Jacksonville-based Providence Homes plans to build a residential community in eTown in South Jacksonville.
Providence will develop the 133-lot Kettering at eTown neighborhood on 37.45 acres between eTown Parkway and Interstate 295.
The project is south of Butler Boulevard, which connects I-95 to the Beaches.
The St. Johns River Water Management District is reviewing the plans.
The one- and two-story homes will start from the high $200,000 range, according to Providence Homes Inc. President and CEO Sean Junker.
Home sizes will range from 1,500 to 2,750 square feet on 40- and 50-foot-wide lots.
Providence anticipates selling homes by the end of 2019 and opening four models in the spring of 2020.
Horizontal construction for grading, utilities and roads will begin by midsummer according to Junker. Jacksonville-based J. Lucas & Associates Inc. is the civil engineer.
”What attracted us to E-Town is the location with great proximity to I-295 and JTB (Butler Boulevard) as well as the surrounding retail, restaurants and schools,” Junker said.
He said Providence Homes also thinks “very highly” of The PARC Group, the master developer of eTown.
Junker is president of the Northeast Florida Builders Association.
Junker said the residences will be “Zero Energy Ready Homes,” referring to a U.S. Department of Energy level of home performance that focuses on energy savings, health, comfort and durability. Providence will be the only builder offering “Zero Energy Ready Homes” in eTown.
Junker said the homes will be as “energy efficient as they can get.”
“The lot size, product and opportunity for the most energy-efficient homes that we can offer our homeowners fit well within our target demographic,” Junker said.
Providence Homes won its fifth consecutive EPA Energy Star Partner of the Year award in April.
Robert Goettlicher, Providence Homes vice president of sales and marketing, said, the “Zero Energy Ready” designation indicates that the home is built for energy efficiency.
It does not mean zero energy bills.
A buyer would need to add solar energy and other variables to take the home to net zero energy consumption.
That would mean the amount of energy used equals the amount of energy generated from a renewable energy resource at the home.
Junker said Providence will offer “moderate modern” building elevations, with clean lines and low pitched roofs.
Kettering is a golf-cart community to ease access to eTown amenities.
Like other neighborhoods in eTown, the community is named after an inventor.
Charles Kettering (1876-1958) was an American inventor and engineer and received 140 U.S. patents.
He was a founder of Delco, which developed equipment for automobiles, and was director of research at General Motors from 1920 to 1947.
He is best known for the key-operated electric self-starting ignition system.
The 1,500-acre eTown is under development along Florida 9B and I-295 and planned for residential and commercial development.
It says it is a “smart living community built around the belief that convenience, community, technology, and sustainability enhance a modern way of life.”
Six homebuilders, including Providence, announced plans to build about 1,400 single-family homes in five eTown neighborhoods.
