Coastal Oaks at Nocatee in Ponte Vedra. The Westin Mediterranean and the Rinaldi Bordeaux will open to visitors in the spring of 2011. Also, the company is selling the community’s current model homes, which have upgraded features and special prices: the Charleston Heritage is priced at $579,982; the San Lucca Renaissance is priced at $886,436; and the San Tropez Heritage is priced at $619,947. additional “Quick Delivery” homes are available at Coastal Oaks.

St. Joe’s RiverTown, a 4,170-acre community located along the St. Johns River, has been repositioned and is open for newhome sales. This news follows a recently signed agreement with David Weekley Homes to begin building in the community and RiverTown’s decision to begin construction on the project’s amenities starting in the spring.

Ryland Homes is opening two new model homes in Durbin Crossing. the homes are from the company’s Florida Series and Palm Collection and range in size from 1,500 to 3,500 square feet. They are priced from $169,990 to the mid- $300s. The 2,610-square-foot Lennox has four bedrooms and three bathrooms.
the Providence has five bedrooms, four bathrooms and a bonus room in 2,796 square feet.

Laterra Links’ Pebble Beach coach home has been honored with a Best in Condominium living award from the St. Johns County Parade of Homes. The home, located in World Golf Village’s King & Bear neighborhood, offers a private elevator with garage access. the entry foyer and niche stairway flows into the grand dining room and gathering living room, where a screened lanai with sliding glass pocket doors instantly brings in the golf course and lake views. Coach homes at Laterra Links are priced from the mid-$300s.

HOMEFRONT

More than 400 members of the Northeast Florida Builders
Association (NEFBA) met at Mavericks at the Jacksonville Landing
in October for the Honky Tonk Gala. Josh Downing took home the
prize for the longest ride during the mechanical bull riding contest.
Mark Lee of Gator Drywall won a three-night ski trip in Big Sky
Resort, Montana. Cindy Murphy of Prime Lending won the $1,000
shopping spree. Janet garmon of Garmon Trucking and Crystal
Coons of Ferguson Enterprises each walked away with $500. Shown
are (left to right): Chad and Aimee Burguss, Chris and Jamie Shee
and Andy and Lisa Chambers.

Sisler Johnston Interior Design recently celebrated its 25th anniversary
and acknowledged longtime employees. Shown (left to right)
are: Dawn Marie Arnold, senior project coordinator for the commercial
division, 10 years; Cheryl Martin, senior residential
designer, 20 years; Judith Sisler Johnston, company president;
Jennifer Bean, residential designer, 7 years; Ines Martinez, office
accountant, 6 years; Chuck Cusack, logistics and warehousing
manager, 9 years; and Darlene Linge, business manager, who joined
the company more than 20 years ago as an office assistant.

LandSouth Construction, a Jacksonville-based general contractor
specializing in multi-family development, recently had a team of
eight cyclists participate in the Bike MS PGA tour “Cycle to the
Shore” ride. Team Landsouth, a seven-member group of cyclists,
raised more than $9,600 for the National Multiple Sclerosis
Society through its participation. Riders included (left to right):
Chuck Ragland, Mike taylor, Steven Dodak, Kyle Passkiewicz,
Joe Passkiewicz, Kathy Passkiewicz and Joy thomas.

The 31st Annual Realtor-Builder Tradeshow, hosted by the Northeast
Florida Builders Association (NEFBA) and the Northeast
Florida Association of Realtors (NEFAR), drew more than 600
attendees to the University of North Florida’s University Center.
More than 60 booths were on display at the tradeshow along with
several educational break-out sessions highlighting green construction,
social networking and home staging. Among the awards
given to participants was Best Costume, which was won by “the
Four Musketeers” of PrimeLending. Presenting the award (far left)
is Donald Ster of Wells Fargo, event co-chairperson.