Oak Hollow location

[BubblesandPat]

We really like the Oak Hollow location. Close but not too close to Eastport, Marsh Bend golf cart path right there, near the lake etc. But everyone brings up the prison being right there. Most of that area is near the prison but Oak Hollow seems to come up more often. We are planning to go look at night to see if the lights affect anything but would love any feedback on the area. (Yes already know about the high bond and agree really are leaning to a resale but there is a house there we like....tyia!)

[tophcfa]

We really like the Oak Hollow location. Close but not too close to Eastport, Marsh Bend golf cart path right there, near the lake etc. But everyone brings up the prison being right there. Most of that area is near the prison but Oak Hollow seems to come up more often. We are planning to go look at night to see if the lights affect anything but would love any feedback on the area. (Yes already know about the high bond and agree really are leaning to a resale but there is a house there we like....tyia!)

I love the caption under your post, “Sleep Eat Swim Repeat”. That being said, have you carefully considered your sports pool options in that area? That, along with proximity to extensive golfing options, would be our #1 criteria if we ever considered moving. At our current location, we have 6 sports pools within a 1/2 hour golf cart ride. Given the incredible popularity of the sports pools, and the wide variety of activities the pools are used for, having easy access to many pools is critical if you want to have daily lap swimming opportunities at different times throughout the day. Something to carefully consider for dedicated lap swimmers.

[kansasr]

We really like the Oak Hollow location. Close but not too close to Eastport, Marsh Bend golf cart path right there, near the lake etc. But everyone brings up the prison being right there. Most of that area is near the prison but Oak Hollow seems to come up more often. We are planning to go look at night to see if the lights affect anything but would love any feedback on the area. (Yes already know about the high bond and agree really are leaning to a resale but there is a house there we like....tyia!)

Having lived practically across from the prison in Monarch Grove, it's not an issue.

[kansasr]

I love the caption under your post, “Sleep Eat Swim Repeat”. That being said, have you carefully considered your sports pool options in that area? That, along with proximity to extensive golfing options, would be our #1 criteria if we ever considered moving. At our current location, we have 6 sports pools within a 1/2 hour golf cart ride. Given the incredible popularity of the sports pools, and the wide variety of activities the pools are used for, having easy access to many pools is critical if you want to have daily lap swimming opportunities at different times throughout the day. Something to carefully consider for dedicated lap swimmers.

You're going to have 4 sports pools within easy distance of there. Just north there is Everglades and over to the west in Fenney Spanish Moss. Just over the turnpike is Ezell and of course, Eastport will have a sports pool when it opens later this year.

[thelegges]

OP those who complain the most, giving information that your home will be worthless, the lights will keep you awake, if the loudspeaker doesn’t wake you up first. Prison breaks will have prisoners running into your house. You will live in fear.

Those warnings come from people who don’t live anywhere near Coleman, some have no idea where it’s located, much less actually visiting the location.
Some have actually have played golf at certain courses and didn’t realize Coleman was over the fence, though the heavily wooded area, behind the guard towers and fence. Never seeing lights, no loudspeakers, zero people running rampant with orange jumpsuits.

OP the same fear warning posters also, point out the bad choices for those who move to the desolate wasteland of south of 44. We were warned of horrible things buying a house in Pennacamp, in 2010. Because it is at the end of The Villages. That didn’t happen.
So don’t be discouraged, everyone find what works for their personal needs, and been very happy with how they spent their money.

[Marathon Man]

OP those who complain the most, giving information that your home will be worthless, the lights will keep you awake, if the loudspeaker doesn’t wake you up first. Prison breaks will have prisoners running into your house. You will live in fear.

Those warnings come from people who don’t live anywhere near Coleman, some have no idea where it’s located, much less actually visiting the location.
Some have actually have played golf at certain courses and didn’t realize Coleman was over the fence, though the heavily wooded area, behind the guard towers and fence. Never seeing lights, no loudspeakers, zero people running rampant with orange jumpsuits.

OP the same fear warning posters also, point out the bad choices for those who move to the desolate wasteland of south of 44. We were warned of horrible things buying a house in Pennacamp, in 2010. Because it is at the end of The Villages. That didn’t happen.
So don’t be discouraged, everyone find what works for their personal needs, and been very happy with how they spent their money.

Well said.

[Altavia]

Coleman USP is as quiet as a National Park.

