RiverTown is one of the top-selling master-planned communities in St. Johns County, and it's easy to see why. It sits right on the St. Johns River, it's zoned for some of the best schools in the county, and the amenities feel like a permanent vacation. But beautiful doesn't automatically mean it's the right fit for your life. Before you put down a deposit, here are five things about RiverTown worth thinking through — the same things I walk buyers through every week as an independent buyer's agent who doesn't work for any builder.
1. RiverTown Is a Long Drive From the Beach
RiverTown sits out west along the St. Johns River, which is part of what makes it so scenic. But if beach access is a big part of your lifestyle, this is the first thing to think about. Depending on traffic, it's roughly a 40-minute drive each way to get to St. Augustine or Ponte Vedra Beach.
That's fine if you only get to the beach occasionally. But if you're picturing weekly or monthly beach trips — or you're moving from a coastal area and beach access is part of your daily rhythm — a 40-minute drive each way can wear on you faster than you'd expect. As more of RiverTown gets built out, that drive time could shift slightly, but it's not going to shrink dramatically anytime soon.
2. Peak-Hour Traffic Is a Real Consideration
If you work from home, commuting isn't a factor and RiverTown's master-planned lifestyle can be a great fit. But if you're driving to work every day, it's worth understanding the road network first.
The two main routes in and out of RiverTown are the County Road 210 corridor off I-95, which becomes Greenbrier Road, and County Road 13, which runs north and south along the river. CR-210 has been widened to help with the bottlenecks that used to back up traffic coming from I-95, but Greenbrier Road and CR-13 are still mostly single-lane roads in each direction. As more homes and commercial space get built along the 210 corridor — and thousands of new homes are already planned there — expect more traffic signals and more cars at peak commute times.
The good news: St. Johns County and FDOT are actively working on this. The First Coast Expressway is under construction and is projected to open its final St. Johns County segment around 2030, per FDOT's project page, giving drivers a new route to I-10 without having to cut through Jacksonville or fight CR-210 traffic. The developer even funded additional road infrastructure upfront, anticipating this kind of growth.
3. CDD Fees Can Catch Buyers Off Guard
RiverTown's amenities are genuinely some of the best in the region — three separate amenity centers, resort-style pools, and miles of trails. But those amenities are paid for partly through a CDD (Community Development District) fee, which is billed alongside your property taxes and covers infrastructure like roads, sidewalks, and the golf cart path system.
CDD fees are based on the linear footage of your lot's frontage, so the exact amount depends on your lot size. In my experience working with RiverTown buyers, annual CDD assessments have commonly landed somewhere between roughly $3,500 and $5,000-plus per year, on top of St. Johns County property taxes, which are already higher than in some neighboring counties because they fund excellent schools and infrastructure.
This isn't a knock on RiverTown — CDD fees are standard across most master-planned communities in St. Johns County. But I've had buyers change their minds after running the numbers and realizing the amenities didn't add enough value for them personally to justify the added cost. Before you write an offer, pull the exact non-ad valorem assessment for that lot through the St. Johns County Property Appraiser's tax estimator or the St. Johns County Tax Collector's office, rather than relying on a builder's estimate.
4. Some Buyers Feel the Homes Look Similar
RiverTown's primary builder is Mattamy Homes, one of the largest homebuilders in North America. Mattamy varies floor plans across different phases and neighborhoods, but because so many homes share the same general elevations, siding, and paver driveways, some buyers describe the streetscape as feeling a little repetitive — track-built, in a word.
Mattamy isn't the only builder in RiverTown, though. Resale homes built by Mastercraft Builder Group show up on occasion, and Toll Brothers builds riverfront homes in the Shores at RiverTown — see the full list of current RiverTown builders. If a more distinct architectural look matters to you, it's worth touring a few different neighborhoods and builders inside RiverTown before choosing a lot — an independent buyer's agent can walk you through which sections offer more variety.
5. The Golf Cart Life Doesn't Reach Restaurants — Yet
RiverTown is planned for more than 4,000 homes and has an extensive golf cart path network. Kids can golf-cart to Hallowes Cove Academy, the new K-8 school built right inside the community and operated by the St. Johns County School District, and residents can reach all three amenity centers by cart.
What you can't currently do is golf-cart to a restaurant, coffee shop, or run errands, since RiverTown's commercial development hasn't caught up to its residential growth yet. If having golf-cart access to shops and dining is a priority, that's more characteristic of Nocatee, where the Town Center puts groceries, restaurants, and shops within cart range of most neighborhoods. I've put together a closer look at how Nocatee's neighborhoods compare, and how Shearwater stacks up against both RiverTown and Nocatee if you want to compare all three before deciding.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
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Ready to Talk Through Your Move to RiverTown?
Whether you're weighing a Mattamy resale, a new-construction lot in one of RiverTown's newer phases, or a riverfront home in the Shores at RiverTown by Toll Brothers, I'd rather you go in with clear eyes than a builder'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.
Posted by Greg DeTullio on
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