A general rule in residential real estate is that oceanfront property comes with a premium price.
That concept was exemplified in Northeast Florida in 2020, when nine of the top 10 sales by price – totalling nearly $67 million – were recorded for homes with property lines at the sand along the Atlantic Ocean.
It’s even more specific. Nine of the top 10 local sales are homes in Ponte Vedra Beach in St. Johns County. Eight have addresses along an 8-mile stretch of the same road: Ponte Vedra Boulevard by the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club. The other is along a golf course at the club.
Jeff Chefan, managing broker at First Coast Sotheby’s International Realty, the firm that represented the sellers of the No. 1 property on the list, said Ponte Vedra Beach is attracting people from outside the area who want a second home or vacation property on the ocean.
“The value in Northeast Florida is better than what you can get in other parts of the state like Palm Beach or Broward County or the Sarasota and Naples area,” Chefan said.
ST. JOHNS
1217 Ponte Vedra Blvd., Ponte Vedra Beach
Type: Single-family
Lot size: 1.53 acres
House size: 8,818 square feet
Buyer: The Judith Hathcock Revocable Trust
Seller: John D. and Joanne M. Disebastian
Recorded: June 30
Previous sale: $1,925,000 in 2012
With five bedrooms and 6½ bathrooms, the two-story oceanfront home in Ponte Vedra Beach was the highest sale price single-family purchase in Northeast Florida last year.
Built in 2015 out of insulated concrete on pilings, the home features a theater, butler’s kitchen, outdoor entertainment areas, an infinity pool and a dune walkover for access to the beach.
ST. JOHNS
1193 Ponte Vedra Blvd., Ponte Vedra Beach
Type: Single-family
Lot size: 1.24 acres
House size: 11,000 square feet
Buyer: Wiverson C. Trecenti
Seller: Wayne A. and Ann K. Galloway
Recorded: Sept. 15
The second-highest single family purchase last year is a close neighbor of the No. 1 transaction.
Behind a security gate along Ponte Vedra Boulevard, it is a European-style estate known as “Turtle Hall.”
Built in 2004 and designed to display a collection of fine art, it also has five bedrooms and 6½ baths, along with an infinity pool, a secret garden, outdoor entertainment area and a dune walkover.
ST. JOHNS
733 Ponte Vedra Blvd., Ponte Vedra Beach
Type: Single-family
Lot size: 1.04 acres
House size: 9,735 square feet
Buyer: Peter and Sarah Von Der Ahe
Seller: The John F. Hoffecker Declaration of Trust
Recorded: July 20
Previous sale: $6,250,000 in 2011
Another oceanfront two-story home along Ponte Vedra Boulevard, No. 3 has six bedrooms with 7½ baths.
Built in 2008, amenities include a 4,000-bottle wine room, theater, sauna, elevator, exercise room, balconies, seven fireplaces, a three-car garage, generator, dune walkover, pool and gated entry.
ST. JOHNS
1197 Ponte Vedra Blvd., Ponte Vedra Beach
Type: Single-family
Lot size: 1.65 acres
House size: 8,654 square feet
Buyer: John and Phyllis Patterson
Seller: Kim B., Holly L. and Richard W. Forsythe, the 2015 Forsythe Management Trust
Recorded: Feb. 4
This oceanfront home has five bedrooms with five full and three half-baths. The fourth-highest purchase of 2020 features balconies, porches and remote-control metal shutters along the ocean side of the home. It also has a wood-paneled office, an exercise room, six fireplaces (one outdoors), an elevator, a summer kitchen, a four-car garage, an infinity pool and spa, a tennis court and dune walkover.
ST. JOHNS
335 Ponte Vedra Blvd., Ponte Vedra Beach
Type: Single-family
Lot size: 0.34 acres
House size: 9,000 square feet
Buyer: The Pace Family Revocable Trust
Seller: Benjamin M. and Patricia R. Carter
Recorded: Dec. 18
One of the last residential sales in 2020, this Anglo-Caribbean-inspired two-story oceanfront home has seven bedrooms, seven full and two half-baths, within walking distance of the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club.
The home was built in 2007. Its design features include loggias, terraces and balconies, reclaimed heart pine and marble floors, an elevator, office, game room, covered patio, porch, heated pool and a dune walkover.
DUVAL
465 Beach Ave., Atlantic Beach
Type: Single-family
Lot size: 0.34 acres
House size: 6,972 square feet
Buyer: Joseph N. and Margo F. Williams
Seller: W. Radford Lovett II
Recorded: July 23
This two-story oceanfront home in Atlantic Beach has five bedooms, five full and one half-bath.
Built in 2003 on a 0.34-acre lot, it has hardwood floors, a library with built-in bookshelves, a wine storage room, a fireplace in the master bedroom and a pool, covered patio and fire pit.
ST. JOHNS
345 Ponte Vedra Blvd., Ponte Vedra Beach
Type: Single-family
Lot size: 0.32 acres
House size: 6,143 square feet
Buyer: Osvaldo and Kristine M. Bilotta
Seller: David L. and Patricia D. Brown
Recorded: Oct. 13
Previous sale: $3,160,000 in 2013
This two-story oceanfront home built in 1998 on 113 pilings features four bedrooms with 5½ baths.
Amenities include a chef-inspired kitchen equipped with two refrigerators and cooktops, marble countertops, separate islands and an adjacent informal dining area open to the family room with pool and ocean views. The home has an office, library, porch and patio with pergola, hardwood and tile flooring, gym, pool, spa and a putting green.
ST. JOHNS
409 Ponte Vedra Blvd., Ponte Vedra Beach
Type: Single-family
Lot size: 0.31 acres
House size: 5,482 square feet
Buyer: Stephen D. and Penny A. Rosen
Seller: Mark S. and Janice R. Gold
Recorded: Nov. 6
Previous sale: $3,500,000 in 2013
Built in 1956, the coastal two-story oceanfront home was renovated in 2017.
It has five bedrooms and 5½ baths. The main house has a first-floor guest suite and an office. The second floor has a large owner’s suite with an oceanfront sitting area, balcony, custom vanities and his/her closets.
The garage addition has a guesthouse with pecky cypress beams.
ST. JOHNS
87 and 89 Ponte Vedra Blvd., Ponte Vedra Beach
Type: Single-family and vacant lot
Lot size: 1.63 acres
House size: 7,373 square feet
Buyer: The Robert B. Baker Revocable Trust
Seller: Robert B. Baker
Recorded: May 1
The purchase comprised a two-story, four-bedroom, five-bath house and the adjacent 110-foot-wide oceanfront lot across the street from the Ocean Course at Ponte Vedra Inn & Club.
ST. JOHNS
317 San Juan Drive, Ponte Vedra Beach
Type: Single-family
Lot size: 0.77 acres
House size: 11,985 square feet
Buyer: W. Radford Lovett II and Lindley A. Tolbert
Seller: Robert C. and Sallie A. Hart
Recorded: July 31
This golf-course-view home built in 2010 has eight bedrooms and 8½ baths.
The property also has two guesthouses, a formal garden, infinity pool, geothermal heating and hot-water system, solar generator and a 20,000-gallon rain-harvesting system.