Culture News Blog

At the end of 2006, Patrick Zalupski found a piece of property in Green Cove Springs he couldn't pass up.

Situated at the foot of Bay Street downtown, the .77 acres offered a chance for multifamily development along the riverfront that Jacksonville simply couldn't.

Even with an impending real estate downturn, Zalupski and his private investment group forged ahead with the $5.2 million Bay Street Condominiums and boat docks. Two- and three-bedroom units are selling for $549,000 to $589,000 each, which includes a boat slip.

Now with six of nine units left to sell, Zalupski said even the market dictating a $50,000 price cut on each condominium didn't diminish the value of getting in early on the city's redevelopment.

"This is a project that fits the culture and atmosphere of Green Cove," said Zalupski, who builds mostly single-family homes with his partners in POZ Capital Investments.

"When the market is strong again, Green Cove is the natural progression of where real estate will move."

That's an opinion Mayor Mike Kelter and other city leaders share.

And they took action in the last six months to encourage it by way of an ordinance allowing mixed-use development along U.S. 17 and Florida 16.

At least one developer has already talked with the city about a building with stores on its first floor and residences on its next three floors, Kelter said.

With commercial interest heating up, Kelter said Bay Street, nearby Magnolia Cove townhomes and other smaller residential ventures are a welcome addition to the city.

"We're in that part of the economic cycle that means it will be slower for at least another few months, but we're tickled to death."

Local analyst Ray Rodriguez, owner of the Real Estate Strategy Center of North Florida Inc., said Bay Street represents the city's first luxury condominium prices.

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