Coleman is a major employer in the area. The law enforcement and first responder staff staff comming and going between shift changes are an additional set of eyes on the area. Wildwood patrols and traffic enforcement is highly visible in the area also.

The Developer built three charter schools, thousands of family homes and multiple recreational facilities within view. And a fire station in between.

The Catholic Church bought the lot on the north east side of Coleman. (Across from Monarch Grove/Wellpoint)

GoldWingnut mentioned there are plans by a non-Villages Developer to put a large commercial development between the fire station and Coleman.

Six buildings, Plus four out lots. Looks similar in size to Colony Plaza?

He hinted there will be more info in his next video so stay tuned.

[BubblesandPat]

I love the caption under your post, “Sleep Eat Swim Repeat”. That being said, have you carefully considered your sports pool options in that area? That, along with proximity to extensive golfing options, would be our #1 criteria if we ever considered moving. At our current location, we have 6 sports pools within a 1/2 hour golf cart ride. Given the incredible popularity of the sports pools, and the wide variety of activities the pools are used for, having easy access to many pools is critical if you want to have daily lap swimming opportunities at different times throughout the day. Something to carefully consider for dedicated lap swimmers.

Oh I agree! I live in Citrus Grove now and gave up long ago trying to get a lane at ezell. So I have to drive to either spanish moss or Everglades to get a Lane. The sports pools here seem to cater more to the volleyball and such here. Spanish moss is about the same distant from here and from oak hollow. I doubt eastport pool will be any better. I dont think the rec dept realizes how lacking we are in sports pools....

[BubblesandPat]

OP those who complain the most, giving information that your home will be worthless, the lights will keep you awake, if the loudspeaker doesn’t wake you up first. Prison breaks will have prisoners running into your house. You will live in fear.

Those warnings come from people who don’t live anywhere near Coleman, some have no idea where it’s located, much less actually visiting the location.
Some have actually have played golf at certain courses and didn’t realize Coleman was over the fence, though the heavily wooded area, behind the guard towers and fence. Never seeing lights, no loudspeakers, zero people running rampant with orange jumpsuits.

OP the same fear warning posters also, point out the bad choices for those who move to the desolate wasteland of south of 44. We were warned of horrible things buying a house in Pennacamp, in 2010. Because it is at the end of The Villages. That didn’t happen.
So don’t be discouraged, everyone find what works for their personal needs, and been very happy with how they spent their money.

Thank you!! I wondered the same thing...do people even know the prison is there??

[BubblesandPat]

Coleman USP is as quiet as a National Park.

Coleman is a major employer in the area. The law enforcement and first responder staff staff comming and going between shift changes are an additional set of eyes on the area. Wildwood patrols and traffic enforcement is highly visible in the area also.

The Developer built three charter schools, thousands of family homes and multiple recreational facilities within view. And a fire station in between.

The Catholic Church bought the lot on the north east side of Coleman. (Across from Monarch Grove/Wellpoint)

GoldWingnut mentioned there are plans by a non-Villages Developer to put a large commercial development between the fire station and Coleman.

Six buildings, one is 55,000 sq ft. Plus four out lots. Looks similar in size to Colony Plaza?

He hinted there will be more info in his next video so stay tuned.

I saw that but wasn't quite sure where it is...shopping near by I dont feel is a bad thing.

[tophcfa]

Oh I agree! I live in Citrus Grove now and gave up long ago trying to get a lane at ezell. So I have to drive to either spanish moss or Everglades to get a Lane. The sports pools here seem to cater more to the volleyball and such here. Spanish moss is about the same distant from here and from oak hollow. I doubt eastport pool will be any better. I dont think the rec dept realizes how lacking we are in sports pools....

Not trying to make this a north versus south thing, but I have swam laps at every sports pool in the villages, and it’s like day and night trying to get a lane at Ezell or Everglades versus every pool north of 44. My experience at Spanish Moss (Fenney) hasn’t been nearly as bad, but it was still more crowded than usual. Hopefully, having another option soon at the new sports pool in Eastport will help, but I wouldn’t hold my breath given the amount of new homes in the area? Best of luck with your swimming endeavors.

[airstreamingypsy]

The prison wouldn't bother me, the only thing that I will never do again, is buy where I am near turnpike noise. Not here, up north. If there's no turnpike noise, and you love the house, go for it. The amenities will catch up to you.

[jlouther]

We live in Moultrie Creek so we use the Marsh Bend multi modal path quite often except at night. It’s so dark we have a hard time seeing the path or debris on the path. So we take Corbin Trail through Oak Hollow instead. We have never heard any noise from the prison since we moved here in March 2024.

