by Fred Seely
Editorial Director
We’re growing older.
“This is Florida, where everyone wants to live in retirement,” says developer Paul Fletcher. “South Florida is too crowded and Southwest Florida is too expensive. The Jacksonville area is poised to go after that market if we make a commitment.
“We have weather, golf and the beaches. For retirees, those are the three legs of a three-legged stool.”
It appears that we’re getting it whether we go after it or not. The statistics show it and so does physical evidence.
Retirement is a big business today in North Florida.
“This demographic is the fastest-growing segment of the Jacksonville housing market,” said Ed Burr, president of LandMar Group. “It going to be larger, almost by default. There are numerous reasons and all point to us as becoming a prime retirement area.”
Burr’s reasoning: “People want to retire to a place they’ve been. They don’t look in a book or on a web site; they go where they’ve had an experience, and many, many people have experienced Jacksonville. The military, for sure. But how many have been here because of the Jaguars, or the golf tournament, or to play golf, or on corporate business? A lot.”
Kim Woodbury of SouthStar Development Partners agrees with Burr.
“What made Miami and Miami Beach? People had been there. Remember, Miami was a big military town during World War II and lots of people went through there. They knew about it, they had seen the lifestyle and the weather, and they went back,” said Woodbury, whose company has two major projects coming up in the Julington Creek area.
“Now, it’s moving this way. The biggest retirement growth in the state isn’t below I-4; it’s in the Lake and Marion county area. Have you heard of a place called the Villages? Unbelievable. Middle of nowhere, but 2,000 living units will be sold there this year.
“Be ready. The move is upstate, and that means it’s coming this way.”
Roger Arrowsmith, who leads the East-West Partners development team here and who brought Clay County’s Eagle Harbor community on line, says there’s a natural progression.
“Face it: at Eagle Harbor, we made it off baby boomers,” he said. “Now that same segment is turning 55. So, we’re getting more and more retired people. We built Eagle Harbor as a family place and now we’re having to do things to accommodate the older people. We now have certain neighborhoods which appeal to that part of the market, neighborhoods with things like patio homes.
“We frankly didn’t know what to do. The demand was there from our residents, so we flew down a person from one of our Virginia developments. He knew how to set up things like a Club 55+.”
Where are the people coming from? All over, it seems.
“We’re getting most from the northeast and midwest,” said Woodbury.
“We’re involved in Palm Coast (LandMar owns the Grand Haven development) and we see many moving up there from South Florida,” said Burr. “They’re looking for a better quality of life.”
Arrowsmith: “All over and, at Eagle Harbor, we’re seeing an interesting segment of the aging market — people following their children.
“We have many young families, and the grandparents are moving here to see the kids. We’ve had to adjust some of our rules— for instance, no fees for grandparents when they take the kids to the pool.”
Fletcher points out another major factor: “The Mayo Clinic. It’s a brand, it’s a name that’s known everywhere. Retirees want to go where there’s good medical care and that name brands North Florida.”