Jacksonville’s miles of ocean and river shorelines and relatively mild year-round climate provide a great playground for everything from golf and tennis to fishing and surfing. But the city also offers a variety of exciting professional and amateur spectator sports for even the most discerning fan.
Want to take in an NFL game in one of the league’s most modern stadiums? Check out the Jacksonville Jaguars schedule at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium. Jonesing to watch match-ups between the country’s top professional women tennis players? The MPS Group Championships comes to Sawgrass Country Club every April. Craving an up-close view of the world’s best golfers tackling one of the most photographed holes in professional golf? Then The Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach is for you. For minor-league baseball, you can’t beat a sunny afternoon with The Jacksonville Suns at the city’s new, classically designed ballpark.
If you prefer college sports, there’s the annual Gator Bowl and the always-entertaining Florida-Georgia game, an annual event that pits the Florida Gators and the Georgia Bulldogs against each other in a long-sustained rivalry. Three area colleges—University of North Florida, Jacksonville University, and Edward Waters College—also offer plenty of sports action during the school year.
Natives, transplants, and city officials will tell you that Jacksonville is a prime place to live—cost of living is low, salaries are adequate, and amenities are increasing by the week. Jacksonville is a growing city that’s managed to retain its small-town friendliness. There’s still plenty of opportunity here, so Jacksonville ranks high for people who want to start a business, pay their dues in the corporate world, or live inexpensively while they pursue their art.
Spanish moss drapes the live oak trees, making the area feel more “Southern” than “Floridian.” Contrary to Florida’s reputation as a retirement haven, Jacksonville’s young population, with a median age of 36, keeps the place hopping. The winters are mild, a fact that makes it easier to stay active year-round, but the summers are hot, humid, and can be miserable if you don’t have access to the beach or a community pool.
Speaking of beaches, Jacksonville has more than 60 miles of clean, wide, sandy beaches and more than 50 golf courses in the region. The St. Johns River flows through the center of Downtown, giving locals endless opportunities for watersports while also providing a scenic backdrop for Downtown festivals and restaurants.
Did I mention that we love to eat? The city’s signature foods, barbecue, fried chicken, and shrimp, turn up in myriad forms all over town. And while many Jacksonville residents are partial to old-school, family-style restaurants, the city also boasts some of the best fine-dining establishments in Florida.
After years of nursing an inferiority complex, Jacksonville has finally come into its own. The city used to be thought of as a sleepy Southern town with an odor problem. The smell of rotten eggs from Northside paper mills permeated almost every neighborhood, depending on which direction the wind was blowing. In the early nineties, city and federal officials launched an aggressive campaign to clean up the air. It worked. Some of the paper mills eventually closed; others installed high-tech equipment to eliminate the odors.
These days the air has never smelled sweeter in Jacksonville. An early boost to the city’s image came in the mid-nineties when the National Football League awarded Jacksonville a football franchise, and in 2005 the arrival of the Superbowl turned Jacksonville’s Downtown into a 24/7 street party. Today, the Jacksonville Jaguars play home games at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, one of the biggest stadiums in the NFL.
Over the last decade, the economy has become even more robust with influential companies like Landstar realizing the city’s advantages and relocating here. Others, like Merrill Lynch and Johnson & Johnson, made major investments in the River City. Jacksonville also serves as headquarters for the state’s biggest banks. And with two bases located here, the United States Navy is one of the city’s biggest employers.
All of this means that the city is growing like never before. Luxury condos have sprung up along the Northbank and Southbank of the river, and Downtown warehouses and businesses have converted to luxury condos—contributing to a new urbanism that is long overdue.
Under the 2000 Better Jacksonville Plan, new roads were built, the city began to focus on preserving parkland and green space, and locals witnessed the construction of a new, state-of-the-art Downtown library, new sports arena, new baseball field, and an updated county courthouse.
Jacksonville’s active outdoor lifestyle charms visitors and residents alike. Whether your leisure pleasures tend toward golfing on world-class courses, fishing in scenic marshes, reeling in marlin from the open ocean, or just kicking up some sand at the beach, Jacksonville’s got your number. And for tourists who like to pick up a little history on their vacation, Northeast Florida offers some great lessons. (Did you know that the first wine ever made in America was made right here—by Spanish priests in St. Augustine?) The area dates back to the days before Jamestown and Plymouth Plantation, when French and Spanish settlers landed on these shores and built the first fledgling communities in what would one day become the United States of America.
Regardless of when you come, how you get around, and how long you stay, this guide will help you live like a local. Enjoy!
