Northeast Florida Is Booming: Here's What's Coming That You Need to Know About

By Ben Cote | NE Florida Realtor | eXp Realty

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What You'll Learn From This Post

• Why Northeast Florida's growth right now is different from typical Florida hype
• What's actively being built in Jacksonville's downtown corridor
• The Margaritaville development coming to St. Johns County and what it means for investors
• New retail and infrastructure coming to the communities you're researching
• Why all of this matters if you're thinking about buying here in the next 12-24 months

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If you're still on the fence about Northeast Florida — this post might be the one that moves you off it.

I'm not talking about projections or wishful thinking. I'm talking about permits filed, ground broken, votes passed, and cranes in the air. Northeast Florida is in the middle of a genuine growth moment — and the families and investors who recognize it early are the ones who benefit most.

Here's what's actually happening right now.

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Downtown Jacksonville: $8.8 Billion and Counting

For years Jacksonville had a reputation as a city of big plans and slow follow through. That era is over.

Downtown Jacksonville currently has $8.8 billion in its active development pipeline. Not proposals. Not renderings. Active investment with shovels in the ground.

Here's what's underway:

The Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences is under active construction on the Northbank of the St. Johns River — a 10-story luxury development backed by Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan. The building topped off in August 2025 and is targeted for completion in 2027. When it opens it will bring 170 hotel rooms, 26 private residences starting at $4.7 million, an 11,000 square foot spa, a 78-slip marina, and three restaurants with Michelin-starred chefs to downtown Jacksonville. The project recently secured $360 million in construction financing from Goldman Sachs — the largest private project loan in the city's history. Jacksonville is getting a Four Seasons. Let that land for a second.

The Jaguars Stadium renovation is a $1.4 billion project that keeps the NFL in Jacksonville and positions the city to host major events for decades. This isn't just about football. Stadium-anchored development transforms surrounding neighborhoods — hotels, restaurants, retail, residential. It's already happening.

Gateway Jax is a $2 billion mixed-use development reshaping the urban core. In May 2025 they broke ground on their second structure — a mixed-use building with 286 residential units and nearly 20,000 square feet of retail. The city is putting serious money into incentives to make this happen because they know what it means for long term property values.

Riverfront Plaza has opened on the former site of the Jacksonville Landing — a brand new park on the Northbank with an event lawn, improved Riverwalk, and a second phase under construction that includes a beer garden and pedestrian connections to the Main Street Bridge.

This is a city in the middle of a genuine transformation. And the families relocating here right now are buying into that trajectory.

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The Margaritaville Coming to St. Johns County

This one gets people's attention — and for good reason.

A Compass Hotel by Margaritaville is in active development at Beachwalk — a master-planned community off County Road 210 in St. Johns County. The project has cleared key county approval hurdles and is advancing through permitting.

Here's what's planned: a five-story boutique hotel with 132 rooms, 68 short-term stay cottages with up to six bedrooms, all situated on Beachwalk's 13-acre Crystal Lagoon. A full-service restaurant is also planned for the site.

For context — this is the same Falcone Group that developed the Margaritaville resort near Walt Disney World in Orlando. This isn't a long shot. It's a legitimate hospitality development from an experienced team, in a community that already has Publix, Wawa, BJ's Wholesale Club, and an established residential base.

For investors paying attention to short-term rental demand near St. Augustine and the St. Johns County corridor — a Margaritaville resort anchoring a crystal lagoon community is the kind of demand driver that changes the math on nearby investment properties. This is worth watching closely.

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St. Johns County: $820 Million in Infrastructure Investment

Here's the thing about growth that most people miss — the headline projects get all the attention, but it's the infrastructure underneath them that actually makes a place livable and valuable long term.

St. Johns County completed 61 capital improvement projects in 2025 and has 59 more scheduled for completion in 2026 — representing more than $820 million in infrastructure investment across roads, public safety, parks, utilities, and technology.

That's not a county coasting. That's a county building ahead of demand.

For families relocating here, this matters because it means the quality of life infrastructure — roads, parks, schools, utilities — is actively being built out to match the population growth. The county is investing in the experience of living here, not just the housing.

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New Retail Coming to the Communities You're Already Researching

Beyond the headline projects, here's what's coming to the specific communities most relocating families are already looking at:

SilverLeaf is getting a brand new Publix — built with Publix's newest prototype store design, including a Pours café offering beer and wine on site. A liquor store and additional retail spaces are part of the same development. SilverLeaf is growing fast and the retail infrastructure is catching up with it.

Near Rivertown, a new Publix is planned at the corner of Veterans Parkway and Longleaf Pines Parkway. As someone who lives in Rivertown — this is genuinely welcome news. Convenient grocery access matters more than people realize until they're living it daily.

Harris Teeter is returning to Jacksonville after a 20-year absence. Construction is expected to begin in spring 2026 at Atlantic North — bringing 100 to 200 new jobs and a premium grocery option back to the market. The only other Harris Teeter in Florida is in Fernandina Beach. Jacksonville is getting one back.

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Why This Matters If You're Thinking About Buying

Here's the real estate reality underneath all of this.

Communities and cities don't appreciate in a vacuum. Values follow investment. When $8.8 billion flows into a downtown core, when a Margaritaville resort breaks ground on a crystal lagoon, when $820 million in infrastructure gets deployed across a county — the surrounding real estate moves.

The families who bought in Nocatee ten years ago before the Town Center was fully built are sitting on significant equity today. The investors who bought near emerging amenity anchors before the ribbon cuttings are the ones who made the best returns.

Northeast Florida right now has the same energy those communities had a decade ago — except with more infrastructure already in place, better schools, and a national spotlight that didn't exist before.

I moved my family here in 2025 because I believed in this market's trajectory. Everything being built right now is confirming that instinct.

If you're in the research phase — this is the context you need to be making decisions with.

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Curious what all of this growth means for a specific community or price point you're looking at? That's exactly the kind of conversation I have with relocating families every week.

👉 Let's talk at thecotecollective.com/relocate

Want to stay current on what's happening in Northeast Florida real estate? New posts drop regularly at the blog.

thecotecollective.com

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Ben Cote | NE Florida Realtor | eXp Realty | 802.734.2397