PLANTATION BAY
Contrary to conventional thought, you can please everyone. Or, at the very least, you can make a considerable commitment toward universal satisfaction.
Consider Plantation Bay, a thriving 3,650-acre community about an hour north of Orlando and just ten minutes from the Atlantic beaches. This is one of Florida’s most successful private communities, and for good reason. If there is such a thing as “quintessential” Florida living, Plantation Bay is its headquarters.
The community’s park-like setting lends itself to all things outdoors, but the natural beauty is rivaled only by the warmth and camaraderie of the people. Here’s a concept: the residents of Plantation Bay actually socialize with their neighbors, gathering for cocktails or card games at one of the two clubhouses, or working out together at the new fitness center. Members navigate their own private golf carts around three distinctly different 18-hole courses, or enjoy a little friendly competition at the tennis center. At times, an entire group of these jovial souls will venture down roads flanked by palms and old oaks to the historic town of Ormond Beach, where John D. Rockefeller and family wintered for nearly twenty years.
Plantation Bay offers a special three day/two night package that includes accommodations, golf, tennis and meals for $399 per couple. Not surprising, most folks who visit usually want to stay for good. ICI Homes is eager to please with myriad housing choices at Plantation Bay that include club home villas with courtyards, town homes, single-family homes and estates. In other words, something for everyone.
where Ormond Beach on Florida’s East Central Coast, between St. Augustine and Daytona Beach.
amenities Three private country clubs with 54 holes of golf; two full-service clubhouses with restaurants and lounges; new spa and fitness center; tennis, swimming; bike paths and walking trails.
real estate Homes and townhomes from the $300s .
contact 877-604-1280; plantationbaygolf.com
AMELIA ISLAND PLANTATION
There is a legacy of master-planned development along the East Coast, conceived in the mid-1950s by Charles Fraser at Hilton Head Island’s Sea Pines Plantation, in which development was done in concert with, and not intrusive upon, its natural surroundings. It was a revolutionary concept, and one which literally set a standard for master-planned communities around the world.
Fraser’s thumbprint was ultimately cast on Amelia Island Plantation and, more than 35 years after its creation, the north Florida development remains a model of the harmonious marriage between man and nature.
Maintaining a delicate balance between its residential and resort communities, Amelia Island remains as alluring as ever. Acres of pristine wetlands, miles of Atlantic shoreline and canopies of century-old oaks serve as a backdrop for some of the finest amenities anywhere—72 holes of golf, including oceanfront holes designed by Pete Dye and Tom Fazio; a full-service spa; the prestigious Amelia Island Club; and the new Amelia Island Plantation Golf School.
Amelia’s residential mix is equally enticing; an array of homesites and villas to multi-million dollar homes, in neighborhoods where old friends congregate and new generations are welcomed as stewards of a truly extraordinary lifestyle.
where Amelia Island, approximately 30 miles north of Jacksonville
amenities 72 holes of golf designed by Pete Dye, Bobby Weed, Tom Fazio and Tom Jackson; Amelia Island Plantation Golf School; Racquet Park with 23 Har-Tru tennis courts; full-service spa; nature and recreation programs; shopping and dining; and the private Amelia Island Club, with all resort amenities, oceanfront clubhouse, swimming and dining.
accommodations Amelia Inn & Beach Club with 249 rooms; one- to three-bedroom villas.
real estate Homesites, homes and villas in a variety of settings beginning in the $300s.
contact 866-218-5259; aipfl.com
