Trying to find a good area to relocate to (Chicago to FL) (Jacksonville: neighborhood, luxury)

[orchid1]

THANK YOU!!! I'm loving the photos - gives me a much better idea of the area. So far, all I've seen are professional travel photos to lure visitors to the area - LOL! Thanks again.

[LA-VA-FL]

glad I could help! you can look through more of the neighborhoods and info on that metrojacksonville site (site of the links I posted). and remember to check out the beaches communities as well

[Ryde41]

There's a large 55+ community on the Southside of Jax.

[EricBoyd]

Originally Posted by Ryde41

There's a large 55+ community on the Southside of Jax.

Sweetwater (by Del Webb)

[FLPL75]

Originally Posted by Ryde41

There's a large 55+ community on the Southside of Jax.

We have friends that live in Sweetwater the 55+ community at 9A & Baymeadows
It is really nice, the clubhouse is amazing and there are tons of things to get involved in. I even asked if they ever made exceptions on the age thing.

[mawipafl]

orchid1 - another of your requests, PF Changs, there's one at St Johns Town Center (an outdoor mall). No Ann Taylor, but here's the link to the merchants ...
Simon.com - Mall Directory

Sweetwater, the 55+ community, is excellent. I recently took a tour and was very, very impressed. Its location, Southside, is great (convenient to the roadways to downtown, the beach, and everything else), and there are a lot of single family houses/neighborhoods nearby or within the 5-10 minutes you would like.

Jacksonville is very outdoorsy - lots of parks and such for walking, biking, picnicking. It's also quite dog-friendly (if you have a dog).

I think the only thing on your Wish List that we don't have is a teeming downtown. However, the First Coast area offers so much to do that I don't consider the quiet downtown as a con.

As for Lake Mary, from what I understand it's very nice, but I find getting to and from Orlando a traffic nightmare. Just last night, for example, at 9 pm, I-4 was clogged with traffic and it was the typical scary ride since the 50mph speed limit is a joke. Honestly, not one car was doing anything less than 65, and the ones who preferred speeds faster than that were doing the weaving thing. Generally speaking, Jacksonville drivers are a heck of a lot better! (Yes, they do speed and weave, but nothing like those in Orlando!)

Another difference between here and Orlando is that there are a number of toll roads there - Jax has none.

I understand your description of where you are now that one community blends right into the next one. It's sort of the same thing here except that it's all Jacksonville with certain areas denoted as a "neighborhood" such Avondale, Riverside, Springfield, Southside, Arlington, etc. Jacksonville and Duval County are one in the same (that's why Jax is the second largest city in the USA land-wise.) Duval County more or less blends in with Clay and St Johns Counties to the south, and Nassau County to the north. St Augustine is sort of set off with some roadway stretches of "not much", but it's not so remote that access to Jacksonville becomes too tedious.

Come on down for a visit! But please do not bring the cold weather with you - we have enough of it right now :-)

[heatrnnr]

Hi there, my family relocated from chicago last summer. We love it down here. We are in the World Golf Village area since I work in jacksonville. It's not a bad drive at all (25 mins each way). There is a 55 and over neighborhood in the world golf village. My neighborhood is called Sevilla, it's part of the World Commerce Center. Eventually there will be shopping there that sounds like what you are looking for. We like it because it's about 20 mins to jacksonville and 20 mins to downtown st. augustine. My mom moved down about 15 years ago and she lives closer to the beach. We were alittle worried about hurricanes so we decided to be closer to I95 and away from trouble if a hurricane were to hit the area. It does seem like this part of Florida has a bunch of people from the northeast us, whereas naples area seems to have more people from the midwest. Regarding the heat... We moved down in july and it was just as humid up in chicago as it was here. I'll say this, the most humidity I felt was outside of Atlanta on the drive down here. This area gets a breeze off the ocean that seems to keep it alittle cooler.

[orchid1]

Thank you all for your replies. This is really helping. I will look into the World Golf area - that seems like it might be a good fit?

We are thinking about planning a trip this summer to see for ourselves. I contacted a realtor and ordered a relo package just to get more information on the area. We're still just getting a "feel."

I wonder why all the midwesterners end up in Naples?!

I know it sounds silly to make requests for "Ann Taylor" but some things you just can't give up!! Glad to hear there are some new malls/town centers popping up. How about Targets and Chipotle, etc?!

Ice rinks - LOL! Now my midwestern-side is showing.

Thanks again...

[mawipafl]

Originally Posted by orchid1

How about Targets and Chipotle, etc?!

Got 'em here (lots of Targets including a Super Target or two).

And there is an Ann Taylor Loft at St Johns Town Center and at the Avenues Mall (according to the ATL website store locator).

Ice rinks - LOL! Now my midwestern-side is showing.

http://www.jaxiceskating.com/Calendars/Public%20Ice%20Jan%2009.pdf (broken link)

See? We've got just about everything you have (except snow :-)

[LA-VA-FL]

We have PLENTY of Targets in this city including one at the st johns town center where there is also a Chipotle (not sure if you were asking "if" we have those or commenting on "that" we have those)

I know of one big Ice rink in town, there may be another but not that I know of. There is definitely plenty dinining/shopping on the southside of town. New stores are popping up everyday. Its actually pretty convenient considering the amount of "sprawl" in that part of town.

On a side note: a bunch of cool places have "popped" up at the hodges/beach intersection including: times grill, big T's, Five Guys burgers, and a "Panda Express" is on the way (im stoked about that one, i find good chinese food hard to find)