Jacksonville-based homebuilder Ashley Homes purchased about 50 acres of waterfront property along the Matanzas River in south St. Augustine for $12 million July 30.
The acquisition includes 98 residential lots within the St. Augustine Shores Planned Unit Development, along with land for infrastructure rights-of-way, retention areas and environmental buffers.
Ashley Homes completed the transaction through Shores Unit 7 LLC, according to St. Johns County property records. The seller was St. Augustine-based Unit 7 Investment.
The parcels represent the easternmost waterfront phase of the PUD. Established in 1974, it authorized a 2,800-acre master-planned community with development standards governing residential uses, green spaces, public parks and other community features.
A PUD allows uses, regulations and standards tailored to a property.
While Ashley Homes’ specific development plans and timelines have not been finalized, official covenants and county records for St. Augustine Shores Unit 7 require all properties to be fully sodded and feature a 4-foot-wide concrete sidewalk running parallel to the street. The covenants also require concrete driveways that level out at the sidewalk to manage local drainage.
Deed restrictions limit development to detached, single-family dwellings not exceeding two stories. Any future development plans will require county review and associated permits and potentially an environmental resource permit from the St. Johns River Water Management District.
This purchase could build on Ashley Homes’ existing regional development portfolio, which includes active single-family home developments in the SilverLeaf master-planned community in St. Johns County and Goose Creek Estates and Jeremy’s Hollow in Clay County.