Moving from Boston to Jax 10/1 (Jacksonville, St. Augustine: condos, house, neighborhoods)

[MikeyBuddha13]

Hi guys,

I 'm just looking to get some suggestions for my gf and I. We are looking at moving down this October.

Right now I am in talks with a job placement person at Custom Staffing who is going to help me get temp work until I have something permanent. The Woman of the house is going to take a teaching position near Jax.

I am a 27 years old, working man, basically just into lifting weights and playing sports. Don't really drink or any of that type of thing. For fun we take drives, eat at random places.

She's 25 and very similar to me on the "boringness" scale

We'd like to spend lots of time at the beach/river and things like that.

We are going down in August and September and plan to do lots of looking/searching.

So far my places of interest are Riverside/Avondale or San Marco/San Jose.

Please let me know your thoughts on location and steps to take for a successful move.

Thanks tons.

Mike

[The_au_mean]

Hi Mikey,

I just moved [back] to Jacksonville, and I used to live in Cambridge, Mass.

It is a great city with lots of great stuff to do (especially if you like the outdoors), but you might have to look a little bit. The city isn't great about self-promotion of its best qualities; I find this strange considering how large it is.

I work downtown and live in Riverside. Downtown is pretty much all business (think Prudential Plaza in DT Boston), which is actually nice during the day. Most of the people you'll see out and about are working, and most of the restaurants you'll visit on your lunchbreak understand that you need to get back to work before long. Since you said that you don't really drink I'll assume nightlife doesn't interest you too much, but there are some pretty cool pubs/taverns/bars in downtown and its outskirts, as well as there are some more dance-type venues.

The Riverside area sometimes reminds me of Cambridge (minus the colleges) in that it is vibrant, lively, young and diverse with a growing arts community. There is something interesting going on around the area all the time, from house parties to street festivals. Check out Urban Jacksonville, Inc. for a good general feel of the area.

The beaches are also a good time, and are a young, progressive area. The past few years have seen several developers moving in to build high-rise luxury condos, and it seems like the locals have really gained a sense of place and pride since that started happening; they actually have started protesting unfettered development and I think that in the last 4 years since I lived here before, the beaches have blossomed into one of Jacksonville's most interesting and diverse local communities. Oh, and did I mention surfing?!

If you like getting outside, Jacksonville has access to great stuff. If you're into Motocross there are two tracks (one North of the city and one to the south), and the river and intracoastal are great resources for all sorts of recreational boating activities. One great thing about greater Jacksonville is how many excellent restaurants can be accessed by water. Downtown, intracoastal, St. Augustine, Ortega, Mandarin, and several suburban communities to the south of the city have great eateries right on the water. There is also beachside camping in Heugenot, Hannah, Ft. Clinch, and Little Talbot Island St. Parks, which will only cost a few dollars to reserve.

If you're into a slightly more purist type of outdoorsmanship, then there are hundreds of miles of spring-fed rivers that criss-cross Northeast Florida and provide ample opportunity for canoeing, kyaking, birding, SCUBA (though you'll have to get certified and possibly cave-certified), off-trail hiking, camping, and fishing. The drives to these places usually take you through some very interesting small-town communities which are some of the last bastions of the true working-class South. When I'm passing through those towns I usually try to stop at the drugstore for a coke and a chat with the locals, who usually have some great stories. Try asking them where all the longleaf pines went...

Sports? Well, coming from Boston, you'll have a hard ticket to fill, but there are so many die-hard sports fans in this city, you'll certainly have fun on ANY team's big game night. Whether you're into football, basketball, baseball, soccer, racing, MMA, or boxing, you'll find local sports bars (and there are lots) packed on any given night of the week. Local sports are pretty fun too. The Jags are good again, the Suns games are a blast every once in a while, TPC and Bausch & Lomb if you're into golf and tennis. Speaking of golf, there are some of the best courses in the world in the city, and the world golf hall of fame is only a 20 minute drive from Ponte Vedre.

There will definitely be things that you laugh about when you get down here, namely [the lack of] public transportation and some wide sprawl w/ low density. Don't look for anything even close to the silver line or the T; if you want to ride the bus or use the skyway you'll have to bike, drive, or hike to the closest stop. This is, after all, a town in the South, and public transportation isn't as good anywhere else in the country as it is in the Boston/NYC/Philly stretch. You'll also see an interesting mix of people, but they are generally harmless and actually, quite considerate compared to many of those whom I encountered in Arlington Station on the green line...

This is a good place that is bad at representing itself. The city's government still seems to operate on a good-ole-boy system and is sometimes faulted for an overly economic vision, but all in all, they do an alright job. The so-called "Better Jacksonville Plan" is this city's version of Boston's Big Dig... All things considered, however, I know I'm glad to be back. Good luck with your move, and I hope that maybe this helps you out a little bit.

Best wishes,
spence

[MikeyBuddha13]

Spence, that is an incredibly reply. Thank you so much!

[Sum1Else]

I was thinking the same thing, Mikey. WOW!

[riveree]

Spence said it all, love the post Spence !

MikeyBudda, the areas you're looking at are really nice and some of our most desireable neighborhoods, try to come down and take a look so you can make your final decision .

[The_au_mean]

Whoops...the link I posted to "Urban Jacksonville" was wrong.

what I meant was this: Urban Jacksonville

good luck!