Nocatee is an unincorporated planned community located primarily in northern St. Johns County, Florida. As of 2020, the community consist of twenty-two neighborhoods, some of which are specialized for certain age groups. For example, to live in the neighborhood Del Webb you must be over the age of fifty-five. Part of the development lies within Jacksonville in Duval County. It is near Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida's First Coast region and sits on of land. It was approved in 2001 as a Development of Regional Impact under Section 380.06 of the Florida Statutes.
History
Nocatee's creator, The PARC Group, has a main goal of creating communities that balance the lifestyles of its residents. The PARC Groups's Chairman and CEO, Rodger O'Steen, founded the group in 1989 and was directly involved with the development of Nocatee, and many other communities. He had been named Northeast Developer of the Year in 2018, and The PARC Group has been claiming this title for a consecutive 12 years. Donna Lundgren, the manager for the Nocatee Welcome Center, explains that the actual word "Nocatee" has roots in Timucuan Indian and translates to "peaceful river". She also states that Nocatee is "approximately 25 square miles, 14,000 acres with over 60% of remaining preserve for conservation and preservation."
Amenities
A large portion of the community's growth may be attributed to its crown jewel, the water parks. There is no community in the area with a central attraction quite like it, as Nocatee is centered around two large water parks, the Splash Park and Spray Park. The Splash park came first and features many attractions such as two slides, a lazy river, run-across lily pads, and kid specific areas which all span over four pools, and the main slide tower even has a zip line. Early in 2019, Nocatee opened its second park the Spray Park. The Spray Park consists of five slides and has a giant bucket over the top of the four story structure that will drop huge amounts of water every couple minutes. To add to the life of these parks there are plans to build even more pools by 2021. Even when the parks are shut down for swimming in the winter, they are still used for special events, such as Food Truck Friday, farmers' markets, the Nocatee-A-Glow holiday celebration, concerts, Easter egg hunts, and more community events. Nocatee strives to deliver many amenities to their residents and provide many parks, neighborhood pools, fitness centers, dog parks, a kayak launch, a nature preserve and a series of nature trails.
Demographics
The population of Nocatee had a 34.6% increase from the year 2015 to 2016, and it is the second fastest growing community in the nation. In addition to the growing number of houses, the number of businesses in and around the Nocatee Town Center has also been developing exponentially.
