Developer BTI Partners is moving forward with plans for the first phase of the 3,300-acre Governors Park master-planned community in Clay County.
Called Governors Park South, the development calls for 401 single-family homes on about 235 acres including amenities in Green Cove Springs. The lots total about 156 acres.
Plans show Governors Park South bisected by the future Green Cove Springs Bypass. A map shows the Bypass starting at U.S. 17. and going northwest across the First Coast Expressway, bisecting the Governors Park development from north to south.
Governors Park South is about .7 mile south of the First Coast Expressway at County Road 15A.
The county is reviewing a permit application filed by project engineer England-Thims & Miller Inc. of Jacksonville to develop the first phase.
Simultaneously, the St. Johns River Water Management District is evaluating an environmental resource permit application filed by England-Thims & Miller.
Orlando-based environmental consulting firm Bio-Tech Consulting Inc. is also working with the water management district on the wetlands determination application.
Plans for Governors Park South also show areas for potential development in the rest of Governors Park.
North of the First Coast Expressway is 571 acres of single-family and 44.8 acres of multifamily development; 74 acres of commercial and a 60-acre high school.
South of the First Coast Expressway is a 629.9-acre active adult area, 231.2 acres of single-family and 37.7 acres of multifamily development; 106.2 acres of industrial; 36.2 acres of medical; a 33.8-acre recreation complex and 21.7-acre community area; a 22.5-acre elementary school; and 14.7 acres of commercial space.
Governors Park is the former Gustafson family ranch property that was owned by the Davis family and The PARC Group. Fort Lauderdale-based developer BTI Partners acquired it in 2022 for $85 million.
“This transaction highlights BTI Partners’ strategy of acquiring large tracts of land to develop mixed-use communities in Florida’s high-growth markets,” BTI Partners CEO Noah Breakstone said in a 2022 news release announcing the land acquisition.
When it was announced in December 2022, plans included approximately 5,600 additional single- and multifamily homes, 840,000 square feet of commercial/retail space, 700,000 square feet of office space, 400 hotel rooms, 2 million square feet of light industrial space and an 18-hole golf course.
According to the deed, the property was purchased Dec. 16 by Governors Park Property Holdings LLC through Westport Capital Partners of Stamford, Connecticut, for $85 million. Westport Capital Partners and BTI Partners have worked together on numerous projects in Florida, according to news reports.
Governors Park is a Development of Regional Impact.
A 2019 Governors Park Planned Unit Development document described it as a mixed-use, master-planned community on 3,112 acres around the future interchange of the First Coast Expressway and the Green Cove Springs Bypass.
According to its website, BTI Partners also is developing the more than 1,300-acre Greenbriar property in St. Johns County. It is also developing the Westshore Marina District in Tampa and the Crossprairie, Lake Wales and Edgewater West communities in Orlando.