by Sean McManus
Staff Writer
With names like “The Siena,” “The Viscardo,” “The Montiano” and “The Tuscany,” the Villas of St. Johns aren’t fooling anybody. Those are the names of the style of apartments you can chose from (one, two, or three bedrooms) at the upscale, riverfront apartment complex on Riverside Avenue that opened last year. In case you couldn’t tell, they are courting an upscale crowd.
The parking garage is dotted with Jaguars and Mercedes SUV.s and the furniture in the lobby is plush. The pool and jacuzzi face the river, ensconced in a Mediterranean-style courtyard that the proprietors of the Villas are hoping will remind residents of an Italian mansion.
“People like to people-watch,” said Stephanie Lanier, the Villa’s business manager, from her office on the ground floor of the Villas. “So we have lots of balconies and plenty of good views.”
Lanier started about a year ago, just as the last building in the Villas was signed over and ready to lease. She concedes that the property was slow out of the gate — “We were about a year ahead of our time,” she said. But now the 257-unit complex is at 80 percent occupancy with full expectation that they will be full by the end of the year.
When the Lincoln Property Company bought the land for the Villas in 2000, the company which manages apartments all over the nation, and three other complexes in Jacksonville, had bought an old nursing home, and the home to drug dealers and homeless people camping out by the river.
Today, the success of Villas signal a complete turn-around for the area technically known as Five Points which, despite the views of the St. Johns, sat dormant for many years.
“Sure, retail always brings people,” said Lanier, speaking of the new Publix supermarket complex directly across the street from the Villas. “There were plenty of challenges during the construction. Now that it’s done, it’s a real blessing.
Lanier said as part of her marketing strategy, many times directed at higher paid health care workers and doctors who are tired of a long commute to hospitals near downtown, she paints the picture of a leisurely walk across the street to the new Starbucks for a New York Times and a cafe au lait.
“It’s quiet here,” she said on a walking tour of the grounds this week. “You can just sit in the courtyard, read, and watch the river.”
Lanier is trying to offer the best of both worlds. On one hand, the appeal of the Villas is that it’s urban. “People from out of town who are used to a vibrant downtown like walking access to restaurants and shops,” she said. “And they’re definitely not into the traffic thing.”
But equally as appealing is the sanctity of the river and the palm tree-infused courtyard that is buffered by the sounds of cars whizzing down Riverside Ave.
About six weeks ago, the Villas of St. Johns was named “the most architecturally compatible new construction in Jacksonville” by the Jacksonville Historical Society. The developers worked closely with Riverside Avondale Preservation (RAP) during the design and construction phases of the project.
Considering the new Publix, the idea is essentially mixed-use — restaurants, shops and living are all right there.
Rents at the Villas range from $800 for a 750 square-foot one bedroom to $1,800 for a 1700 square-foot three bedroom with two baths with a river view. In the middle lie the two bedrooms, which are about 1,200 or 1,300 square feet. You will always pay more for a river view.
There’s a workout facility on the river side with treadmills and weights. Beyond that, the pool and the jacuzzi are stationed smartly on the river, in the middle of the complex. You can load and unload your boat on a dock that’s provided by the Villas, but there are no slips. The docks in Ortega dry dock are the closest.
The way Lanier sees it, the Villas fills a specific niche in the overall plan for downtown living.
“Right now, you’ve got the Berkman and you’ve got us,” she said. “We’re more suited for people who want that neighborhood feel and still are close to work. The Berkman is going to struggle a little bit until there’s something to do downtown after work.”
Lanier has worked for the Dallas-based Lincoln Property for 15 years, and moved to Jacksonville in 1989 from Charlotte to manage one the their other properties on Southside Blvd.
“I’d say we’re about 10 years behind Charlotte in terms of our downtown,” she said. “But you’re going to be seeing Jacksonville on the map a lot more.”
But Lanier views her job as not only selling units at the Villas of St. Johns but also as part of the buzz-generating machine for her neighborhood of Riverside. “There’s Riverside and then there’s San Marco and then there’s the real downtown,” she remarked. “Riverside has its own buzz.”
Lanier said representatives from the new Strand project on the Southbank meet with her regularly to talk logistics and bounce ideas.
“It’s not about competition,” she said. “We all realize that there will be plenty of people to fill these units, so we want the design and the amenities to work well with the community and be the best they can be. We all work together on that.”
As for the overall plan for Lanier’s company, Lincoln Property, they are carving out a niche for themselves in downtown revitalization projects. They are currently working on an upscale complex in downtown Orlando called Lincoln at Delaney Square on Church Street. Lincoln runs similar properties on Peachtree Street in Atlanta.