This French Country home built by Epic Custom Homes includes a “Lamborghini garage” on the right side of the motor court and is offered at $2.25 million.
The kitchen in the Collins Builders home is punctuated by a contrasting blue island with dark wood countertop
All three homes have free-standing tubs, such as this one in the Fox Signature Builders home. Both homes are under contract.
The family room of the home offered by Fox Signature Homes opens to a panoramic view of an expansive covered lanai and pool.
The Fox Signature Homes house featured Anglo Caribbean architecture.
The view of the pool and pond from upstairs in the Epic Custom Builders home.
In one of Jacksonville’s most secluded and upscale neighborhoods, three homebuilders joined last month for a real estate agent preview of three homes priced at more than $2.2 million.
Pablo Creek Reserve, off San Pablo Road just south of Butler Boulevard, about a mile south of the Mayo Clinic campus, is being developed by the PARC Group.
The 601-acre gated development just west of the Intracoastal Waterway features more than 270 homes from 3,260 square feet to more than 9,000 square feet. Home prices start about $1 million.
Participating builders in the event were Epic Custom Homes, Collins Builders and Fox Signature Homes.
The homes feature amenities expected in the luxury market. Free-standing soaking tubs, super showers, massive owners’ suite closets, multiple garages, gourmet kitchens, laundry rooms on each floor, pools and waterfront views.
Homes at Pablo Creek Reserve border ponds or preserve on the rear lot lines — there is no abutting a neighbor’s backyard — providing either water views or privacy, and in some cases, both. The development is adjacent to the private Pablo Creek Club golf course and the Deep Forest Airport private airstrip.
Epic Custom Homes
On a corner lot at 5263 Bentpine Cove Road, Epic Custom Homes offered a five-bedroom, six-bathroom, 5,800-square-foot French country home priced at $2.25 million.
With 7,650 square feet under roof, including a sweeping lanai and outdoor kitchen space overlooking a pool and spa, the home has a view of an expansive pond.
Jim Joyce, principal of Epic Custom Homes, said he wanted to create an open concept designed for entertaining with a two-island, two-sink and two-refrigerator kitchen allowing for prep space separated from, but flowing freely into, socializing areas.
“Guests like to gather at the kitchen, but at the same time as a host I need space to work,” said Linda Hutchins, president of LMH Realty, which has listed the home. “This gives space for people to gather while I work over there,” she said, pointing to an island that features a cooktop and the back wall of the kitchen where a second sink and cabinets are located.
Joyce said he designed many of the home’s rooms for flexibility.
In addition to the formal dining room/den, a landing at the midpoint of the open staircase can be used as a sitting area, but it is also sized for a baby grand piano. A few steps down next to the bottom of the staircase is another sunken, flexible room.
“Some of our clients want a wine cellar, so this room can be used for that or as private space,” Joyce said.
There is even flexibility in upstairs and downstairs closets.
“This can be an elevator,” he said. “The floors and walls can be removed and it’s wired and designed as an elevator shaft.”
Collins Builders
Two doors down at 5281 Bentpine Cove Road is a four-bedroom, five-bath, 5,765-square-foot French Country-style home by Collins Builders that features a soaring, two-story gathering room lined from floor to ceiling with 1-by-6, V-groove wood planks.
But the home starts to make an impression long before walking through the front door.
The walk from the crescent driveway features a vaulted entry tower flanked by a two-car garage to the right, which blends seamlessly into the architecture, and opens to a protected courtyard with a fireplace. A second two-car garage is connected to the main house.
“We called it the ‘wow house’ from the very beginning because we wanted to create something where people would walk in and just say, ‘wow,’” said project manager Tim Calderala, who has worked on several custom homes with other builders in Pablo Creek Reserve.
That “wow” factor begins immediately inside the front door where a curved staircase flanked by V-groove planks from top to bottom is punctuated by a coordinating chandelier.
Upon entry into the great room, between the owners’ suite and kitchen, a panoramic view of the pool and pond is revealed by expansive French doors.
Behind the kitchen is a pool bath, guest suite, mud room and a hidden “pocket office,” as well as a secondary staircase.
Highlighting the owners’ suite bath is a free-standing tub flanked by a wraparound shower and two large closets. The master bedroom features a soaring, vaulted, shiplap ceiling.
Outside is a pool and spa accented with matching fire bowls, a wraparound lanai and outdoor kitchen.
The home went under contract three days after the Sept. 26 preview.
Fox Signature Homes
Several blocks away at 5340 Commissioners Drive is an Anglo Caribbean-style, six-bedroom, 5½-bath home by Fox Signature Homes.
Priced at $2.237 million, the home had gone under contract just before the preview.
It boasts 5,964 square feet of indoor living space and a total of 8,574 square feet under roof with an expansive lanai that envelopes a pool and spa overlooking a pond. The pool is flanked by an outdoor kitchen on one end and a casita on the other.
Walls, cabinets, countertops, a stone fireplace and the exterior are white, providing a contemporary feel complemented by light, wide-plank flooring along with tile and marble floor surfaces.
“My wife, Polly, and I collaborate and carefully consider each and every design element in all of our homes,” said Michael Fox. “It was our desire to create a private oasis for the homeowner. A sanctuary that didn’t feel stuffy or pretentious, yet still exuded luxury and refined living, and this lot provided us the perfect opportunity to do all of those things.”
The open concept living room features 17-foot, vaulted, beamed ceilings with expansive glass pocket doors that provide an unobstructed pool and pond view.
Entertainment areas flow outside to the travertine terrace featuring an alfresco dining and living room with outdoor, wood-burning fireplace, all accessible from the owners’ and guest suites.
