St John County Question (Jacksonville, St. Augustine: real estate market, apartment, condos)

[punjabimunda]

Hi! I'll be moving from NJ to JAX soon (4-6 weeks) and will be working in a company on Deer Park Drive. From the forum comments here, recommendations from employees working in the same company living in jax and from the recommendations of real estate agents, I understand St Johns county has the best schooling system. My daughter is 5 yrs old and the younger one turning 2 in a couple of months, therefore I would prefer moving into an apt/condo area with the best possible schooling system, safety record, amenities etc.

Given this info, Im being recommended the following condos -

1. Avila, at Palencia which falls in St Johns County and,

2. The Legends at St Johns, which also falls in St Johns County

I've googled these places crazy and im not able to find much more than the prelimanary basics (where they are, rent, amenities ...but no reviews etc).

Is anyone here living in these 2 places, know of someone living here or heard anything good/bad about the place?

I plan to come down in 3-4 weeks to check out the place, but with the limited time i'll have down there (2-3 days), I'd like to eliminate places that I shouldnt even consider! :-)

Appreciate any info I can get!!

Thanks!

[riveree]

Originally Posted by punjabimunda

2. The Legends at St Johns, which also falls in St Johns County

If this is The Legends @ St. John's that is inside of the World Golf Village, then I am familiar with that one. It's perfectly nice in appearance, but the location would bore me to tears. Compared to your Deer Park work location - which is a nice area, BTW - The Legends, and Palencia as well, are in the middle of nowhere.

Some will tell you otherwise, and sure, there might be a couple of stores out that way and you've got the Golf Village (you can do the whole village in half a day ), but aside from housing, there's not much out that way yet. It's been marketed as a destination for a decade now, but it has yet to really take off.

Still, if you have work friends living out that way that you will be socializing with, then you may enjoy it - it's worth consideration, depending on what's important to you.

[lvmy3grls]

We live off of International Golf Parkway which is where the Legends are, the area does have a Publix, pizza, chinese food, dentist, dance class on Intl Golf Pkwy about a mile away, and there are plans for many many other stores, they are building a CVS on the same road a mile the other way, and there are plans for an outside mall like the St Johns Town Center. While they may take a while, you are so close to I95, and if you go just one exit either North or South, there are many many choices for shopping and restaurants. The good thing is, there is virtually no traffic in this area, the schools are wonderful, and you should have your pick of homes or condos since the real estate market is slow, although this area is picking up a bit. Good luck, the area is great!!!!

[palenciacondo]

I love Palencia. Yes, it is somewhat "isolated" , but is that really a bad thing? Peace and quiet, tranquility rules. If you are in need of stores, shopping areas are not that far off. Then return to the peace and quiet. A new Fresh Market just opened in PVB where there is a drug store and also a Publix. Make one trip and hit them all!

Palencia provides many wide open spaces with the advantages of the larger city not far off. Look for much growth here. It may be slow, but best to get in on the bottom, I believe.

[he's so hott]

Originally Posted by punjabimunda

Hi! I'll be moving from NJ to JAX soon (4-6 weeks) and will be working in a company on Deer Park Drive. From the forum comments here, recommendations from employees working in the same company living in jax and from the recommendations of real estate agents, I understand St Johns county has the best schooling system. My daughter is 5 yrs old and the younger one turning 2 in a couple of months, therefore I would prefer moving into an apt/condo area with the best possible schooling system, safety record, amenities etc.

Given this info, Im being recommended the following condos -

1. Avila, at Palencia which falls in St Johns County and,

2. The Legends at St Johns, which also falls in St Johns County

I've googled these places crazy and im not able to find much more than the prelimanary basics (where they are, rent, amenities ...but no reviews etc).

Is anyone here living in these 2 places, know of someone living here or heard anything good/bad about the place?

I plan to come down in 3-4 weeks to check out the place, but with the limited time i'll have down there (2-3 days), I'd like to eliminate places that I shouldnt even consider! :-)

Appreciate any info I can get!!

Thanks!

My comment is a general one. I read in the Jacksonville Business Journal about a week or two ago that a company from S FL is going to build a couple of large, new upscale apt complexes at 95 and World Golf Village but it's like 8 months out from now. As Riveree mentioned, there isn't much in that area in terms of apt/condos but there are some. You'll need to check out a website like apartmentguide.com.

[cricketfan]

Originally Posted by riveree

If this is The Legends @ St. John's that is inside of the World Golf Village, then I am familiar with that one. It's perfectly nice in appearance, but the location would bore me to tears. Compared to your Deer Park work location - which is a nice area, BTW - The Legends, and Palencia as well, are in the middle of nowhere.

If you are one of those people who MUST live right near all the stores, and the traffic, and the crowds, and in the middle of everywhere, then this area is not for you and you may be "bored to tears". If you are like me and prefer to get in and out of those urban areas at will, then you will love this area.

You can hop on I-95 in 2 minutes and be in downtown Jax or downtown St. Augustine in 30 minutes flat. Do your shopping or clubbing and get back to peace and quiet in no time. The only fear is that with all the businesses that are planning to move into the area, the place may become less tranquil and more jammed with traffic. But that's to be expected.

Living next to World Golf Village is a bonus. You get that wide open country feel without actually living in the country. If you want to shop nearby, the St. Aug Premium Stores and the Prime Outlet Mall are at the corner of I-95 and SR16. Plus the beach is 15 minutes away.

