by Michele Newbern Gillis
Anyone traveling along Third Street at the beach is well aware of the growth of the Beaches.
It seemed for many years that the beaches were neglected and efforts to revitalize the three cities fell through time and time again. In the past 10 years or so, efforts to clean up and grow the beaches have been successful and overall the beaches are thriving dramatically in many ways.
Now, each of the beach cities continues to attract new restaurants, office complexes, and retail establishments while property values continue to soar. And, each city has maintained its own personality.
“It’s obvious to anyone who comes out here that the Beaches have tremendous growth going on,” said Jill Sprowell, executive director of the Beaches division of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce. “Look at downtown Jacksonville Beach. I think that is just phenomenal.
“Five years ago, there were all those boarded-up, blighted buildings and a bad crime problem. Now, it’s beautiful. It’s not only that restaurants and bars have gone in there, but a lot of new businesses now.”
The growth will continue.
“We watch closely the growth of our service area for the hospital,” said Joe Mitrick, Chairman of the Beaches division of the Chamber of Commerce and administrator of Baptist Beaches Hospital. “Our primary service area is the area from Atlantic Beach to Ponte Vedra Beach and west of the Intracoastal to St. Johns Bluff Rd. That area is going to grow approximately 14 percent from 2002 to 2007.”
Here’s a look at each city:
JACKSONVILLE BEACH
“Jacksonville Beach has changed very dramatically over the last 20 years,” said Bob Marsden, mayor of Jacksonville Beach. “It was rather deteriorated back in those days due to a lack of year-round business that would support the area businesses, so they kind of let it die back in the off-season. The city was not very cooperative in working with the business owners in keeping the streets and drainage systems up-to-date.
“Downtown Jacksonville Beach 15-18 years ago was a disaster,” said Atlantic Beach Mayor John Meserve. “When I retired from the U.S. Navy, I worked as the executive director of the Beaches division of the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce, they were trying to get something going but didn’t move forward very far.”
Marsden said they tried for several years to get individual developers to come in and buy private property and completely renovate it into various plans.
“We had people who were going to build big apartment complexes or entertainment complexes, but they always fell short of funding and couldn’t get them off the ground,” said Marsden.
He said that went on for many years until Mayor Bill Latham took a stand.
“Mayor Latham was very instrumental in saying that we need to take another approach to get the city and private development involved and to hold hands in a partnership,” said Marsden.
In 1993, the city developed a new approach to change the character of the downtown area. The strategy had three components: improved downtown infrastructure, private redevelopment of existing structures and redevelopment of city-owned land.
The city decided to use city land and sell it to private developers and let them be in charge of developing.
At the same time, they formed a community redevelopment committee who came up with a plan to landscape the streets in downtown Jacksonville Beach.
By 1996, a new centralized storm water drainage system, new sewer and water mains, electric utility improvements, new streets and landscaping were completed.
In 1998, a new Mediterranean style City Hall was constructed which started a domino effect where the entire downtown has been redeveloped.
A new grant system was put in place for merchants who would renovate their downtown property.
Since then, a new 200-car landscaped parking lot has been constructed, plus a Carrabba’s Italian Grill restaurant, a Walgreen Drug Store, the Oceanic and La Cocina condominiums, Joe’s Crab Shack, office buildings and Sneakers Bar & Grill.
A landscaped plaza, Latham Plaza (named after the late mayor) and a stage and grassy amphitheater named the Sea Walk Pavilion were completed recently in downtown Jacksonville Beach.
Much of the redevelopment was made possible with tax increment funding and from the profits from selling the land to developers.
According to Marsden, since the area was deemed blighted or undevelopable, the tax assessment was frozen. As the area improves, the tax assessment goes up.
“In 2016, the difference in the frozen tax assessment and the new tax assessment return to the city to pay for the redevelopment that has been done,” he said. “But, the redevelopment that you do has to be documented.”
More plans in the works include extending the Sea Walk north from Third Avenue North to the Casa Marina Hotel and new pier site.
The parking lot that butts up against the new extended Sea Walk will also get a face lift.
ATLANTIC BEACH
“Atlantic Beach has sort of been a happening,” said Meserve, the city’s mayor. “We’ve been at 90 percent build out or better for many years so what we’re seeing is a rebirth or a re-growth of the city.”
