{"id":1050766,"date":"2026-09-08T11:38:35","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T11:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1050766\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T11:38:35","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T11:38:35","slug":"wildlight-expansion-nassau-countys-master-planned-community-keeps-building-toward-its-vision-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1050766\/","title":{"rendered":"Wildlight Expansion: Nassau County\u2019s master-planned community keeps building toward its vision"},"content":{"rendered":"

YULEE, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 A Nassau County development is growing fast, and leaders say it\u2019s all by design.<\/p>\n

Wildlight, a master-planned community spanning 24,000 acres, is expanding across two districts and several residential neighborhoods \u2014 bringing new homes, businesses, and services to the area since 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best way to manage growth is to do it intentionally,\u201d said Wes Hinton, vice president of real estate at Wildlight.<\/p>\n

Built around community basics<\/p>\n

Hinton says the foundation of the community comes down to access \u2014 to groceries, health care, education, and nature.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe focus on the things that we know make community great,\u201d Hinton said.<\/p>\n

The mixed-use town district serves as the community\u2019s hub, offering a variety of housing products and builders alongside retail and services.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere we are here in the town district is really our mixed-use hub, right? There\u2019s a lot of residential, a wide variety of products, and builders,\u201d Hinton said.<\/p>\n

Residents say the nature-first approach stands out<\/p>\n

Sarah Ammar moved to Wildlight\u2019s Hawthorn Park community from Chicago about a year ago. She was looking for a fresh start and a place to raise her family.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my first home ownership experience. And so when we were looking, we wanted something that would get us out as a family. And we chose this because it was perfect,\u201d Ammar said.<\/p>\n

For her family, the trail system and walkability sealed the deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe bike, we walk. It\u2019s lovely. That was really the big factor,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Ammar says the development feels different from others she considered.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re doing development and community growth differently than I think any developer. They\u2019re really respecting, like, the beauty of the place here. And wherever you go, like if you\u2019re on your porch or you want to go for a walk, you do feel like you\u2019re in nature coexisting,\u201d Ammar said.<\/p>\n

YMCA reports membership surge<\/p>\n

That walkability connects residents directly to businesses and services \u2014 including the local YMCA, which has seen significant growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had over 700 family units come in as a membership here at this branch alone,\u201d said Eric Hernandez, the YMCA\u2019s operations director.<\/p>\n

Healthy Living Director Bailea Peak echoed that growth, crediting local partnerships for making expanded programming possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are very blessed to have the partnerships we have here between the Wildlight community, Rainier, definitely Parks and Rec. Without the partnerships that we have in the communication that we have with them, we wouldn\u2019t be able to expand and have these programs that we have now,\u201d Hernandez said.<\/p>\n

Next phase: jobs, green space, and the Garden District<\/p>\n

With thousands of acres still to develop, Wildlight leaders say the next phase shifts focus toward attracting employers and growing jobs alongside residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we started in this mixed-use commercial area to really help create an environment that attracts the jobs and new businesses. So as we grow, it\u2019s always the balance \u2014 that can offer both the commercial opportunities along with the residents,\u201d Hinton said.<\/p>\n

The next major development area is the Garden District, which will prioritize preserved green space alongside new commercial development, additional amenities, and more housing.<\/p>\n

Leaders say they\u2019re also planning ahead for infrastructure. Land has already been set aside for schools and parks, and a new traffic and roadway network has been designed to accommodate the population growth expected in the years ahead.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"YULEE, Fla. \u2013 A Nassau County development is growing fast, and leaders say it\u2019s all by design. Wildlight,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1050011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,3188,723,7310,7834,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,223900],"class_list":["post-1050766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-america","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-jacksonville","tag-nassau-county","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-yulee"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117235227442782464","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1050766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1050766"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1050766\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1050011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1050766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1050766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1050766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}