Durbin Park: NE Florida's Next Retail Mecca Takes Shape

[JaxJersey-licious]

The intersection of I-95 and the future I-795 is setting itself up to be one giant traffic clusterfuck in 5 to 10 years given the fact that Durbin Center will be this exclusive magnet for big box retailers with little competition in the county. If that development alone doesn't cause enough traffic headaches, just wait until St. Johns Parkway is finally connected it to all those Rivertown and World Golf Village developments. It would be akin to a mosquito feeding off an artery.

[thelakelander]

Or a large amount of retail workers live with their parents, mates, have roommates, etc. instead of staying alone. There's nothing special or unique about Northern St. Johns or its demographics. There are comparable suburban areas near most major cities across the country. I doubt Walmart, Home Depot, etc. have problems finding employees.

[marcuscnelson]

^Interesting comment posted under that article questioning where the workforce for such a huge development is going to come from, when there's virtually no rental property or sub $250k housing within 20 minutes of the development.

Ironically, some people here are terrified by the idea of putting affordable housing in the vicinity of where they live. Here's some quotes from them:

Waffle house, barf burger, McDonalds, Verizon, wal mart, 1 pawn shop...MORE townhomes.....and a campground for gypsies

Sal, I was talking about weighing in on the hotel (s) & multifamilty.  Some are concerned that may be mass density apartments & cheapo townhomes ($100K number was used as an example). 
I think people want to make sure that quality builders and developments are added when it gets to that point

Nicole, good point on the multi-family and hotels.  Too bad SJC already approved the multi family zoning, actually required as part of fair housing, can't have too many single family homes in one concentrated area.  Crime seems to be centralized to areas with the highest number of multifamily communities.

At the outlets the original Townhomes on the back side were nice 1600 to 1800 SF 9 ft ceilings nice stone outside etc.... they quickly found out they were struggling to sell them at 175 10 years ago so they dropped ceilings to 8' took away stone and dropped SF by 200+ SF which brought the price down.  I am not sure how invested Gatlin is into the property value of the homes in the area around Durbin. Is main concern may be get the buildings built leased or sold so he can start collecting on his investment.

It's disconcerting that so far this development isn't what was planned.  We can't let the Residential area go unchecked.   This will affect our kids & our schools.

[thelakelander]

Of course thet don't want affordable housing. Give it time. There's a ton of cheaply constructed tract house and townhome developments out there, that won't age well. They'll end up being the "affordable" housing in another decade or so.

[Sonic101]

I guess we should begin preparing for more development in southern SJC too.

http://www.staugustine.com/news/20180214/40-million-worth-of-land-in-southern-st-johns-county-recently-acquired-from-rayonier

Most of the parcels acquired are between Interstate 95 and U.S. 1, south of Watson Road. The property is mostly contiguous and extends down to the Flagler County border.

[Tacachale]

I guess we should begin preparing for more development in southern SJC too.

http://www.staugustine.com/news/20180214/40-million-worth-of-land-in-southern-st-johns-county-recently-acquired-from-rayonier

Most of the parcels acquired are between Interstate 95 and U.S. 1, south of Watson Road. The property is mostly contiguous and extends down to the Flagler County border.

IMO we should prepare by adding toll roads to all entrances to Duval County from St. Johns.

[thelakelander]

FDOT is already on it. There's a plan to add toll lanes, similiar to the current project on I-295 through Mandarin and the Southside.

[marcuscnelson]

So for some reason, one of the moderators on Nextdoor keeps shutting down these Durbin Park threads, with responses like this:

A post about stores once again turns into a post about local government. Anybody ready to incorporate so we have our own local officials? Any who, I think it's time to shut this down so it can start back up in a few days.

And this:

Officially OFF.THE.RAILS.

[marcuscnelson]

I guess we should begin preparing for more development in southern SJC too.

That reminds me, a lot of these people have been railing against the county commissioners, specifically Jimmy Johns, for letting a lot of developments like these get approved. There are plenty of hilarious passive-aggressive responses:

Pointing out the way Jimmy votes as he's the District 1 Commissioner, where many of us call home. Important to remember that when voting whether you're for or against this kind of expansion. Didn't say anything for or against this.

It's been reported that Mr. Johns will be running for Congress to try and take over Ron DeSantis's seat since Mr. DeSantis is running for Governor.  Anyone who votes for Jimmy " I can't say No" Johns is a fool.  Unless you like this area becoming urban

Johns will approve anything if he thinks there is money in it. He has no concern for the quality of living we experience out here. I appeared before him and the other commissioners to fight against variances he wasn't to approve for the CR 210 Town Center! People better start paying attention or you'"" find youselves living loke folks out near Blanding Blvd soon!

I love living here.

[brainstormer]

Of course thet don't want affordable housing. Give it time. There's a ton of cheaply constructed tract house and townhome developments out there, that won't age well. They'll end up being the "affordable" housing in another decade or so.

Spot on! Couldn't agree more.

[Transman]

Developers have a hard time making building any kind of apartments work in St. John's due to Impact Fees. Notice you don't see any apartments under construction in St. Johns.  They all stop at the Duval line.  I agree about affordable housing, they are really lacking that.

The county needs to think this one over, they need a better balance of housing, not just tract housing.

[marcuscnelson]

Developers have a hard time making building any kind of apartments work in St. John's due to Impact Fees. Notice you don't see any apartments under construction in St. Johns.  They all stop at the Duval line.  I agree about affordable housing, they are really lacking that.

The county needs to think this one over, they need a better balance of housing, not just tract housing.

I don't disagree with you, but I will be upfront here and say that considering some of the comments I've copied and pasted in this thread, it's not clear that many residents here want any development at all.

Personally, I'm not opposed to new development provided it suits the community and doesn't demand numerous concessions from the county government, but a lot of people seem to constantly get up in arms about any attempts at new housing or shopping. It's a strange conundrum, considering our schools are so highly in demand and a lot of the people that come here then attempt to close the door on anyone behind them.

And now, Durbin Park especially has been a hotspot for debate over the future of our county, and I can't say for sure who's going to win.

[KenFSU]

With that said, I think their Keke's will be that chain's first location in NE Florida. Keke's is pretty popular in and around Orlando.

Looks like Town Center is getting one too.

https://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/news/2018/02/21/kekes-breakfast-cafe-to-open-near-st-johns-town.html

[Jagsdrew]

Looks like neighbors are reaching their breaking point on development in St John's County. Residents demanding development to stop.

https://www.news4jax.com/news/florida/st-johns-county/residents-demanding-commissioners-to-stop-northern-st-johns-county-development

When you develop large shopping centers like this, multifamily housing is always going to follow.

[Charles Hunter]

"I just moved here, and don't want anyone else to move here!"