By Carole Hawkins
There are master-planned communities that create an oasis from outer Jacksonville’s growing urban character.
And then there’s a community that’s actually located in what is, for now, still a rural oasis.
Situated 9 miles down the road from World Golf Village, TrailMark welcomed Realtors to a ”Muddy Boots” open house in April.
Co-sponsored by developer GreenPointe Communities and builders D.R. Horton and Landon Homes, the event offered an early glimpse of what St. Johns County’s newest master-planned neighborhood will look like.
Many in the latest iteration of large-scale exurban communities talk about outdoor living and connectivity to natural amenities.
TrailMark shares its plans for trail networks, man-made lakes and even a kayak launch, to be located at Six Mile Creek. But it does feel a little different.
In addition to what has become the virtually standard welcome and fitness centers and zero-entry pool, Trailmark’s amenity area opens to a lake and is connected to an oak hammock the size of a large city park. It will be preserved for community cookouts and camping.
“You don’t need to improve that,” said Chris Kuhn, GreenPointe vice president, land development. “You just need to give people access to it.”
One of the lakeside buildings, its Camp House, feels like a visit to a state park picnic area.
The first floor is a covered, open-air space that includes a fireplace and outdoor kitchen, and one large room is screened. It’s a place for barbecues and oyster roasts.
“This will be the community’s back porch,” Kuhn said.
Until infrastructure is finished and houses start going up, it’ll be hard to tell if TrailMark maintains its rustic feel.
But so far, it’s closer than most.
“I think people will be attracted to the site itself,” Kuhn said. “It’s beautiful. It feels distinctly different.”
TrailMark is one of the larger communities to come online this last year as part of the Northeast Florida housing rebound.
Approved for 2,278 homes, it joins the ranks of RiverTown, Sheerwater, Julington Lakes and Markland to the north.
The quick succession of launches speaks to the dearth of developed lots in St. Johns, said Kuhn.
A 30-mile trek from Downtown, International Golf Parkway is already a long commute. And TrailMark is no small distance beyond that.
But it’s just one exit beyond the fast-developing County Road 210 communities. So, it’s going to be St. Johns’ next major growth corridor, Kuhn said.
The road already has commercial infrastructure, including a Publix-anchored shopping center.
And all of St. Johns County continues to be highly desirable for homebuilding because of its schools, proximity to St. Augustine and access to the ocean and the St. Johns River, Kuhn said.
GreenPointe’s executive team has extensive experience in buying, entitling and developing large scale master-planned communities, President Grady Miars said via email. The company’s strategic focus is on growth markets in Florida.
GreenPointe expects to finish TrailMark’s amenity center by the end of summer and to announce as many as four more builders by the end of the year.