Atlantic Beach, like Neptune Beach, is basically a residential community.
“Atlantic Boulevard and Mayport Road are commercial and the rest is residential,” said Meserve. “The emphasis of the community is on residential, parks, recreation and the ocean.”
They have put years of effort in cooperate venture with the cities of Jacksonville and Neptune Beach, and the Town Center group, to redevelop the area along Atlantic Blvd. near the beach to attract more business to area.
“They have done a marvelous job of resurrecting an area that was going downhill,” said Meserve. “It was pretty bad.” We held meetings between the three cities for a couple of years putting together that project, getting the streetscaping done, getting the trees installed and getting everything else done.”
Meserve said the road situation is something that they have been working on for a while and are happy with the results.
“The Mayport Flyover has been a dramatic improvement in traffic flow,” he said. “What’s coming is, of course, the Wonderwood Connector. [The Wonderwood Connector will create a four-lane road from Mayport Road to 9A, providing another east-west route from the Beaches]. When that road is completed, you will see probably the most dramatic change in the area that we’ve ever seen.
“By that I mean it will certainly help traffic to the Naval Station, but the biggest thing is that the beaches will be opened up to 200,000-300,000 people on the north end of town and Arlington. That’s the way they are going to get to the beach. They normally would have filtered down Atlantic or Beach boulevards; this new road will be the fastest way for people to get to the beach.”
“What I think people don’t even really comprehend yet is that Mayport Road is going to become a major in and out road to the beaches,” said Meserve.
NEPTUNE BEACH
Neptune Beach Mayor Dick Brown jokes that his city is the only place where you run for public office and have to promise not to do anything.
“They like their community like it is,” said Brown. “They don’t want you to go out and recruit business and industry to the area. This is a perfect little bedroom community, I suppose.”
Brown said the community is probably 85 percent residential.
“We have our business district, but there is no desire to expand it,” he said. “They want selected businesses within that area and want to retain the quality of life that is here.”
Right now, they are facing some challenges.
“We are in the middle of a water and sewer rehabilitation in the older sections of the city east of Third Street that are pretty demanding for a small community,” said Brown. “That is under construction now, it’s just gotten started.”
He said that is typical for a city to maintain its infrastructure, but when it’s a small city, it becomes a big bite to fund it.
Indicators of growth in the area come from the residential more than the commercial areas.
“We think of Neptune Beach as almost built out, and yet down around the marsh, there are a number of beautiful lots that are being developed,” said Brown. “I’m told that there are building permits for about 50 homes.”
He said the biggest activity that he sees at the beach is the rebuilding of the old section of Neptune Beach.
“That area is so much in demand and so desirable,” said Brown. “There is so much of a demand to be in within walking distance to the beach that every little beach cottage and older property east of Third Street is likely to be looked at for its potential for tearing down and building bigger and better or a major rebuild. “
PONTE VEDRA
It isn’t a city and many think it’s in another county, but Ponte Vedra’s bustling business community makes it a big player in the area’s commerce.
What used to be an exclusive suburb centered around the world-class Ponte Vedra Inn and Club is now the home of major corporations, numerous exclusive golf courses and so many people that its borders are bulging down into what used to be farmland called Palm Valley.
The Jacksonville Chamber has numerous members in the area and frequently has monthly luncheons in the Ponte Vedra area.
The Ponte Vedra Inn, which has been almost completed renovated in recent years, has been joined by other high-end facilities such as the Lodge at Ponte Vedra, Sawgrass Country Club, Marsh Landing Country Club and the massive PGA complex with two world-known courses and a large clubhouse.
Where once the retail community was little more than restaurants and convenience stores, today the community has everything one would expect in a small city.
Property values have soared — for instance, a condo near the Ponte Vedra club sold for $125,000 eight years ago and today is listed at $600,000.
Ponte Vedra is also the home to many Jacksonville business leaders as exclusive residential areas are the draw. It’s no longer just a resort community — for instance, Sawgrass Country Club has been purchased by the members, so no longer do Marriott hotel guests have reserved tee times.
Ponte Vedra is the home of one of the nation’s best sports organizations, the PGA Tour, which annually conducts golf’s richest tournament, The Players Championship. The event draws top golfers and industry executives from around the world, as the week also serves as a meeting place for the game’s hierarchy.