by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
For the last decade, the booming development between St. Augustine and downtown Jacksonville has served as the regional market’s main attraction. But lately, the buzz among builders and buyers has increasingly been directed north, where a sequel might be on the way.
St. Augustine played the star attraction in the St. Johns and Nassau County building boom. For part 2, the role of the charming beach community is played by Fernandina Beach. Like St. Augustine, Fernandina’s small town charm is proving to be a winner with developers when paired with easy access to downtown Jacksonville.
While the market connecting St. Augustine and Jacksonville is still hot, industry analysts see more room for growth up north, where land is still in ample supply and prices are still within range of the average homebuyer. Building and buying north doesn’t have to turn into a big-budget blockbuster, yet.
“That’s the main driver for the area is the price compared to the areas with ocean access to the south,” said Ray Rodriguez, president of the Real Estate Strategy Center of North Florida.
But the market has other advantages, said Rodriguez. It’s close to the airport, and the commute downtown is quicker. Fernandina residents don’t have to battle the stop-and-go traffic seen on southern corridors like J. Turner Butler Boulevard.
The area’s economy rests on a solid foundation built on tourism around Fernandina and trade farther south. The Jacksonville Port Authority recently announced a $200 million expansion at Dames Point that’s expected to bring up to 5,000 jobs to the area.
The area surrounding the Port Authority’s economic prospects should enhance its viability as a real estate market, said Rodriguez. He recommended that the City stoke the market by improving infrastructure in the area and enhancing the area’s trade business.
The Dames Point area has unique access to the St. Johns River, the ocean, Jacksonville’s railways and Jacksonville International Airport. Rodriguez recommended expanding the airport (a plan the Airport Authority has already started) to enhance the area’s competitive advantage in trade and industry.
“We should always be looking to increase our import/export business,” he said. “With a better, larger airport, you’d see more jobs along the lines of what they expect at the port. With more jobs comes more demand for housing.”
Demand north of Jacksonville is already growing thanks to the relative value of the homes. The average single-family home in Yulee, increasingly known as the “gateway to Fernandina Beach,” costs a little over $160,000. That’s $2,000 cheaper than a similar home at the World Golf Village northwest of St. Augustine and more than $13,000 cheaper than inside St. Augustine city limits.
The values tend to dissipate when buyers cross the Intracoastal Waterway into Fernandina Beach. The price tag on single-family homes there exceeds $200,000. But Rodriguez said buyers there are willing to pay the beachfront premium.
The Fernandina market is largely established. It’s to the south and west of the Intracoastal Waterway where Rodriguez projects the most growth. Trade magazines report more than 10,000 new residential units in development along the A1A corridor running east from I-95 into Amelia Island. That development is largely driven by the relative value. Buyers outside of Fernandina Beach’s city limits not only pay less for their houses, they save on property taxes charged inside the city, according to Amelia Island Living’s online magazine.
That magazine lists about a dozen new developments in and out of Fernandina at price points ranging from slightly above market rate to the luxury end of the market.
Luxury beachfront residences at Amelia Island Plantation Resort start at $1.5 million, while Yulee developments like Oyster Bay Harbor and the Golf Club at North Hampton offer homes and lots from $250,000 to half a million. Further down A1A, Arnold Ridge has packages starting in the high $100,000s.
Developer Landmar was one of the first to stick its toe in the water in the Yulee market when it built North Hampton in partnership with M.G. Orender’s Hampton Golf. Chief Operating Officer Roger Postlewhaite said Landmar saw the area’s potential early.
“We looked at it as an extension of the primary markets around Jacksonville,” he said.
By building in Yulee, North Hampton was able to offer luxury houses at prices far below those in the beachfront communities. The development offered an Arnold Palmer design golf course and other amenities in place of direct access to the beach.
“That was the concept,” said Postlewhaite. “Because we’re not right on the beach, you get a little more house for your money. And we provide a golf course and other amenities to appeal to what we call the ‘active adult’ market. And you still have easy access to the beach just up the road.”
Landmar found the market niche it was looking for. North Hampton is now heading into a fifth phase of construction. The development will offer about 600 total residences when completely built out. Postlewhaite said Landmar is looking for other opportunities in the market.
To keep that kind of momentum, infrastructure in the area must be improved, said Rodriguez. Concurrency issues are holding back development in a number of areas, he said.
“The main thing is roads. The available roads out there are only so wide,” said Rodriguez.
One important corridor is already being widened. The Amelia Concourse road is being expanded to a four-lane county highway and developers are lining up to build along it.