Moving to Jacksonville from NY City (Gainesville, Plantation: apartments, condo, houses)

[eysheikah]

Hello All,

We currently live in Staten Island, New York. We are planning to move to Jacksonville, FL due to an employment opportunity with a company based out in Duval County. Prior to this, we never have had relocated out of New York City boroughs.

As we are not very familiar with Jacksonville, we need a little help deciding which area would be best for us.

We have two young children going to 1st grade and KG, and as such, top schooling is a priority along with safest neighborhood.

Although we will be looking for a reasonable to an upscale housing areas, at this time, the Realtor would like to give us a tour of housing constructions at:

1. Julington Creek Plantation
2. Ponte Vedra Housing

We would like some opinions from people who currently live in Jacksonville as to their opinions on these housing constructions or areas. Moreover, any further recommendations on other areas from top rated schooling and safest neighborhood will be much appreciated.

Thank you and regards,

ASH & NICOLE
New York

[Floridian]

Yes, your realtor gaved you the best location but they can be expensive. Also try the Bartram park area. The location is just between Ponte Vedra & Mandarin. They have newly built communities and some are even gated.

[daedalo]

Beware of Jacksonville

Hyper conservative- City is owned by the First Baptist Church.
The school board *still* has some imbedded racism
Very small percentage of city council is black/minority even though 35% of the Jacksonville population is black/minority. Rednecks *still* have reb flags on thir pickup trucks.

Pay is low as compared to other large cities in FL
Commuting traffic to-from the Jacksonville beaches is horrendous
Ponte Vedra is 95% white or asian

The press-newspaper- is unbelievably right wing- you better like to read about the republican agenda.

The most liberal neighborhood in Jacksonville is and will be for the forseeable future- Riverside.

Jacksonville has an excellent new library, and a couple of art galleries. But for its overall population it has almost zero "culture". Great football and golf.
University of Florida in Gainesville has all the college sports (75 mi away)- Now that is a great progressive town- Gainesville!

The best and hottest area in NE FL right now is Fernandina Beach (Amelia Island), about a 40 minute commute to the downtown from the north on I-95. It is fillling up with many from NY/NE. Beautiful town, beaches, facilities. An annual art festival the first weekend in May. Has a historic downtown with coffee shops sidewalk cafes great restaurants and pubs. The marina is at one end of main street with the beach at the other. About the scale of Oak Bluffs on the Vineyard.


Bill

[Floridian]

For obvious reason that you are moving for a job and in DUVAL county, choose areas less than 15 miles close to DUVAL vicinity. Being said, you have options of taking side streets than relying only on major I 95. Based from experience, I live in Mandarin and drive to work (downtown- which is in DUVAL country) takes me only 15 minutes.

[eysheikah]

Thank you all for your valuable input. Definitly, when I visit Jacksonville next week I will see the recommended areas. In the meantime, please feel free to add to include any other areas or comments about Jacksonville.

Regards.
ASH & NICOLE
New York

[Floridian]

Here are the places you would like to see in Jacksonville:
- The new St John's Towne center. Location is in Butler Blvd & new 9A.
This is a 1.1 mil square foot of shopping. This towne center has another
phase 2 opening soon.
- The San Marco on the riverside downtown. If you've been to
Glendale,CA, this is pretty similar except smaller.
- Visit Jacksonville beach along atlantic blvd.
- Visit the World Golf Village and the historic ST. Augustine (take I 95
south - about 30 min drive from Jacksonville). There are good seafood
restaurants here,as being close to the beach area.
- Along the Southside blvd across Butler blvd. there are nice upscale
restaurants, nice apartments and new condo developments.
We moved here 7 years ago and I can honestly tell you that we loved it here. There have been so many developments.. new highways.. just to name a few.

[eysheikah]

Folks,

In Jacksonville, like to get your comments about Clay County as to the quality of elementary schools, type of neighborhood, crime, malls, etc. Our realtor is showing us some new contructions underway in Clay county by a company, STANDARD PACIFIC COMPANY REMOVED. On the web site the houses look beautiful and the prices seems resonable. Though, not sure about the area. Any comments will be appreciated.

Thank you.

[lynntjax]

What is the location of the job you are moving here for? Traffic could be a concern in some areas, so if you give me an idea of where you need to be, I could help.

[cutler7]

in my opinion standard pacific homes are a great bargain.

[Buddy263]

Can anyone tell me the bad neighborhoods in Jacksonville?
Private messages welcome