Helow Properties Ltd. is preparing land it owns in Northwest St. Johns County for entitlements up to 3,500 residential units and 2.5 million square feet of nonresidential uses.
It calls the property Villages at Town Center.
The undeveloped 2,173 acres is what remains of Helow family-owned property in the area.
Jacksonville-based Helow Properties wants to conserve about 500 acres of wetlands.
After entitlement approvals, Helow Properties anticipates development to start within five years and take place in five- to 10-year phases.
Villages at Town Center would be a master-planned community.
Helow Properties, led by Joseph P. Helow, asked the county for a preapplication meeting to discuss a land use change.
Helow seeks a potential large-scale land use amendment for the acreage, which is north and south of Greenbriar Road, also known as County Road 210 West.
The property's use would change from rural silviculture to mixed use, residential uses and conservation.
The property is zoned open rural. Helow plans eventually to request rezoning to a planned unit development.
The property north of Greenbriar Road stretches between Veterans and Longleaf Pine parkways. The property south of Greenbriar Road is east and west of Longleaf Pine Parkway and north of Bartram Trail High School.
The section of Greenbriar Road separating the property is being widened to a four-lane divided road.
It would allow for residential and regional commercial, high-intensity commercial, neighborhood business commercial, general business, and office and professional uses.
The changes seek to support residential growth in the area, provide community support services and promote local business development.
Helow said he does not plan to develop the land, but wants to entitle the property to prepare it for sale.
It is “land that we own that we want to get ready to be sold. We get a lot of inquiries about our property,” he said.
The property has been owned by the family since the late 1980s and two parcels already were entitled.
Villages at Town Center would include locations for parks, a school, civic uses, a connection to the regional preserve and a transportation network.
The property's land use change would be an expansion of the existing surrounding residential and commercial developments.
Those include Oxford Estates, Aberdeen, Mill Creek Forest, Shoppes at Mill Creek Forest, RiverTown, Greenbriar Downs, 210 Town Center, Middlebourne and proposed commercial uses.