Now it’s time to change hats. With this chapter, I’ll take off my tour guide hat and don my Chamber of Commerce hat. Consider this chapter, and all the ones to follow, part of an Insiders’ relocation guide with helpful information to make your move to Jacksonville that much easier.
Really, who wouldn’t love Jacksonville? The skies are blue, the light is crisp and clear, and in January, when winter winds are causing misery elsewhere, there’s no place I’d rather be.
Because of the great weather (if you can stand the summer humidity) we Floridians tend to be more fit than our cousins to the north. While other folks in other cities are busy being couch potatoes, Jacksonville residents are outside running and biking and burning up calories thanks, in part, to the fact that Jacksonville has the largest urban park system in the United States.
Let’s not underestimate the importance of being able to find gainful employment. You’ll be happy to know that it’s fairly easy to find a job that you’ll actually like in this city. Other people must realize this, too; according to Inc. magazine and Expansion Management magazine, Jacksonville is one of the hottest cities in America for both business and quality of life. And you’ll be bringing more of your paycheck home thanks to the absence of state income taxes.
But many newcomers to the city are overwhelmed by the size of the city and the number of choices in neighborhoods. Each neighborhood offers its own attractions and personality, making choosing a challenge. The neighborhoods have also changed significantly in the past decade. Downtown has become much more multi-use and hip, is now considered the hub of the city’s arts scene, and offers exciting urban housing options for couples and young professionals.
So, to save other people the frustration that comes from having to choose among so many options (and the gas it takes to drive all over the city looking for your ideal neighborhood), I’ll start the relocation section of this book with an overview of neighborhoods and the types of folks who tend to gravitate to each.
THE URBAN CORE (a.k.a. Downtown): Attracts turnkey hipsters, City Hall up-and-comers, and DINKS (dual-income no kids)
For a long time, Jacksonville’s urban core was largely composed of low-income communities and Downtown office buildings. But that’s all changed. Today, the urban core is a hotbed of real estate activity, especially with the erection of several new riverfront high-rises. Hipsters love the new luxury riverfront buildings like The Peninsula, The Strand, and Berkman Plaza. This high-rise riverfront housing with an urban edge has completely changed the tenor of the Northbank and Southbank. Think 24-hour concierge service, yacht slips, heated indoor and outdoor swimming pools, golf simulators, and spas with saunas and steam rooms.
The condos sell for from $200,000 to the millions, but the amenities combined with the nighttime views of Downtown are worth every penny.
Across the river, in Downtown-proper, many formerly vacant buildings are seeing new life as lofts, and older buildings, like the ones along Bay and Forsyth Streets, are considered “the” place to live by many cosmopolitan 20- and 30-somethings.
It’s still a little hard to have brunch or buy a latte in the urban core come the weekend, when all the Monday-through-Friday businesses have closed, but city leaders hope that as more people move to Downtown, more shops and restaurants will open to take care of those needs.
SPRINGFIELD: Attracts urban pioneers, community organizers, and HGTV junkies
Historic Springfield is the largest residential historic district in Florida, with wide tree-lined streets and architecturally distinguished houses. You have to be an urban pioneer to live here, but the gumption pays off. Springfield used to be Jacksonville’s premier neighborhood, but over the years it fell into deep disrepair. Many once-beautiful Victorians were either condemned or became rooming houses or crack houses. Today preservationists like those at SPAR (Springfield Preservation and Revitalization Council) are helping to revive Springfield house-by-house. Located just north of the Downtown business district, Springfield is the sort of place where you can buy a tumbledown Victorian for about $60,000, sometimes even with city aid. Renovation costs are significant because in many cases the entire house needs to be rebuilt, but often the folks buying these houses are handy and do a lot of the work themselves. The neighborhood attracts a mix of artists, educators, developers, and people who not only work in the mayor’s office but also care deeply about the revitalization of this precious historic district.
RIVERSIDE and AVONDALE: Attracts preservationists, artists, and traditionalists
Even for the residents of these historic neighborhoods, it is hard to tell where Riverside ends and Avondale begins. The district is bordered on the west by Highway 17 and on the east by the St. Johns River. The bulk of it lies between I-10 to the north and the Ortega River to the south. Riverside and Avondale are both well-established neighborhoods with historic homes and majestic oak trees draped in Spanish moss.
Riverside offers a short commute to Downtown, and the houses range from Arts and Crafts bungalows and 1920s fourplexes to magnificent estates on the river. Riverside is also a medical hub, with the St. Vincent’s Medical Complex and numerous medical offices near the hospital. Publix, a large Florida-based grocery store chain, recently opened a grocery store in the heart of Riverside, so many residents can now walk to the market (and the adjoining Starbucks). Numerous shopping areas in the district, like 5 Points, feature some of the city’s best restaurants, independent clothing stores, and art galleries.
