Third Margaritaville Active Adult Community Planned in Florida

Another retirement community inspired by the musical stylings of Jimmy Buffett is on the way.

Margaritaville Holdings, Minto Communities USA and St. Joe (NYSE: JOE) have teamed up to pursue the development of a new Latitude Margaritaville active adult community in Bay County, Florida. The first two such communities are coming together in Daytona Beach, Florida, and Hilton Head, South Carolina.

The newest Margaritaville community would initially have 3,000 homes, but the surrounding St. Joe’s Bay-Walton Sector Plan is entitled for up to 170,000. The sheer size of this piece of real estate near the water was a major reason this opportunity was an attractive one, according to William Bullock, Minto’s Latitude Margaritaville division president.

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“Based on the success we’re seeing at Daytona and Hilton Head, we’re very confident that [Latitude Margaritaville Watersound] has the ability to expand to countless numbers,” Bullock told Senior Housing News.

Residents who move into the planned Latitude Margaritaville Watersound in Bay County would have access to amenities such as a resort-style pool, fitness activities, game and hobby rooms, arts and learning programs, live entertainment and Margaritaville-themed food and beverage concepts. Other perks for residents would lie in the surrounding coastline.

“Those beaches are some of the best beaches in all of the U.S.,” Bullock said. “It just has a lot going for it, from a locational perspective.”

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While there are no immediate plans to involve a senior living provider at Latitude Margaritaville Watersound, those services would be a natural addition as the project matures, he added.

Home prices would lie north of $230,000, with a monthly HOA payment for residents of about $250. Minto did not disclose the expected overall cost of building and developing the community.

Much like Jimmy Buffet himself, the Latitude Margaritaville communities are a hit with older adults. Already, the brand’s’ “food, fun, and music” concept has garnered interest from tens of thousands of retirees, Forbes reported last year. Currently, Minto has a list of more than 130,000 people interested in the communities.

“Other communities, they may have one or two of those [food, fun, and music] elements, but to genuinely bring in all three and put it under an umbrella… is very unique,” Bullock told Senior Housing News. “As evidenced by our sales and interest to date, it’s resonating with the buyer.”

With all that interest, it’s natural to assume there are more Latitude Margaritaville communities on the way—though Bullock stayed mum on exactly which markets Minto has its eye on next.

“I can tell you, most likely, it will be outside the Southeast United States,” he said. “There’s some very cool locations, which when we announce, will easily resonate with why we chose those locations.”

Written by Tim Regan

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