Contrada Hills
Jubilee is a planned community slated for development on a 2,718-acre parcel in north Santa Rosa County near Pace, between Berryhill Road, Willard Norris Road and Chumuckla Highway. It was announced on March 20, 2007 at a grandiose event and has employed a high-profile advertising campaign (see below). The massive residential project by Atlanta-based the Eagle Group is planned to include 588 single-family houses in the first phase alone, priced between $275,000 to $1.5 million,[1] as well as a private golf club designed by PGA champion and Pensacola resident Jerry Pate.
Contents
Details
House designs
Jubilee plans to offer five standard house designs:
- Classical and Colonial Revival
- Lowcountry and Acadian
- Florida Vernacular
- Mediterranean Revival
- Craftsman
Golf club
The slated Jubilee golf club is a private 18-hole, 7,400-yard course designed by local PGA champion Jerry Pate. A full-featured clubhouse is also planned.
Marketing
Starting around January 2007, media companies Lamar Advertising and Bill Salter Outdoor posted several billboards featuring silhouettes of a cartoon boy and girl chasing a rabbit. The billboards had no other words or identifying logos. Representatives of the companies confirmed that the boards were part of a "teaser campaign" of a client who wished to remain anonymous.[2]
On March 20, 2007, the developers held an extravagant "announcement party" at the Saenger Theater featuring a private concert by country star Travis Tritt.
Subsequent marketing materials have described the development as the quintessential laid-back Southern town with slogans like, "Part memory lane, part Wisteria lane."
Financial problems
In July 2007, the developers of Jubilee were hit by over $5.5 million in liens, which included:[3]
- $3.4 million from Wadsworth Golf Construction Co.
- $1.08 million from Hart Howerton Partners
- $388,000 from general contractor Wes Calhoun
- $279,000 from engineering firm Hatch Mott MacDonald
The project was put on hold in August to pursue new financing avenues. A spokesperson for the Eagle Group said the company had "decided to cease what they were doing and reassess the current marketplace."[1]
Later that month, the investors behind Jubilee, under the name 2718 Santa Rosa, took over the project from the Eagle Group and began to address the financial issues. According to 2718 Santa Rosa managing member Barney Ng, "The Eagle Group had a development and purchase option agreement with us. They could not fulfill their contractual obligations. We had to step in and take over the situation."[3]
References
External links
- www.jubileeflorida.com - Official website
- www.theeaglegroup.com - Eagle Group website
