LIVING IN JACKSONVILLE, FL -JACKONVILLE REAL ESTATE

Ponte Vedra Beach doesn't get much new construction. Most of the neighborhoods here were built decades ago, and homes rarely come up for sale. That's what makes Haven at Palm Valley worth a closer look. Toll Brothers is building just 20 gated homesites off Palm Valley, and Greg DeTullio recently walked through one of the standout floor plans, the Killian, to show buyers what downsizing without giving up luxury actually looks like in this market.

A quick note before we dive in: a few names got garbled in the auto-captions of the original video (that happens with home tours filmed on location). We've corrected the community and floor plan names below based on Toll Brothers' official listings, and flagged pricing and fees as approximate since builder pricing changes.

1. A Rare New Construction Opportunity in Ponte Vedra Beach

Haven at Palm Valley is a gated Toll Brothers community tucked into the Palm Valley area of Ponte Vedra, inside St. Johns County. It's a small release — just 20 homesites across five floor plans, ranging from roughly 3,257 to 4,073+ square feet. As of this writing, homes are priced from approximately $1,499,995 community-wide (verify current pricing and available homesites directly with the builder or with Greg, since new-construction pricing shifts often).

Greg pitches the floor plan he toured as the answer for a buyer who's ready to downsize but still wants real square footage — just under 3,500 square feet, four bedrooms, three and a half baths, and a lot small enough to keep maintenance light. It's a design that's already well established elsewhere in Florida, and Greg makes the point that Northeast Florida is only now catching up: the plan has finally arrived here, and it's one he's genuinely glad to see.

That floor plan is the Killian, and Greg positions it for a very specific kind of buyer: someone who's done with a big backyard to maintain, but who still wants to be inside the Ponte Vedra Beach bubble, with easy reach of the golf, the beach, and the private beach clubs that define the area.

If you're weighing a smaller-lot luxury plan like the Killian against a larger custom estate elsewhere in the area, it's worth seeing how the two compare side by side — see our Top 5 Nocatee Neighborhoods (If Money Were No Object) for a look at what larger-lot luxury looks like just up the road in Nocatee.

Greg also makes a point about how buying into a community like this differs from a custom build: there's no separate land purchase and no two-year stretch of carrying both a land loan and a construction loan. Buyers put down a deposit, choose their finishes, and move into a finished home in roughly eleven to twelve months — closer to buying an existing house than building one from scratch.

2. Touring the Killian Floor Plan

The Killian comes in at roughly 3,431+ square feet, with four bedrooms, three full baths, a half bath, and a three-car garage. Walking through the two-story foyer into the great room, Greg says the tall ceilings make an immediate impression — this is a home that announces itself right from the entry.

Just inside the front door, to the left, there's a private office enclave. As you continue in, you'll find:

• A half bath for guests

• A guest suite tucked into the front corner of the home, with its own en-suite bathroom — a layout Greg calls out as especially convenient for hosting family, since guests get their own space and their own bathroom without crossing paths with the rest of the house

• Upgraded finishes throughout, including smooth walls, taller doors, and larger baseboards

3. The Kitchen and Great Room

The kitchen opens straight into the great room, with double-stack cabinets, an oversized island, and a walk-in pantry. Greg is quick to point out that the scale of the great room doesn't come at the kitchen's expense — the island seats four, there's lighting and speakers built in above the cabinetry, and buyers can upgrade to monogram appliances if they want to.

One small detail Greg liked in particular: a built-in warming feature next to the stove's six burners, paired with a farmhouse sink — the kind of practical touch that matters most to whoever ends up doing the cooking.

The dining area sits just off the kitchen with plenty of natural light facing the backyard, which — as Greg notes — is a preserve lot on this particular homesite.

Finishes like the double-stack cabinets and monogram appliance package are chosen at the Toll Brothers Design Studio, where a design consultant walks buyers through kitchen and bath selections before the home is built.

4. The Primary Suite and First-Floor Layout

The primary suite is downstairs, with an oversized bathroom, two separate vanities, a standalone soaking tub option, and a large walk-in shower — all finished with quartz countertops. Greg specifically calls out the dual vanities and the size of the shower as standouts in a plan this size.

The closet also carries built-ins, and the water closet wraps around the corner of the primary bath — a layout detail Greg called out specifically during the tour. Buyers who want to swap the standalone tub, vanities, or countertop finishes can do so through the Toll Brothers Design Studio personalization process.

5. Upstairs: The Loft and Two Additional Bedrooms

Upstairs opens to a loft area overlooking the great room below — a retreat space Greg describes as a little getaway from the rest of the house, separate from the two additional bedrooms that sit on either side of it.

Greg also pointed out a few build-quality details that go beyond the standard Toll Brothers offering:

• Metal roof accents — not common on standard Toll Brothers builds

• 2x6 exterior wall construction for greater insulation

• A three-car garage, even in this smaller-footprint luxury plan, in a gated community of only 20 homesites that isn't set up for golf carts

That upgraded wall construction and insulation is part of Toll Brothers' broader Toll Green approach to energy-efficient building, which the company applies across its communities.

6. Location, HOA Fees, and Flood Zone: What to Verify

Haven at Palm Valley sits in the 32082 zip code, inside the St. Johns County School District — one of the highest-rated districts in Florida. It's also close to some of the area's best-known amenities:

• TPC Sawgrass, home of THE PLAYERS Championship

• Ponte Vedra Inn & Club and The Lodge & Club, both private beach and golf clubs

• Sawgrass Village, a local shopping and dining center with Publix, boutiques, and restaurants

• Mickler's Landing Beachfront Park, the closest public beach access point, maintained by St. Johns County

On HOA fees, Greg puts the number at just under $400 a year, covering the gated entry and the neighborhood's sidewalks.

