By Carole Hawkins, [email protected]
A piece of land larger than World Golf Village has been divided into four quadrants in hopes for a quicker sale.
Davidson Realty is the listing agent for the 8,427-acre Hutson Ranch, located southwest of St. Augustine between County Road 207 and County Road 206.
The ranch has been on the market for nearly two years. But offering it as four parcels got an almost immediate response, said Jim Davidson, co-founder of Davidson Realty.
“I was quite excited,” he said in the first week of the listing. “I already had two calls over the weekend, so I think this is the right strategy.”
The land is being marketed under its current uses — tree harvesting on the two eastern quadrants, farming on the southwest one and equestrian/cattle on the northwest.
But its website is also advertising the property’s potential for residential development.
Far-fetched, given its distance from Jacksonville? Davidson, who directed development for the 6,300-acre World Golf Village, said not really.
Today, residential development is happening from Jacksonville all the way south to County Road 208. County Road 207 is the next main road south.
“The question is whether the time is right,” Davidson said. “I’d say, not right now. But in the future, sometime within the next five years, I think it will be.”
During real estate’s peak years, people were putting properties along County Road 207 under contract, Davidson said.
In 2005, one buyer expressed strong interest in the northwest portion of the Hutson Ranch for residential development.
The 2,755-acre parcel has equestrian buildings and paddocks, a two-story lake house and a 50-acre lake.
If someone were to pick up one of the quadrants for residential development, the northwest quadrant would be the most likely candidate, Davidson said.
“It’s as beautiful a piece of land as anything out there,” he said. “It’s nicer than World Golf Village was when we developed that.”
At 2,755 acres, the northwest parcel is large enough for 5,000 homes, he said.
Northwest, $28.9 million
2,755 acres, includes twin 2,600-foot north-south and east-west airstrips, equestrian buildings and paddocks, and a two-story, over-water house on a 50-acre stocked lake.
Southwest, $16.2 million
1,732 acres, features a vintage Neoclassical/Greek revival, 11,000-square-foot manor home, three residences, pine and hardwood forestlands, and 240 acres of productive leased agricultural land.
Northeast, $10.1 million
2,468 acres, a 2-square-mile, managed timber forest with miles of highway frontage.
Southeast, $6 million
1,472 acres, a 1-by-2-mile managed timber forest 3 miles west of Interstate 95 and adjacent to nationally owned timberlands.