[quirky3]

Saw this yesterday - plans for a "Villages"-like community in the Florida panhandle covering 110,500 acres and up to 170,000 homes.

St. Joe planning Panhandle retirement community

includes these statements:

“The project would take multiple decades to build out in full – vastly exceeding but firmly in the mold of The Villages (outside Ocala),” Puryear and Horne said.

With The Villages likely completing residential development sometime in 2017, it appears that St. Joe clearly aims to market this community as the new Florida retirement destination of choice for migrating baby boomers,” they said.

[gomoho]

Depending on the proximity to the Gulf this could be fabulous!!! To have everything The Villages' offers and the Gulf - no brainer.

[redwitch]

To have everything TV has and the gulf and its hurricanes, yup, no brainer for me. Glad I'm here.

[quirky3]

The article says the location is "north of Panama City Beach in Bay and Walton counties."

[NotGolfer]

Have you paid attention to the weather the panhandle gets?? More rain etc. than we get, colder temps, then there's the hurricanes etc. I think I like it where we are!! PLUS I'd bet it won't be "exactly" like what we have!

[billethkid]

Too far North

[mickey100]

Are the summer temps cooler up there? If so, that would be a plus.

[downeaster]

I am wondering if a large corporation can accomplish what a small family unit has done here in The Villages. St. Joe, a former paper company, has a lot of money and a vast amount of property. But does it have the vision and the ability to maintain that vision that Harold Schwartz had and his family still has?

I am reminded of the old adage "A camel is a horse designed by a committee".

St Joe is no stranger to property development but I think trying to duplicate what the Schwartz/Morse family has done and is still doing here could prove beyond their reach.

I agree with those that feel the Panhandle is not as desirable as Central Florida, beaches not withstanding.

[Mudder]

That project was to have started years ago, put on hold, maybe the time is right now.

[DigitalGranny]

To each, his own! We can't all live here. Just glad that I do!

[LndLocked]

why does it have to be a competition?!?!?!

[bluedog103]

That area gets much colder in the winter than central Florida where we are.

[gomoho]

Originally Posted by LndLocked

why does it have to be a competition?!?!?!

Simply because for some reason people in The Villages needs to prove, time and time again - mine is bigger than yours. To each his own - celebrate diversity, don't be threatened by it. The Villages is a wonderful place for some - not so much for others. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the lifestyle could be offered in another place??? It's not a threat - it's an idea?!?!?!?!

[rubicon]

To have the Village's Lifestyle and the gulf is the complete package. The Panhandle is cold but then so is TV.

More important here is how this development will be financed and built.

Most of TV will be built out by the time this development begins.

[buggyone]

Quick! Put down a deposit on a homesite before the Stonecrest people find out about it!