Southeast Jacksonville

Neighborhoods include Arrowhead, Avenues, Bayard, Baymeadows, Baymeadows Center, Beach Haven, Beauclerc, Bowden, Brackridge, Briarwood, Craven, Deercreek, Deerwood, Deerwood Center, Del Rio, Englewood, Goodbys Creek, Greenfield Manor, Greenland, Isle of Palms, Julington Creek, Kilarney Shores, Lakewood, Loretto, Mandarin, Mandarin Station, Miramar, Montclair, Pickwick Park, Pine Forrest, Royal Lakes, San Jose, San Jose Forrest, San Marco, Sans Pareil, Sans Souci, Secret Cove, South Riverside, Southpoint, Southwood, Spring Park, Sunbeam, Tiger Hole and Windy Hill.

Bayard

Bayard has a rich history that antedates its inclusion in the municipality of Jacksonville. For more information, see Bayard.

Baymeadows

Baymeadows is a relatively affluent neighborhood centered around Baymeadows Road. It is situated south of Arlington (specifically, south of J. Turner Butler Boulevard) and east of Mandarin. A center for white-collar employment, it is home to many corporate office parks, upscale apartment complexes and residential developments, two private golf courses, several shopping centers and a large shopping mall.

Lakewood

Lakewood, which lies in the area where San Jose Blvd. and University Blvd intersect, is a residential area with houses built in the 1950s. It has several churches, two shopping centers, and a plethora of streets named after major private colleges, such as Clemson, Cornell, Fordham, and Emory.

Mandarin

Mandarin has a rich history that antedates its inclusion in the municipality of Jacksonville. For more information, see Mandarin.

Sandalwood

The Sandalwood neighborhood began developing in the spring of 1960, midway between downtown Jacksonville and the beaches, or about 6 miles from each, was advertised in 1960-61 as "On the Southside - halfway between business and pleasure!" The builder-developer, Pearce-Uible, was located at 3850 Beach Blvd.

The original neighborhood was bordered by the then two-lane Atlantic Boulevard on the north, a mile of palmetto and scrub on the south before reaching Beachwood neighborhood and Beach Boulevard, the western part of the neighborhood was bordered by the less than two-lane dirt road named St. John's Bluff, and the eastern border of the neighborhood was defined by a storm drainage ditch called the Sandalwood Canal. The original streets are named after mostly South Pacific islands and most of the streets are, from north to south, in alphabetical order. The original street names are Aloha Drive; Batavia Drive; Caledonia Drive; Delago Drive; Eniwetok Drive; Fiji Court; Hawaii Drive East; Hawaii Drive South; Indies Drive North; Indies Drive East; Indies Drive South; Java Drive; Kuralei Drive; Mindanao Drive (The main drag); Sandalwood Boulevard (Original main entrance road); Bahia Drive; Dulawan Drive; and Kusaie Drive.

The were eight original home styles named as follows: Aloha; Bahama; Bikini; Caledonia; Del ray; Java; Polynesian; and Waikiki. Free airplane rides over Sandalwood were offered during the grand opening. The entrance and sales office located on Sandalwood Boulevard boasted a winding, palm lined street, and adjacent play area for the children. Homes were priced from $11,400 to $16,000, with monthly payments as low as $67. The original Sandalwood consisted of approximately 500 homes. The first families purchased homes in May and June of 1960. Many of the first families were U.S. Navy families who were stationed at the Mayport base and others were employed by CSX railroad.

In the late 1970s, additional construction began at the southern border by the Sofranko Homes company, nearly doubling the size of the neighborhood. Most of the original early 1960's families have moved away over the years, but a handful of the original families are still left from the early 1960s.

San Marco

The area known as San Marco has a rich history, and, arguably, is one of the more cosmopolitan neighborhoods in Jacksonville. Originally a farm on the banks of the St. Johns River, the area now known as San Marco was called Oklahoma. One of the most prominent citizens of Oklahoma was Harrison Reed, who was elected Florida’s governor in 1868 and 1873. Reed’s sister, Margaret Reed Mitchell and her husband, Wisconsin railroad tycoon Alexander Mitchell, fell in love with Oklahoma and built their winter home, Villa Alexandria, on 140 acres on the river. By 1872, the palatial estate included a mansion (near the present corner of River Road and Arbor Lane), barns, tennis courts, a swimming pool, polo field, more than 2000 orange trees, bridle paths and formal gardens. By 1873, Mrs. Mitchell was one of Jacksonville’s most influential women and was active in many charitable causes.

Based on the Piazza di San Marco in Venice, Italy, Jacksonville's San Marco Square is an artsy shopping, dining and entertainment district just south of downtown and north of Mandarin. Its historic Italian influenced architecture stretches along the Y-shaped intersection of Atlantic and San Marco Boulevards just west of Hendricks. At the center of the Square, a giant statue of three lions watches over Bails Park and its classic white bandstand. For these reasons and more, the San Marco area has become one of Jacksonville's trendiest destinations.

In the Square you can stroll through art galleries, boutiques, independent bookstores and upscale gift shops. You’ll find everything from a Thai bistro to a casual, pet-friendly sidewalk pizza parlor, a Chicago-style bar & grill, a popular local hot subs chain, a Starbucks coffee shop, and much more. Other points of interest include the Peterbrooke chocolate boutique, the old-fashioned art deco San Marco Theater, and Florida’s longest running community theater.

Further exploration of San Marco will uncover numerous restaurants along with nightclubs and day spas. The streets south of the Square are lined with charming estates, riverfront mansions, and community parks.

The development of the “South Bank” began in earnest with the opening of the St. Johns River Bridge (renamed the Acosta) in 1921. Telfair Stockton bought 80 acres of land north of the Mitchell estate for the new “San Marco” subdivision. The business district was based on the Piazza di San Marco in Venice, Italy, which had impressed Mr. Stockton on a European trek. The clay pit of Gamble & Stockton Brick Company was transformed into Lake Marco. San Marco was an immediate success. In 1929, an additional subdivision, Villa Alexandria, was platted on the overgrown Villa Alexandria estate. The first two homes in the development were built on adjoining lots by Carl and John Swisher, who had just moved their King Edward Cigar Company from Chicago to Jacksonville.

Today San Marco, despite its tiny size, possesses a thriving commercial center, which includes restaurants, retail, and two theaters—one for movies and the other, Theatre Jacksonville staging plays.

Sunbeam

Sunbeam is a relatively new neighborhood centered around Sunbeam Road which runs east/west between Philips Highway and San Jose Boulevard. It is situated south of Baymeadows Road, east of Mandarin and north of the Avenues Mall. The area includes the site of the former Sunbeam Sanitary Landfill which opened in 1972. The dump emitted objectionable odors, which discouraged development nearby. The landfill permit expired in 1986, and the facility stopped accepting garbage. After being covered with a 3-foot deep cap, which prevents the elements from coming in and waste from coming out, the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation (FDER) certified it closed on 10/21/92. With the odor problem resolved, development resumed in the middle 1990's including subdivisions, apartment complexes, commercial buildings and the Community Hospice of Northeast Florida center. A golf course on and around the original landfill was planned and delayed for several years but construction finally began in late 2007.