Bartram Lakes, a proposed mixed-use development to be
built along Race Track Road, will add 1,400 new single-family homes to the
housing construction boom taking place in the southern Duval-northern St. Johns
County area.
LandMar Group LLC of Jacksonville, a developer of several residential
communities on the First Coast, said it will develop the single-family houses
along with 922 condominiums, townhouses and apartments, 290,000 square feet of
retail space and 280,000 square feet of office buildings.
"The land is so well located in terms of the growth of Jacksonville and the
transportation corridor and its proximity to The Avenues mall," said Roger
Postlethwaite, chief operating officer for LandMar.
LandMar purchased the land, which is bounded by Interstate 95, U.S. 1, Race
Track Road and future connector Florida 9B, for an undisclosed amount from
Bartram Park Ltd. of Jacksonville. All of the houses will be built in Duval
County, and the stores and office buildings will straddle both counties.
Construction is expected to start during the first quarter of 2002, with
model houses toin the first quarter of 2003, according to Postlethwaite.
The development of Bartram Lakes continues a building boom of communities
that bump up against the St. Johns-Duval county line. The boom includes Nocatee,
a proposed development of 14,000 houses located on 15,000 acres that extend over
both counties.
Bartram Lakes is among at least 11 residential developments being built or
proposed for that area.
The majority of growth in the area is happening in northern St. Johns County
area, according to Charlie Clark, a local analyst of home building trends in
Duval, St. Johns, Nassau and Clay counties.
"Any project can fare well in St. Johns County. It is where everybody wants
to be because it is 15 minutes from the ocean and 15 minutes from the St. Johns
River, which are both amenities. It is close to a good highway and close to jobs
and shopping."
Over the past 12 months, 1,800 houses have been built in St. Johns County,
compared with 1,600 homes during the previous 12 months, a 13 percent increase,
according to Clark.
"What this does is prime the pump for Nocatee because it moves folks down in
that neck of the woods," said Brian Teeple, executive director of the Northeast
Regional Planning Council.
Bartram Lakes will be located within the Bartram Park development of regional
impact that received regulatory approval last fall.
The houses in Bartram Lakes, which is expected to be built out over a span of
eight years, will be priced from $140,000 to $400,000.
Plans call for the developer to pay for the widening of Race Track Road to
four lanes.
For LandMar, Bartram Lakes represents the latest of a string of brisk
development over the past two years.
It is building North Hampton in Fernandina Beach, South Hampton on County
Road 210, Grand Haven in Palm Coast, Hampton Park in Southside Jacksonville and
The LandMark in Jacksonville Beach, a condo project.
The company's development picked up when LandMar joined forces in 1999 with
Crescent Resources Inc., a large real estate development and land management
company that is a subsidiary of Duke Energy.
