Hey Moms! My husbands company is moving us to St Augustine. We are going to have little to no time to research the area before we have to move. It's either take the job or have no job, and I think in these times we shouldn't rock the boat. My husband is going to be working at World Golf Village off of SR9. I know the schools are good, so my questions are these....what are some good neighborhoods that are close to shopping, restaurants, etc. that are kid friendly. We don't want to live in the midst of retirees. Also who can you recommend for a pediatrician? I am going to need a good preschool for my kids. We have a daughter that just turned 5 and a 3 year old son. We want to live in a safe area near things like Target, starbucks, grocery stores, Old Navy...you know...I want to be in the middle of it all. So neighborhoods(areas close to husbands work), schools, and doctrs would be such a huge help. Mamasource worked really well the first time we moved, so hopefully it will help this time.
World Golf Village has some great residential communities for famailies in addition to the retirees. I work with several people who live there and make the commute up to Jacksonville. The area down there is really booming. You'll also be near great outlets at I95 & SR16.
Hello M.,
We moved to St. Aug from NY about a year ago..
We live in the Kensington Development off of US 1 a very nice development nice people, good schools, only 10 min's from World Gold Village and my daughters school, she just turned 6. Good luck with your move, I think you will LOVE the St. Aug area we sure do!
Hi M.!
I live in Palm Coast Florida. It takes about 30-35 minutes to get from exit to exit to WGV. Proximity reallt depends on your definition of close. There are several communities in the WGV area. Right now, shopping in the immediate area is limited to Publix (grocery). Your options are limited. The exit North of WGV is SR210. LOADS of shopping, including a concentrated open mall that has almost every store and REstaurant you can imagine. Palm Coast is growing fast, too, if you want less of the city feel. There are several different stores in Palm Coast, with a big Khols openeing soon. We also have a brand new Town Center building up. That said, Palm Coast was designed in the 70's for retirees, and there are still a lot here! That can be a good thing, too sometimes!
Actually, there's so much to go over, if you want email me off list. If there's anything I can do for you, or get for you and your family to make the transition easier, let me know.
We moved to St. Augustine 18 mos. ago and we love it here! We live on Anastasia Island in a neighborhood called Sea Grove. It's a great neighborhood just 1 mile from the beach and half a mile from the only Starbucks in town! There is a Target, Home Depot, Super Wal-Mart, Marshalls, Chick-Fil-A, etc. about 3 miles from us, on U.S. Hwy 1 in St. Augustine, just over the 312 bridge. The beach is a great little community -- not too small that everyone knows your business, but small enough that you get to know people quickly and see familiar faces at the grocery store in no time at all. Sea Grove is still being built out, and you can get a brand-new house for high 200s to mid 300s. There is a neighborhood pool and basketball court, a library and Smoothie shop right at the entrance to the neighborhood, and the YMCA is just 2 miles away. As for pediatricians, we love Ancient City Pediatrics, on the island off of 312 just before the bridge. There are 3 great preschools that my friends all take their kids to -- Anastasia Baptist which is just up the road, Trinity Episcopal which is in the heart of Old Town St. Augustine, about a 10-min. drive from our neighborhood, and also Memorial Presbyterian Dayschool. The public elementary school district we are in is R.B. Hunt Elementary, which is one of the best schools in Florida! Consistently an A school with tons of parental involvement. My husband and I feel like our kids are getting a private school education in a public school! World Golf Village area also has lots of great neighborhoods and you're closer to Jacksonville, but we opted for being close to the beach and we're so happy with our choice. Good luck!
Hi M. ~ search for homes in Heritage Landing...it's a WGV community off SR 13. They have a wide range of house sizes/prices and very kid friendly. They have a very nice amenities center that is very family oriented. I live in Jacksonville, and we wrote a contract to build a house in HL, but our current house didn't sell in time. We still would like to move to HL in the future. There are several of these types of subdivisions in the area with young families, but we liked the prices, options and amenity center at HL the best.
Welcome to Florida! I was born and raised in St. Augustine although I've lived in Palm Coast (about 20 minutes south of St. Augustine) for the last 8 years. I currently work at Tree of Life which is out by the World Golf Village in St. Augustine.
For my son we use Dr. Ng who has an office in St.Augustine and Palm Coast.