In Avondale, a little farther west, homebuyers are restoring stately brick homes to their original grandeur. Like Riverside, Avondale has its own collection of small shopping districts and quaint streets. Both neighborhoods enjoy a small-town charm in the shadow of a big city, with numerous public parks, tennis courts, and softball and soccer fields.
ORTEGA: Attracts old money . . . and new money that’s trying to pass for old money
Ortega used to be synonymous with conservative folks with cash to spare. The neighborhood sits on a peninsula in the St. Johns River, with the St. Johns to the east and another smaller waterway, the Ortega River, to the north and west. The Florida Yacht Club and Timuquana Country Club form the social hub of this community, which also happens to be where many of Jacksonville’s current movers and shakers grew up. Many attended private schools like Bolles and Episcopal and attended the same churches. Worth magazine once ranked Ortega 46th among the nation’s top-50 wealthiest neighborhoods. Homes run from average ranch-style homes to stately waterfront estates. If you approach Ortega from the north, you will drive across a narrow two-lane drawbridge, a gorgeous relic from the 1920s, to get over the Ortega River.
SAN MARCO: Attracts young families, cool singles, and dog owners
San Marco is one of Jacksonville’s prettiest neighborhoods. Some of the homes here sit on the river, but most are snuggled into great tree-lined streets. For those of you familiar with the Washington, D.C., area, San Marco reminds a lot of people of Chevy Chase, Maryland. The houses are nicely sized, often brick—and can be expensive. San Marco enjoys a convenient location to Downtown; it’s only about a five-minute commute. San Marco Square, a popular shopping district, sits in the center of the neighborhood and has shops, restaurants, nightclubs, and a single-title movie theater. Talk of a small supermarket has been in the wind for a few years, but no one’s holding his or her breath.
OLD SAN JOSE, LAKEWOOD, MIRAMAR, and MANDARIN: Attracts everyday people, newlyweds, and young families looking for a little more space
Old San Jose, Miramar, San Jose, Epping Forest, Beauclerc, and Mandarin occupy a 10-mile stretch along the river to the south of San Marco and are popular for their older, brick homes and proximity to the river.
San Jose Boulevard, one of the city’s main arteries, runs parallel to the river, and homes in the neighborhoods on the river side of San Jose Boulevard fetch far higher prices than those on the inland side where the homes are older, more modest, and generally single-story ranch-style houses.
Old San Jose, Miramar, and Lakewood consist of small one-story brick homes and larger, more-stately properties closer to the river. Of the three, Old San Jose is the most popular, then Miramar, with Lakewood coming third.
Next in line is San Jose, where The Bolles School, the city’s premier private school (former Governor Jeb Bush’s son was a student here) presides over the St. Johns River. The campus was formerly of one of Florida’s turn-of-the-century grand hotels and is a Jacksonville architectural treasure.
To the south Mandarin is one of the oldest residential communities in Jacksonville, with thousands of people moving into its quiet, shady neighborhoods every year. Mandarin was largely farmland until the late 1960s, when developers discovered the area. Now there are far more cars than there ever were cows in Mandarin. To its west, Mandarin is bordered by the St. Johns River. To its south lies St. Johns County with the neighborhoods of Julington Creek and Fruit Cove.
Mandarin has strong schools, churches, and synagogues, as well as many strip malls and shopping centers. The area is rich in history; it is here that Harriet Beecher Stowe once owned an orange grove. Thanks to the efforts of the Mandarin Historical Society, much of the area’s history is remembered in the Mandarin Store and Post Office, an old country store that was once the heart of the area. Mandarin is located about 30 minutes from Downtown in rush-hour traffic.
SOUTHSIDE: Attracts newcomers who want bigger houses for less money, no matter how close together
Centrally located, the Southside is bordered by Arlington to the north and east, St. Johns County to the south, and San Marco and I-95 to the west. The Southside is a hub of new construction with new residential communities popping up all the time. This is where the University of North Florida is located, as well as Tinseltown, a popular movie theater and restaurant district. Southpoint, an area of office parks and hotels, Mayo Clinic, the Avenues Shopping Mall, and the most-excellent new St. Johns Town Center shopping area all fall within this region.
Southside has a wide range of housing opportunities, including the most apartment complexes in the city. Southside also offers gated communities such as Deerwood and a multitude of new development along Southside Boulevard. Southside residents enjoy easy access to the Beaches (about 20 minutes away) via J. Turner Butler Boulevard and easy access to I-95. You can be in the heart of Downtown in about 20 minutes, depending on the time of day.
