New, affordable apartment complex breaks ground in West Augustine

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla — Building low-cost places to live in St. Johns County seems priceless when you ask about the need for them.

“Oh it’s crazy, it’s absolutely through the roof,” says Sarah Arnold, chair of the St. Johns County Board of Commissioners overseeing District 2.

But the people who’ve fought for 13 years for the Villages of New Augustine apartments to be built would say it’s a project as remarkable as the demand for it.

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“It gives us hope that we can get the nice houses we have in Julington, that we have in Ponte Vedra, that we have in St. Augustine Beach,” says Gregory White, founder and president of the West Augustine Historical CDC, an organization looking to meet the needs of health and housing in West Augustine.

It’s an area White and many others would describe as underserved. It’s soon to be the home of the new $25 million, 92-unit affordable apartment complex county leaders say is a desperate need.

“We still have folks in underserved areas here,” White says, “At night, when they look up, they see the stars. When they look down, they see the dirt. So this is huge for our community.”

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But others leaders living in the area say their fight for more housing is far from over.

“I think these 92 units in the heart of West Augustine are a good thing, but it’s nowhere near enough,” says Robert Nimmons, chair of the West Augustine CRA Committee.

The Villages of New Augustine are one of multiple recent affordable communities planned or proposed for the county. On Monday, there was a public meeting about a 640-home neighborhood proposal in southern St. Johns County, on Wildwood Drive.

It would be called Osceola Lakes, with 30% of its homes offered as workforce housing. St. Johns County land designation code says those homes could, at maximum, be priced at $260,000.

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It’s less than half the average cost of a home in the county, $564,787, per the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors. Back in October, Action News Jax told you about the ribbon cutting ceremony of another affordable housing complex, the Victoria Crossing Apartments, which had 96 units.

The Villages of New Augustine is meant for households making 60% of the area’s median income. The median income in St. Johns County, right now, is around $56,000 per year. It’s more than starting salaries for these county jobs:

- St. Johns County School District Teachers: $47,500

- St. Johns Fire Rescue Firefighters: $47,820

- St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office Account Specialist: $43,500

- St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office Personnel Specialist: $46,500

Commissioner Arnold says the county is working on more solutions for its essential workers and others in need of affordable housing options, like the Villages of New Augustine.

“The 92 units is a bite of the apple, but a small one, and we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Arnold says.

Ability Housing will offer the apartments starting at $547 per month for one-bedroom units and $739 per month for three-bedroom units. The organization expects to have a ribbon cutting for the apartments before the end of next year.

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