Garden Street Communities, a subsidiary of Adams Homes, has filed a request to develop 1,500 homes on 503 acres of land purchased in 2024 from Jubilee Development Group
• Ron Reeser, the face of the Jubilee brand, said the decision to sell off a large chunk of land on the east side of the 2,800-acre his company owns in Pace made sense
• Garden Street Communities said the proposed development will help to provide housing for the county’s expected long-term growth
Garden Street Communities, a subsidiary of Adams Homes, has filed a request to develop 1,500 homes on 503 acres of land purchased in 2024 from Jubilee Development Group, an entity that for 18 years has been working to create its own unique, and massive, mixed-use housing village in the heart of Santa Rosa County.
Represented by Michael Broker, Garden Street Communities is scheduled to appear before the Santa Rosa County Zoning Board in March to rezone two parcels totaling just over 500 acres to accommodate its Parkland Place North development.
The homebuilder wants to rezone 493 acres for a single family housing development, but will also request that 10 acres be set aside for commercial use. Plans call for an 80,000-square-foot building to be constructed on the commercial site.
Ron Reeser, the managing partner of the Eagle Group and the face of the Jubilee brand, said the decision to sell off a large chunk of land on the east side of the 2,800-acre property his company owns in Pace made sense in that the property “matched up with a community Adams is building.”
Property Appraiser records indicate Garden Street Communities purchased 113 acres of land from Jubilee Development Group LLC in July of 2024 for $1.8 million. It brought another 390 acres of land from the same seller later that year in December for $6.5 million.
Both parcels will be utilized for the planned development, according to an application turned in to the Planning and Zoning Department.
Reeser said there are no plans at this time to sell off more of the Jubilee property, which is being held at present in a land bank. County Planning and Zoning Director Shawn Ward said that land banks acquire and hold land for future development or sale rather than immediate use.
“We’ll have the opportunity to develop it in the future,” Reeser said of his remaining acreage.
The land Garden Street Communities seeks to develop lies north of Berryhill Road and south of Willard Norris Road. It is zoned agricultural rural residential, a classification that limits development to one home per acre. Under the single family residential designation, developers can build up to four dwelling units per acre.
The 1,500 home subdivision, if approved, will be developed over a 15-year period, according to the Garden Street Communities application, which includes an estimate that between 2020 and 2040, Santa Rosa County’s population is projected to grow by just over 68,000 people.
“The proposed development will help to provide much needed housing for the county’s expected long-term growth,” the plan states.
The proposed land use and zoning changes are compatible with surrounding development, according to the rezoning application. Single family residential development has occurred to the south of the site. The commercial development planned to go alongside the residential will provide “neighborhood-serving uses,” the plan said.
Planners estimate the development will add 15,773 daily vehicle trips to local roads.
While Adams Homes has had some success getting past development proposals through Santa Rosa County planners, Reeser’s efforts to win favor for his Jubilee development have mostly met with frustration.
Jubilee’s plans call for the creation of a community along the lines of Seaside, a unique Walton County community where residential, commercial and retail spaces are interspersed around a walkable village and green space is given priority status.
The sheer scope of the Jubilee project is imposing. Plans have called for a mixed use housing village supported by neighborhoods with a range of housing options, including single family detached homes, cottages, townhouses and various types of multi-family structures including mansion flats and apartments.
It has been estimated that when built out, a Jubilee development would add between 7,500 and 8,000 new homes and 32,000 new residents to Pace. Efforts to push development through have been opposed at every turn by Santa Rosa County citizens.
In May of 2024, Jubilee Development Group got its first win in Santa Rosa County when it was awarded a unique Town Center zoning for 34 acres previously zoned for agriculture. Developers announced plans to create a community featuring 60 townhomes, a grocery store, shops and restaurants.
It is not clear whether the town center plans will come to fruition, however. When the county was looking for land along Berryhill Road on which to build a stormwater retention pond, Jubilee Development Group offered to sell it 20 of the 34 acres set aside for town center construction for $5 million.…Read more by Tom McLaughlin