[Veracity]

The prison wouldn't bother me, the only thing that I will never do again, is buy where I am near turnpike noise. Not here, up north. If there's no turnpike noise, and you love the house, go for it. The amenities will catch up to you.

I agree. We rented a house that was about a half mile from the turnpike for a year and the noise was unbearable. The prison would not bother me. Turnpike noise ate my brain out, and maybe a little bit of my soul. You can't get away from it. It was so engrained in my mind that I thought I was hearing it when we traveled and slept in a quiet hotel room. If you can swing it, put in your own pool that's big enough to swim laps all day. Use T&D and they will help you design your pool and it will be built perfectly. Contact them immediately after closing because there is a long wait time for them to start, but once they do start, they finish in the time they quote. They are worth the wait (in the meantime, use the sports pools). For a swimmer, there's nothing better than living in Florida with a lap-size pool in your own backyard. Since you will be spending a lot of time in your pool or on your lanai, be very, very careful on which direction your lanai faces. Good luck.

[ByebyeMichigan]

We really like the Oak Hollow location. Close but not too close to Eastport, Marsh Bend golf cart path right there, near the lake etc. But everyone brings up the prison being right there. Most of that area is near the prison but Oak Hollow seems to come up more often. We are planning to go look at night to see if the lights affect anything but would love any feedback on the area. (Yes already know about the high bond and agree really are leaning to a resale but there is a house there we like....tyia!)Buy the house. We live in Well Point and the prison is a non issue . Period.

[psjordan]

We really like the Oak Hollow location... We are planning to go look at night to see if the lights affect anything...

We looked at lots in Well Point (south of McNeill) and Oak Hollow. You are 100% correct in going over at night - just park somewhere and look and listen.

We had zero qualms about the prison in terms of security, and only slight qualms in terms of resale. We did go over at night and parked for awhile - the lights were objectionable to us, as were the prison announcements. It would have to be the "perfect" lot for us to ignore/live with those aspects - and we would have, for the right lot.

Keep in mind we had a list of "we don't want that" for ANY new area, so the bar for us to want a new lot was pretty high. Honestly we only found one lot that fit our needs enough to try for it, it was on Panlileo Loop, and I think we were 117th in the lottery for that one. We subsequently purchased pre-owned in our current general area.

I guess my $0.02 is that if you love the house and it meets (90% of?) your needs, and your night trip does not produce any real objections, having the prison there would not stop me from buying.

[Dotneko]

I agree. We rented a house that was about a half mile from the turnpike for a year and the noise was unbearable. The prison would not bother me. Turnpike noise ate my brain out, and maybe a little bit of my soul. You can't get away from it. It was so engrained in my mind that I thought I was hearing it when we traveled and slept in a quiet hotel room. If you can swing it, put in your own pool that's big enough to swim laps all day. Use T&D and they will help you design your pool and it will be built perfectly. Contact them immediately after closing because there is a long wait time for them to start, but once they do start, they finish in the time they quote. They are worth the wait (in the meantime, use the sports pools). For a swimmer, there's nothing better than living in Florida with a lap-size pool in your own backyard. Since you will be spending a lot of time in your pool or on your lanai, be very, very careful on which direction your lanai faces. Good luck.

I feel the same way about pickleball courts. That noise would drive me insane.
Been here 5 years and been in a pool 3 times. Im no help on that one. Just not a pool person.

[maistocars]

If you think you'll like Eastport and what it offers, then good choice. To me, Oak Hollow is too close to Marsh Bend Trail and the Pike.

[Nancy@Pinellas]

When you buy your home, it’s nice to check out if it’s near a pickle ball court. The noise from pickleball all day would drive me nuts. I live near Big Cypress and can only hear it on certain days.

[jimkerr]

When you buy your home, it’s nice to check out if it’s near a pickle ball court. The noise from pickleball all day would drive me nuts. I live near Big Cypress and can only hear it on certain days.

^This!^

[Fastskiguy]

Having lived practically across from the prison in Monarch Grove, it's not an issue.

I live in Linden....there is a prison around here?

/s

Joe

[Altavia]

When you buy your home, it’s nice to check out if it’s near a pickle ball court. The noise from pickleball all day would drive me nuts. I live near Big Cypress and can only hear it on certain days.

There likely will be Pickleball courts at the Rec Center next to the Woodlands golf course.