This is not the area for people who are interested that old-Jacksonville charm. Southside can be fairly sterile and tends to attract newcomers to the city or people interested in new building versus old architecture.
ARLINGTON: Attracts multigenerational Jacksonville natives, Spanish-moss lovers, NRA members
If you want to live on the river but don’t have gobs of money, Arlington is a good place to look. In the past, you could buy a 1950s cinder-block home with a killer view, but that window is closing rapidly. Still, a lot of waterfront property in Arlington, which is surrounded by the St. Johns River to the west and north and the Intracoastal Waterway to the east, remains as it was in the 1950s. Fort Caroline National Park, site of the oldest European settlement in America, is nestled in the heart of Arlington. Jacksonville University is also located here, as is Jones College. The small-but-busy Craig Airport serves corporate jets and private planes, and Tree Hill Nature Preserve is a local-favorite suburban park.
Arlington was one of the first suburban neighborhoods in Jacksonville, so it has long played a role in the city’s housing history. It enjoys a central location 10 minutes from Downtown and 20 minutes from the Beaches. And since Arlington is generally an older neighborhood, it’s full of stately oaks that provide welcome shade during Jacksonville’s long, hot summer.
Although there is an abundance of older cinder-block ranch homes in Arlington, there are also many newly developed communities in East Arlington around Fort Caroline and Monument Roads. Neighborhoods like Hidden Hills (yes, there are actually hills!), with homes built in the late eighties and early nineties, are surrounded by good schools and are convenient to shopping centers.
WEST BEACHES: Attracts people who want it to have their beach and city, too
West Beaches, located 10 to 15 minutes west of the Beaches, is one of the fastest-growing areas of Jacksonville. This is where you can buy a brand-new three-bedroom, two-bath home with a two-car garage in the $200,000 to $300,000 range (depending, of course, on the strength of the housing market).
If you want trees, West Beaches is generally not the place to look. Developers have been known to clear-cut many of these neighborhoods to construct rows of new homes without any of those pesky trees in their way. The West Beaches development of Queen’s Harbour is an exception to this no-tree trend. Queen’s Harbour offers beautiful upscale homes with plenty of trees on man-made canals. Homeowners can park their boat out back and, through a series of locks, motor their way from their backyard to the Intracoastal.
West Beaches homes are generally new and conveniently located to Downtown, Southside, and the Beaches. They are also convenient to many new shopping centers, which are cropping up in their wake. West Beaches has recently added several new schools to accommodate the growth in the neighborhoods. In normal conditions, it takes about 20 minutes to drive into Downtown from here, but expect a longer commute in heavy rush-hour traffic.
THE BEACHES: Attracts early-morning runners, surfers, people who pride themselves on taking it easy
Living at Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, Jacksonville Beach, Ponte Vedra, or Sawgrass is like living in a small town near a big city. You can work in the big city (Jacksonville) and enjoy all the opportunities it has to offer, then come home to your small town, where it’s not unusual to walk or ride your bike to shops and restaurants. Plus the greatest park of all, the Atlantic Ocean, is right at the end of the street.
The Beaches, as Jacksonville’s beach communities are collectively known, are made up of Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, Jacksonville Beach, and Ponte Vedra. Ponte Vedra is actually outside the Jacksonville city limits in St. Johns County, but because it is such a bedroom community, Jacksonville all but claims it as its own. Even though Atlantic, Neptune, and Jacksonville Beaches are technically within Jacksonville’s city limits, they are still cities unto themselves, each with a separate police force and their own elected city officials. Beaches residents pay taxes to the City of Jacksonville, and Jacksonville, in turn, gives a portion of that money back to the beach communities. Children who live at the Beaches and go to public school attend Duval County schools.
It’s a different story for Ponte Vedra residents, who are governed by the St. Johns County Commission, which meets in St. Augustine. Taxes are fractionally less in St. Johns County, and schoolchildren in Ponte Vedra attend St. Johns County schools. Still, because of geography, Ponte Vedra residents are often closer to parts of Jacksonville than they are to St. Augustine and many choose to (and can afford to) send their children to the top-tier private schools in Jacksonville-proper.
Sawgrass is the name of a large subdivision in Ponte Vedra Beach. It’s confusing sometimes, because some people think that Sawgrass is actually a city on a map. It’s not. (The Stadium Course at Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach is where The Players Championship, a large golf tournament, is played every year.)
The Beaches provide a lot of entertainment in the spring and summer when festivals, fairs, and outdoor concerts crop up almost every weekend.
