Sweetwater’s clubhouse will look like this.
by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Imagine living the rest of your life on a cruise ship that never sets sail.
That’s the image Sweetwater, a new active adult lifestyle community in Southside, wants to convey to potential buyers and Realtors.
“About half the people on our list are from Jacksonville,” said Michelle Branham, the lifestyles director for Sweetwater, developed by Del Webb, a subsidiary of Pulte Homes. “They want a place to retire, but don’t necessarily want to leave here. We don’t like to use the word ‘retire’. Retire is not the word because a lot of these people still work and are young.
“They are only in their 50’s and early 60’s and they are very active. They are looking for something that is very active, social and exciting as if they were on a cruise ship that never sets sail.”
Sweetwater will be at Baymeadows Road and 9-A. It is a master-planned, gated and private community that will sit on 315 acres and will offer 1,000 homes. The community will offer single-family residences from the mid $200,000’s to high $300,000’s, condominium homes with elevators and carriage homes that will start in the low $200,000’s.
Del Webb will have several information sessions for potential residents in January and then start selling. Expected move-in date is April/May 2005.
Many of the activities will be held in Summerland Hall, a 21,000-square foot recreation center that will be completed later next year.
“It’s fashioned after Epping Forest so it has that beautiful Spanish Renaissance look to it,” said Branham. “It’s stunning.”
Amenities in Summerland will include an indoor year-round heated swimming pool, fitness center, locker rooms, wall street reading and media room; aerobics, pilates and yoga room and multi-purpose activity rooms for meetings, arts and crafts, billiards, kitchen and lounge areas. Adjacent to the hall will be a second heated pool, tennis courts, bocce ball courts, putting green, lighted walking trails, bike lanes, small parks, scenic nature trails and an outdoor pavilion with covered picnic area.
Branham is in charge of planning activities for the residents.
“They will be going to wine tastings, to the beach, to St. Augustine and more,” she said. “There will be yoga and pilates in the morning and country line western dancing in the evening. We’re doing bingo, potluck dinners, overnight trips to Savannah, biking trails, walking trails and we’ll have the indoor heated pool where they can do water aerobics with their friends.
“It’s a very socialized atmosphere. We will also have a lot of singles, too. There is a nice singles atmosphere and we will do a lot of single stuff. We have a lot of fun with that.”
Sweetwater will be a community for ‘55 and better’ who just want to live near others who are the same age and share the same interests. Children under 19 can’t live there but there will be summer camp for grandkids.
“We want to customize the community to meet the needs of the residents,” said Branham. “Most of the people who have signed up for our special interest list are from Jacksonville. The interest in the community is amazing. It’s amazing the popularity of it so now other homebuilders are looking at creating an active adult community. I’m so glad we are first to do it.”
Pulte bought Del Webb in 2001, which has a solid reputation building active adult communities all over the country.
“Del Webb does this very well,” said Branham. “This community is only 1,000 homes, but this Pulte division will build another one in the Nocatee area that will be 2,000 homes.”
In order to learn the overall feel of Del Webb communities, Branham has been visiting their other locations of active adult communities and can see the positive effect it has on the residents.
“It’s funny. I traveled all over the country and saw the photos of the residents when they first moved in on their amenities pass,” said Branham. “Then a year later, you look at the residents in comparison to the photo and they look younger. They are having a ball. They have been working so hard their whole lives and I’m in charge of making sure they are on vacation the rest of their lives.”
Branham visited the other communities and saw how they ran their community and then customized it to Florida.
Del Webb is having a Realtor seminar in January before they start their informational seminars for potential residents.
Vicki Bratvold, the vice president for sales at Pulte, said that Realtors will have a very active role in Sweetwater.
“Introducing a Del Webb active adult community to Jacksonville presents a unique opportunity for us and our Jacksonville Realtor friends,” said Bratvold. “It is the first Del Webb community in Northeastern Florida and we believe Sweetwater by Del Webb will provide our Realtor partners an extraordinary lifestyle to offer their valued customers.”