New Construction Near Mayo

[Samierra]

Thanks - by Atlantic Beach - I mean the general area, we're not looking at a specific development - trying to focus our search in Old Atlantic Beach - but this seems to be a much different "feel" than the other communities.

[riveree]

Originally Posted by Samierra

Thanks - by Atlantic Beach - I mean the general area, we're not looking at a specific development - trying to focus our search in Old Atlantic Beach - but this seems to be a much different "feel" than the other communities.

Oh, gotcha! I thought it might be a community I hadn't heard of.....!

Atlantic Beach is really nice.....some great homes and picture perfect streets. It definitely is a different feel, I think that's part of what is special about it - its' authenticity. It's what I like about San Marco as well.

The new, upscale developer communities are pretty and well kept, but they are not a sense of place in the way Atlantic Beach would be......hmmmm.......tough choice . Are you finding homes in your price range in Atlantic Beach that are in good shape?

[bluesmyl]

Originally Posted by riveree

With a limit of $900k, there are lots of options for nice housing near your work.

Highland Glen: On Beach Blvd between Kernan Blvd and Hodges Blvd. It's gated, still not built out (you can have new construction), 5 minutes or so to Mayo, 10 minutes to beach, 20 minutes to downtown. Prices start in the high $500k range......check out icihomes.com

There are other really nice upscale neighborhoods in the area, mostly gated as well, that are mostly or all built out, but there could be some lots left...I'm not sure. Try googling:

Jacksonville Golf and Country Club
Glen Kernan Golf and Country Club
Pablo Bay
Queen's Harbor Yacht and Country Club
Marsh Landing Country Club
Hidden Hills Country Club...might find a bargain here, but it hasn't aged well.

There's other single family home new construction in the area, but at a much lower price point, starting is in the $300k range:

Wynnfield Lakes by Lennar homes
Covenant Cove by Mattamy homes

Personally, I don't like either of these 2 neighborhoods and would rather buy a resale home nearby than build in either of these, but I included them since you said you wanted new.

Near Mayo is a great part of Jax I think you'll really like it, best of luck in your house hunting!

hi everyone,

we went house hunting nearby mayo clinic last may and we visited both wynnfield lakes and covenant cove. between the 2 we rather like wynnfield lakes until I saw your comment about the neighborhood. can you please elaborate further on this. your input would be greatly appreciated!

[riveree]

Originally Posted by bluesmyl

hi everyone,

we went house hunting nearby mayo clinic last may and we visited both wynnfield lakes and covenant cove. between the 2 we rather like wynnfield lakes until I saw your comment about the neighborhood. can you please elaborate further on this. your input would be greatly appreciated!

Hi Bluesmyl,

Okay, here's my take on them both:

Keeping in mind that these are not "upscale" develoments like the OP of this thread was looking for...

Covenant Cove:

Good builder. I know a couple of people who have built with Mattamy and their homes have held up nicely as well as their neighborhoods. The general location (Beach Blvd just west of San Pablo) is good, but the neighborhood entry is weird...making a left out onto Beach Blvd without a traffic light is no fun. The houses look good, but it's not Mattamy's best neighborhood design. No real amenities here that I know of either (so it can't compare to Wynnfield on that level).

Wynnfield Lakes:

Builder is Lennar, but......it was originally Admiral - a Westside builder. I don't know the specifics, but if Admiral was bought out by Lennar (Nat'l builder) that can mean that it is really still Admiral doing the building of the homes in Wynnfield. I know one person who has built with Admiral and they did a terrible job on the house - tons of problems (Fleming Island). In addition, whoever the builder is, they designed the houses strangely: Only 9 foot ceilings? Why not 10 foot (which has become the standard)? 13 foot wide great rooms? Why so incredibly narrow? Gable roofs? In this day and age of hurricane problems, who would build a two-story house with gable roofs? And I know it is 2007 and narrow lots are the norm, but these lots look unusually tight...then there's the Master Suites on the second floor - not good for resale.

So, I find the design of the homes themselves to be outdated. The neighborhood location (Atlantic & Kernan) is busy, but good. I'm sure you're well aware that Kernan is being expanded to 6 lanes, so noise and traffic may increase, but at least the builder put up some nice looking berms to help buffer the noise.

The best of both worlds would probably be to have a Covenant Cove house in Wynnfield Lakes, but I know that's not possible.

On the upside, Lennar/Admiral has dropped the prices of the Wynnfield homes significantly - they are unbelievably cheap for such large square footage homes - so you can get a lot of square footage for the money. So, even if these homes do not have as high of a value a few years down the road at resale, at least everyone buying in there is buying cheaply enough.

Hope I didn't burst any bubbles, I know it's tough out there finding a new home on the Southside - it's so built up there just aren't too many options outside of the really high end. Given that, I'm more of a believer in resale homes than ever just so the right mix of home style/neighborhood style and good location can be found. There's a real appeal to building brand new though, and if that's what you're looking for, then the compromises I pointed out above may not matter as much to you.

Good luck with whatever direction you go in Bluesmyl !

[bluesmyl]

Hi Riveree,

Thanks for the info. Just like the OP of this thread, I want to be close to mayo clinic but I am not looking for the "upscale" developments, just somewhere between the price range of wynnfield and mattamy, not necessarily a new home as long as it is in a good area with good school for my 5 yr old.

Suggestions will be most welcome.

[riveree]

Bluesmyl,

Sutton Lakes comes to mind and it's right around the corner from Wynnfield Lakes. I'll send you a PM so we don't hijack this thread .

[danielle h]

Wanted to clear up some misconception. I have one of the Admiral Homes that was built by Lennar. We LOVE the house. It has 10 foot ceilings and all the upgrades.

Take a look. YOu may like the area too.

[riveree]

Originally Posted by danielle h

Wanted to clear up some misconception. I have one of the Admiral Homes that was built by Lennar. We LOVE the house. It has 10 foot ceilings and all the upgrades.

Take a look. YOu may like the area too.

Maybe it's just certain floor plans or maybe they changed things at the last minute, but even Lennar's website shows 9 foot ceilings:

(scroll down a bit to see floor plan

http://www.lennar.com/findhome/plan....28&PLANID=2482

Like I had mentioned earlier, Wynnfield is in a convenient, though busy location. The price is right though - the homes are very inexpensive considering the square foot price. If someone was to consider building there now though, they'd have to take the increased noise into account. The plans for building an overpass @ Kernan & Atlantic are back on, and of course the road-widening is already happening. The berms in the front of the neighborhood will help with the road-widening aspect, but will do nothing for the overpass noise, I'm afraid .

[5FLgirls]

No one has mentioned The Pineapple Corporation. They are a custom and semi-custom home builder and their product is fabulous. They're a small family run company. They began as a custom home builder in Glen Kernan and branched into semi-custom homes right outside of Glen Kernan and right down the road. Prices, as everywhere, have dropped and you can get a "fully-loaded" homes in Palermo -- 4bdrm, 3 bath about 3500 sq ft in the mid-800s. Their price ranges in their semi-custom neighborhoods range from low $600s to over $1M. www.thepineapplecorp.com

[kcarrillo]

5FLGirls is right. Pineapple Corp. does some great work. They have this one photo on their site of a courtyard that is gorgeous. And, of course, the library in another photo needs to be moved to my house.