Treat that figure as approximate — HOA dues can change between phases of a build-out, so confirm the current amount and what it covers directly with the HOA documents or with Greg before writing an offer.

On flood risk, Greg's read on this particular part of Ponte Vedra Beach is that it isn't an area where buyers need to worry much about flood exposure, though he still recommends carrying flood insurance regardless, noting that both homeowners and flood coverage tend to run cheaper here than buyers might expect this close to the beach.

That's Greg's read from the ground, but flood zone designations are parcel-specific and can vary lot by lot, even within the same community. Before you rely on any flood characterization, pull the FEMA flood map for the exact address and confirm it with your insurance agent.

7. Outdoor Living: Lot Sizes and What to Budget

Because Haven at Palm Valley homesites are smaller by design, outdoor living space is limited compared to a typical half-acre lot. Greg's advice: don't over-build the backyard through the builder before you've lived in the house. His reasoning is straightforward — financing outdoor living through the builder means paying a premium on it, where paying cash for it yourself after closing typically costs less. He suggests moving in first and living with the space for a while before deciding what outdoor features actually matter to you.

He also flagged a very Florida-specific consideration: checking how buggy the backyard gets in the early evening during peak summer months before deciding whether to screen in the lanai. Done well, he notes, that kind of extended outdoor living space can make a home under 3,500 square feet live more like 4,400 to 4,500 square feet.

The covered lanai is a standard feature on the Killian floor plan, so screening it in is an add-on rather than new construction from scratch.

Nearby Local Favorites

Part of the appeal of Haven at Palm Valley is what's already around it. A few local spots worth knowing about, all within a short drive of the community:

• Aqua Grill — a longtime Ponte Vedra Beach favorite for seafood, right on the lake in Sawgrass Village

• Foxtail Coffee Co. — Sawgrass Village — a local coffee and ice cream stop a short drive from the community

• Sawgrass Village — the closest everyday shopping center, anchored by Publix, with boutiques and additional dining

• Mickler's Landing Beachfront Park — the nearest public beach access, with parking, restrooms, and a dune walkover

8. The Juliette: A Quick Move-In Option

Toward the end of the tour, Greg highlighted a quick move-in home on one of the community's larger, pond-view lots. The auto-captions rendered the plan name inconsistently ("Juliet" and "the Julington") — Toll Brothers' official plan name for this floor plan at Haven at Palm Valley is the Juliette, which runs 4,073+ square feet.

Greg priced this particular quick move-in home at just under $2.1 million — a home that's already built and ready for a buyer to put down a deposit and move in. What sets its lot apart, in his view, is the backyard: mature Spanish moss trees, a pond along one side, and enough room to add a full-size pool, which isn't possible on most of the community's homesites.

Treat that $2.1 million figure as approximate and specific to the lot and finishes shown in the video — quick move-in pricing and availability change fast in a 20-home community. Ask Greg for current status before assuming that home, or one like it, is still available.

9. Why Independent Buyer Representation Matters in New Construction

This is the point Greg comes back to in nearly every new-construction tour, and it's worth repeating here: the builder's on-site representative works for the builder, not for you. Because builders pay the buyer's agent commission, having Greg represent you costs nothing extra, and it means you have someone whose priority is your interests rather than the builder's sales numbers.

As part of his services, Greg includes:

• A design-center consultant with prior builder-side experience to help you select finishes that hold their value at resale

• A third-party pre-drywall inspection

• A third-party final inspection before closing

That's separate from — and in addition to — the builder's own Toll Brothers Design Studio consultant, whose role is to help you select finishes, not to represent your interests in the transaction.

Greg's reasoning for including third-party inspections at no extra cost is about creating a paper trail: anything flagged during an inspection that the builder agrees to fix can resurface later during the warranty period, and having independent, documented evidence that the issue was identified — and supposed to be addressed — gives buyers real leverage if it needs to be revisited.

This isn't unique to Haven at Palm Valley — it's the same message Greg shares about every new-construction community in St. Johns County. See Discover Shearwater: Resort-Style Living in St. Johns County for another example of why independent representation matters, regardless of which builder or community you're considering.

Frequetly Asked Questions (FAQs)

Ready to Talk Through Your Move to Nocatee?

Whether you're weighing a resale home, a custom lot in River Landing, or one of the last new-construction opportunities in Nocatee, I'd rather you go in with clear eyes than a brochure's version of the story. As your independent buyer's representative, I don't work for the builder or the seller, I work for you, and that costs you nothing out of pocket.

LET'S TALK ABOUT YOUR NEXT MOVE

Call/Text: (904) 599-2125

Email: greg@livinginjacksonvillefl.com

Website: https://www.livinginjacksonvillefl.com/

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About the Author

Greg DeTullio is the Broker/Owner of the Living in Jacksonville FL Team, a Northeast Florida brokerage specializing in relocation and new construction across Nocatee, St. Johns County, St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra, and Nocatee's surrounding master-planned communities. Greg hosts the weekly YouTube show Thursday Night Live, where he covers what buyers actually need to know before they move to Jacksonville.

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• gated community Ponte Vedra (1)
• Killian floor plan (1)
• TPC Sawgrass real estate (1)
• Haven at Palm Valley (1)
• Palm Valley FL homes (1)
• St. Johns County new homes (1)
• new construction buyer representation (1)
• Ponte Vedra Beach new construction (1)
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