Lisa Barton

One of the key factors many home buyers consider when relocating to a new area is the availability of quality health care services. Here in Jacksonville and Ponte Vedra Beach, we're lucky to have excellent health care options. The Mayo Clinic has a large, recently expanded campus close to both downtown Jacksonville and the Jacksonville Beaches. The University of Florida's Medical School, Shands Teaching Hospital, also has a large, tertiary care hospital in downtown Jacksonville. And last week, U.S. News & World Report included Jacksonville's Wolfson Children's Hospital among the to 50 childrens hospitals in the United States. Wolfsons Hospital and Nemours Clinic are part of the Baptist Health Care System. Hopefully, your children will never need to visit the hospital, but if they do, it's nice to know they can receive excellent care so close to home.

To view the rankings by specialty, go to http://www.usnew.com/childrenshospitals

Riverwood, Del Webb's active adult community in Nocatee, is growing quickly! Their brand new clubhouse will be opening soon. If you'd like a "sneak peek" of Riverwood's Anastasia Clubhouse, stop by on June 23rd at 10:00am. Enjoy mimosas and pastries while you tour the 38,000+ sq. ft. Riverwood's brand new clubhouse, nine new model homes, and see all that the Del Webb life has to offer.

Hugh Green, the CEO of Baptist Health and also the Chairman of Jacksonville's Chamber of Commerce, was the guest speaker at Prudential Network Realty's first quarter sales meeting. Mr. Green believes that Jacksonville is at a critical juncture in its development. He shared his vision for Jacksonville's future and also highlighted critical areas of growth that will be important to keeping Jacksonville competitive in the future.

Those of us who live in Jacksonville and its Jacksonville Beaches areas already know this is a great place to live. U.S. News & World Report recently published an article confirming that Jacksonville is a great place to retire too. America’s Best Affordable Places to Retire cites the fact that Jacksonville is more down to earth and real estate is more reasonably priced than in South Florida and that you’re only about 20 minutes from the beach no matter where you live. Retirement doesn’t get any better than that!

Recently I attended an informational meeting for St. Johns County real estate agents. The featured speaker was Ed Wuellner, the Executive Director of the St. Augustine-St. Johns County Airport Authority. I learned that the airport was established in 1963. There have been many changes in the last 46 years and in 2008 the airport had a budget of over $11 million. Mr. Wuellner explained that capital projects make up 80% of the airport’s budget and his goal is to have the airport be self-sustaining (and off the county tax rolls) by September of 2010.