Great schools. Safe community. Don't know much about The Legends. But I can tell you ... the location is perfect.

[riveree]

Originally Posted by phallicphantom

If you are one of those people who MUST live right near all the stores, and the traffic, and the crowds, and in the middle of everywhere, then this area is not for you and you may be "bored to tears". If you are like me and prefer to get in and out of those urban areas at will, then you will love this area.

You can hop on I-95 in 2 minutes and be in downtown Jax or downtown St. Augustine in 30 minutes flat. Do your shopping or clubbing and get back to peace and quiet in no time. The only fear is that with all the businesses that are planning to move into the area, the place may become less tranquil and more jammed with traffic. But that's to be expected.

Living next to World Golf Village is a bonus. You get that wide open country feel without actually living in the country. If you want to shop nearby, the St. Aug Premium Stores and the Prime Outlet Mall are at the corner of I-95 and SR16. Plus the beach is 15 minutes away.

Great schools. Safe community. Don't know much about The Legends. But I can tell you ... the location is perfect.

That's the thing about this part of Florida though - even IN the city limits, you can have peace and quiet .

As I write this, I'm sitting on my lanai overlooking a woodland scene listening to all the birds. The woods are deep enough that there is no traffic to be heard and the woods are staying (conservation)......if you didn't know better, you'd think I was deep in the woods somewhere, but I'm actually just minutes up the road from the Saint Johns Town Center.

Jax is not like other cities - it is vastly suburban, so you can have both the conveniences and the peace and quiet. Plenty of the old neighborhoods and the new ones too have space, peace, quiet and greenery. They also have all the conveniences you'd need just outside the neighborhood.

You can find a good mix of both convenience and quiet all over this area. You can also find both extreme ends of the spectrum and I do believe that where Palencia and the WGV are at an end of the spectrum that is less convenient. The developers are making the same promises that they have been making for a decade now about the area - all these conveniences they speak of were supposed to have been there 8 or 10 years ago . Neighborhoods are popping up, so there's no shortage of houses, but the rest is still to come.

I don't doubt that some people may not mind having to drive a distance to get what they need, but if you'd rather spend 10 minutes in the car as opposed to 30, there are plenty of other options for locations to live where you still don't have to compromise on peace and quiet.

(*I just have to add here for the OP that getting from WGV to downtown is more like 50+ minutes, not 30 and from WGV to where your work location is would be 30-40 minutes if traffic was flowing well.....you'll want to check out your commute anyway before making the commitment )

[palenciacondo]

Originally Posted by phallicphantom

If you are one of those people who MUST live right near all the stores, and the traffic, and the crowds, and in the middle of everywhere, then this area is not for you and you may be "bored to tears". If you are like me and prefer to get in and out of those urban areas at will, then you will love this area.

You can hop on I-95 in 2 minutes and be in downtown Jax or downtown St. Augustine in 30 minutes flat. Do your shopping or clubbing and get back to peace and quiet in no time. The only fear is that with all the businesses that are planning to move into the area, the place may become less tranquil and more jammed with traffic. But that's to be expected.

Living next to World Golf Village is a bonus. You get that wide open country feel without actually living in the country. If you want to shop nearby, the St. Aug Premium Stores and the Prime Outlet Mall are at the corner of I-95 and SR16. Plus the beach is 15 minutes away.

Great schools. Safe community. Don't know much about The Legends. But I can tell you ... the location is perfect.

Well said. Palencia has miles and miles of walking/biking paths, numerous pools, playgrounds for the little ones. Golf is available through membership. The nearest grocery is located at WGV maybe 15 minutes down the road. If this is too much of a drive for you, you probably have never lived in a huge, major metropolis! The Starbucks is now open with a little deli and pizza place to follow soon. The restaraunt in the clubhouse has excellent food at a reasonable price and the public is welcome to dine there.

[cricketfan]

Originally Posted by riveree

(*I just have to add here for the OP that getting from WGV to downtown is more like 50+ minutes, not 30 and from WGV to where your work location is would be 30-40 minutes if traffic was flowing well.....you'll want to check out your commute anyway before making the commitment )

I don't mean to quibble about a couple of miles here and there but if you really want to check it out, WGV is about a half hour give or take from downtown Jax depending on where exactly downtown and ofcourse depending on city traffic. It's more like 50 minutes to Jax International Airport. Check it out on Mapquest.

Having said that, we all tend to have honest reasons to defend where we live, partly because we have gotten used to our surroundings and partly because it makes us feel good about the investment we made back when.

But I still do like the away-from-it-all, open-air feel of the WGV area. Granted, this will change as new businesses move in, like the Town Center etc, but WGV will still help to preserve that feel. And the fact that the school system is very good is a fact (for the benefit of the OP).

And yes ... speaking of city limits, I can reach both downtowns, Jax and St. Aug in about the same time...the best of both worlds!

[riveree]

Originally Posted by palenciacondo

If this is too much of a drive for you, you probably have never lived in a huge, major metropolis!

NYC big enough?

We can only give our opinions based on our personal experiences, and I've watched as quiet, no-big-deal-commute areas outside a major city changed drastically as they became more populated, so that certainly is a factor in how I interpret development here in NEFL.