Also, my husband is a realtor and said there are plenty of subdivisions from you to chose from because of the many routes your husband can take to get to the WGV. If you want some additional information send me a message and I'd be happy to answer.
just 5 miles North of World Golf Village is County
Road 210. There are many nice communities along 210 fron 95 West. I live in South Hampton which is very family oriented. That actually why we chose it 2 years ago. Living here has got to be one of the most convenient places in the tri-county area. It takes us 10-15 minutes to the outlet malls, 15 minutes to the new Town Center mall in Jax, about 20-25 mins to downtown St. Augustine, 10 mins to WGV, 15 mins to Mandarin, 20 minutes to Orange Park. It's less than an hour to Daytona and less than 1 1/2 to Orlando. There is a Publix Winn Dixie and Starbucks on 210. My husband and I both work in Downtown Jax and it is only a 30 minute commute. I highly recommend Primrose schools. There is one on 210 and one in Julington Creek. My pediatrician is Dr Affan with angel kids pediatrics and I highly recommend him as well.
Hi M.,
I've been there myself in the last few years. Moved from Washington, DC to Jacksonville, Fl and talk about culture shock. I hope this helps - leadingre.com/relocationservices.aspx. That's the relocation site of a large group of independent brokers across the country. If you enter the 32092 zip code (WGV) it will give you a lot of information about the area. From there you can find out more about schools, demographics, housing, etc and compare the area to Indianapolis & Charleston. You can find our more information on real estate there at several sites, but a good one to get you started is worldgolfrealestate.com. It will give you some ideas of some communities and neighborhoods as well as some other areas you may be interested in.
Good luck with your search!
Hi M.! I was born and raised in St Augustine. It's a great place to live aside from all the tourists! My husband and I live in Palm Coast now because the houses were so cheep at the time. Otherwise, we'd still be in St Augie!
There are some good neighborhoods off of 207. Right by WGV there are good appartments that are new if you're looking for that. There are two outlet malls at State road 16 and I95. My friend lives in the Stratford Mills appartments right beside the Bells Outlet and it's really nice there. As far as homes, that area around the WGV is really starting to develope over the last couple of years so you shouldn't have much trouble finding affordable housing in decent neighborhoods. There's also a nice housing community on state road 16 toward US 1 on the right side of SR16.
I hope this helps! If you need a realtor, I know some good ones in the area....
Wonderful for you!! St. Augustine is beautiful. I went to college there and I miss it. I still love to visit. I haven't in a while. I wish I could help you as I almost lived off campus my first semester but ended up getting a dorm room.
In St. Augustine by the beach is great. You can take your car and actually drive onto it. They charge now when before they didn't.
St. Augustine can be a sleepy little town and very quite but make sure you visit downtown which is the heart of it.
You might want to check where your husband is going to work and find out about the neighborhoods that are close to his work.
There is a mall but it wasn't very big when I went to school there.
Does your husband have a contact at his new job where he can ask?
Let us know how things go. R.
Well first of all-an early welcome to FL.. :)
I have been here since I was little and grew up in the Jacksonville area. The World Golf Village is technically St Augustine, but St. Augustine itself is farther east and coastal so you can look around World Golf Village, South Jacksonville, Palm Coast and St Augustine. A commute from Jax to WGV wouldn't be bad since it's right off of 95 and your husband will be going against traffic--so you have many options!
BTW Jacksonville itself is HUGE-the largest (SQ miles) city in the US--so stick with areas that call themselves "south."
I would suggest finding a rental at first (with the market there are plenty and you can get a lot of home for your dollar) in or near WGV and then just looking into the area and seeing what you like.
I would also suggest looking at Palm Coast-which is right by WGV. Where WGV is more marketed to golfers/tourist and retirees, Palm Coast has been around longer and is more a family-oriented community. Many people commute from both areas to Jax.
Regardless, though you have so many options up there so it's a matter of finding out what will work for your lifestyle and family. There are many beautiful areas, both coastal and inland--and no it's not all retirees!
Jacksonville (Duval County) public schools BTW are not so hot, I'm not sure about Flagler (which is St Augustine) or Clay county (which is between Duval and Flaglar).
Good luck with the move-and come down and visit us in Orlando! :)
