What happened to Orange Park? (Country Club, St. Augustine: section 8, foreclosed, rental homes)

[thatguydownsouth]

I grew up in Orange Park (born in 85) and once the OP Country Club moved in the area really had a surge of bright young families, green lawns, new cars, weekend events, kids playing in sprinklers in the lawn, etc. I remember OP being a vastly different world than it is now. My parents still live there and every time I go to visit them it just feels as if the worst of the west side has creeped down into the area. The wife and I went to see the new Star Wars movie at the OP mall and my god that place has turned into a trash pit. There were people crowded shoulder to shoulder, throwing trash on the ground, cussing, yelling...it was like a daycare but for teenagers. Do any of you still venture out into that area or remember it like it used to be?

[OrangeParkEagLan]

Thatguydownsouth, I know exactly what you mean. I grew up in Orange Park and it used to be a wonderful place growing up. We lived in the Orange Park Country Club. The Orange Park Mall used to be really nice, but now with all the out of control teenagers taking over the place, it kind of sucks and so we usually cross the river to go to the St Johns Town Center to do our shopping. I remember how nice the AMC Theater was when it opened. That big fight involving hundreds of teenage kids that recently took place inside and outside the theater, as well as big fight at the OP mall last year that moved across the street where the teenagers totally destroyed the inside of the chickfila are certainly not going to be good for the areas image. Even my old neighborhood, the Orange Park Country Club has declined.

Things can change fast. My family moved to Oakleaf when it was first being developed. I think it was around 2004. It was a nice safe area of town. Everyone had nice green lawns. The whole development was beautiful. Sadly, that's no longer the case. The neighborhoods in Oakleaf are starting to look pretty bad. The once well maintained homes with their green lawns have turned to brown weedy yards, homes covered in cracked stucco, junky cars in the driveways, and lots and lots of rental homes, many of which are sitting empty because nobody wants to rent them. People don't seem to pick up their trash or rake their lawns, and so many people proudly display their garbage cans in front of their home all week long.

Sure, the amenity centers in Oakleaf still look pretty good, but that most likely will change in a few years when all the builders are done building homes in Oakleaf. The builders put a lot of pressure on those maintaining the amenity centers because the fancy pools and recreation areas is what helps the builders attract buyers. The builders themselves have been pumping a lot of money in the the amenity centers. Once the builder's contributions are gone, I'm afraid things aren't going to be maintained as nice or Oakleaf's HOA fees are going to skyrocket. They already seem to be adding assesment fees every year because of the rising cost of maintenance.

It's sad. Older portions of Orange Park have gone down hill. It's even sadder that relatively new areas of Orange Park, like Oakleaf, have gone down hill too, in less than a dozen years.

[wisescorpiogirl]

I'm still a visitor of Jax/St. Augustine though planning my move within a year and half. Would you attribute this change to such a drastic inflow of newly relocated folks? I've been coming to this area for about 15 years now (my parents live in St. Augustine) and I see how this area has drastically grown and expanded. The areas which were considered "small town" have now been urbanized (is that a word? and became land of large developments and shopping malls. As my parents say "a lot of people want to live in FL."

[BabyBoomers2]

And, a lot of people don't want to live here!"
I use to work for a Senior Healthcare Company in Denver, CO. A lot of Seniors there wouldn't even think about moving to any part of Florida. However, there are some that wish they could, but financially/health wise can't.
Then again, a lot of the out-of-state license plates we see today are from the Atlantic coast states or southern states like, Tenn. and LA. There are a ton of Georgia plates here in Jax!
For us, we are making plans on moving back to south of Denver, CO. One of the things we miss a lot of is RMNP and big Bull Elk.

Originally Posted by wisescorpiogirl

I'm still a visitor of Jax/St. Augustine though planning my move within a year and half. Would you attribute this change to such a drastic inflow of newly relocated folks? I've been coming to this area for about 15 years now (my parents live in St. Augustine) and I see how this area has drastically grown and expanded. The areas which were considered "small town" have now been urbanized (is that a word? and became land of large developments and shopping malls. As my parents say "a lot of people want to live in FL."

[thatguydownsouth]

Originally Posted by wisescorpiogirl

I'm still a visitor of Jax/St. Augustine though planning my move within a year and half. Would you attribute this change to such a drastic inflow of newly relocated folks? I've been coming to this area for about 15 years now (my parents live in St. Augustine) and I see how this area has drastically grown and expanded. The areas which were considered "small town" have now been urbanized (is that a word? and became land of large developments and shopping malls. As my parents say "a lot of people want to live in FL."

I attribute it to the housing crisis. 100%. Lots of families bought at the height of the market and are underwater on their house. Now they are stuck in it and renting it out. Those that foreclosed caused foreign buyers to buy the homes and rent them out. Others foreclosed and the bank sold the homes for cheap causing lower income families to move into the area. All of this is from conversations with realtors not wild speculation.

Additionally some areas like Oakleaf had section 8 housing put in.