Three very different kinds of water
When someone tells me they want to be on the water in St. Johns County, my first question is always which water. We have three, they behave nothing alike, and they carry completely different price tags and lifestyles.
The river
The St. Johns River is one of the best known rivers in the country that flows north. It starts in the marshes way down in Indian River County and runs about 310 miles north, up through Jacksonville to the Atlantic. It is wide, it is beautiful, and because we sit on the east coast and do not get an ocean sunset, the river is where all of us go in the evening.
RiverTown is the community built around it, with a public fishing pier, kayak launches, and trails running along the water. Further north, Julington Creek Plantation puts you near Alpine Groves Park, which has real river frontage and a dock.
The Intracoastal
The Intracoastal Waterway is the boater’s water, and it is where a lot of the county’s serious money sits. Palencia is the community I show first here, because the waterfront homes run from roughly $2.5 million past $4 million, and because every resident gets boardwalk access out along the water whether they own on it or not. Nocatee puts you about five minutes from the Intracoastal without paying waterfront prices.
The ocean
The beaches are the top of the market. Ponte Vedra holds the oceanfront homes on Ponte Vedra Boulevard, some of the most expensive real estate in Northeast Florida. If you want the beach in your life without buying on it, Nocatee sits about ten minutes from Mickler’s Landing, and Beachwalk built a 14 acre lagoon so residents get a beach day without leaving the neighborhood.
Let’s narrow it down
Waterfront is the category where buyers waste the most time, because a river home, an Intracoastal home, and an oceanfront home are three separate markets that happen to share a word. Tell me how you actually want to use the water, whether that is a boat, a paddle board, a sunset, or a morning walk, and I will point you at the right one.