Beach living offers an abundance of lifestyle choices from high-end gated communities like Marsh Landing in Ponte Vedra where homes can reach into the millions, to more modest neighborhoods like Neptune Beach where you can pick up an older ranch house in the $300,000 range. Perhaps a wood-shingled beach cottage that looks like something straight out of a Maine village is more your style; look to Atlantic Beach where you can find a number of these “cottages” for $500,000 and up. As a rule, the closer to the ocean or even the Intracoastal, the higher the price of the house.
The Beaches is also home to one of the city’s two naval bases, Naval Station Mayport, and attracts military bachelors and families. The base is located adjacent to the fishing village of Mayport, where working shrimp boats line the docks. The St. Johns River Ferry, popularly called the Mayport Ferry, will take you and your car across the river to scenic Heckscher Drive, also called the Buccaneer Trail. The Buccaneer Trail takes you to Amelia Island (see the Day Trips chapter).
AMELIA ISLAND and FERNANDINA BEACH: Attracts tan retirees in tennis whites and people who’ve had enough of the city
Head north of Jacksonville along I-95 and you’ll hit Nassau County, home to Amelia Island—a place known around the world for its beautiful golf and tennis resorts and wide, sandy beaches. Amelia is a popular destination for wealthy out-of-towners who want to own a second home, be it a house or condominium, in Florida. Consequently, there are a number of upscale residential communities on Amelia Island. Fernandina Beach is the largest town on Amelia Island; its downtown is listed on the National Register of Historic Places because of its many well-preserved Victorian homes. Fernandina Beach is full of inns and B&Bs, restaurants, and recreational activities, including Fort Clinch State Park. Fernandina also plays host to an annual shrimp festival that attracts thousands of visitors. Life got a lot easier for many Amelia Island residents with the opening of a Publix grocery store (and their delightfully addictive fried chicken) conveniently located near the popular year-round resort community of Amelia Island Plantation.
WESTSIDE: Attracts ruralists, hunting enthusiasts, and people who have no interest in being categorized
Much of the Westside, an amorphous area on the west side of the city, is largely rural. But growth is heading west in the form of huge residential neighborhoods, strip malls, and office parks. The former Cecil Field Naval Air Station, closed by the federal government in 1993, is located on the Westside. The navy gave Cecil Field’s 17,224 acres to the City of Jacksonville, and the complex now houses one of the Florida State College at Jacksonville campuses. Another portion of the old base has become the Cecil Commerce Center.
The Westside is a large community starting just north of I-10 and stretching south to Clay County. It’s bordered on the east by I-295 and continues west to Baker County and east to Riverside. Other neighborhoods on this side of town include Ortega Forest, Ortega Hills, Lakeshore, Cedar Hills, Murray Hill, and Normandy. Argyle Forest and Chimney Lakes are two large Westside neighborhoods bordering Clay County. They each offer affordable single-family homes, schools, bike paths, shopping centers, and restaurants.
NORTHSIDE: Attracts lovers of privacy, the great outdoors, and a good land deal
North Jacksonville runs roughly from 20th Street north to the Nassau County line and from I-295 on the west almost to the Atlantic Ocean. It’s a vast area that includes pretty marshes, new housing developments, and attractions like the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. The eastern portion of this area also includes two of Jacksonville’s most popular playgrounds: Huguenot Memorial Park and Little Talbot Island State Park.
Like the West Beaches area of Jacksonville, North Jacksonville is a growing corner of our city. Communities like Oceanway, New Bern, and San Mateo are growing as housing developments and strip malls find their way to North Jacksonville. The ever-expanding Jacksonville International Airport is located here, as is the new River City Marketplace and two growing business parks: the International Tradeport and Imeson International Industrial Park. North Jacksonville is about a 15-minute drive to Downtown and includes remote communities like Black Hammock Island, an unspoiled pocket of old Florida marshland that was once known only to local fishermen. That’s changing as new homes find their way to Black Hammock Island, which, as the name suggests, boasts some beautiful waterfront.
ORANGE PARK: Attracts Naval families and those seeking a less-expensive cost of living
South of Ortega, outside the Jacksonville city limits, lies the city of Orange Park. At first glance, Orange Park appears to be nothing more than suburban sprawl, but get off the main highways and into some neighborhoods, and you will see lovely tree-lined streets full of homes that are generally less expensive than those in Jacksonville. Orange Park is located in Clay County, which includes many other popular municipalities, such as Green Cove Springs, Keystone Heights, Penney Farms, and Middleburg.
Many people live in Orange Park and commute some 30 minutes to work in Jacksonville. Many an Orange Park neighborhood is also filled with families whose father and/or mother works at NAS Jacksonville, just to the north. The St. Johns River borders the east side of Orange Park, and there are some lovely riverfront homes over that way.