Living in St. Augustine Shores: the 1970 plan, fifty-five years on.
St. Augustine Shores is where the county’s planned-community era actually began: the Mackle family’s Deltona Corporation opened 2,000 acres on the west bank of the Matanzas on Christmas weekend 1970, decades before Nocatee or Palencia. It is now one of the county’s largest neighborhoods, with the Riverview Club and fishing pier on the Intracoastal, a golf course at its center, condo villages, and homes from the original concrete-block models to 2020s infill, at a price a tier under the master plans up the county. This guide runs on the live feed that powers every listing on this site.
By Krista Fracke — Broker Associate, Christie's International Real Estate First Coast · 20+ years in Northeast Florida · 500+ closings · client reviews
The market right now: 70 homes are currently for sale in St. Augustine Shores, with a median asking price of $337,000. See every St. Augustine Shores listing →
Live from the MLS · refreshed daily
What the Shores is, in the numbers
On the feed today the Shores and its villages show about 61 homes for sale at a $339,000 median, from the condo sections (Conquistador, The Greens) in the $200,000s through the single-family streets to the waterfront lots; 14 of the current listings are waterfront. The two-year sold record is 60 closings at a $320,000 median, the county’s value tier south of the city. Build years run from the 1950s and the 1970 models (nine of them opened at Shores Boulevard and Palermo Road, priced then from $13,950 to $22,350 per the Historical Society’s record) to infill finished in 2026.
The plan is a grid of wide streets off Shores Boulevard between US-1 and the river, with the golf course in the middle, several parks with bike paths, and the Riverview Club at 790 Christina Drive on the Matanzas, which has hosted residents and events since 1981. Shopping and services sit on US-1 at the gate; downtown St. Augustine is about fifteen minutes north; the SR-312 bridge puts St. Augustine Beach across the river. Every Shores listing, live →
See all photosThe Service Corporation: what the HOA carries, and what it does not publish
The Shores is governed by the St. Augustine Shores Service Corporation, the homeowners’ association, with its office inside the Riverview Club. It maintains the club and its pool, the fishing pier, the parks and the common areas, and residents pay an assessment to it through a management company and an online portal. The association does not publish its dues online. Current listings report a median association fee of about $205 a month across the sections, lower on the single-family streets and higher in the condo and villa sections where the association carries the buildings. There is no Community Development District: the Shores predates the CDD era entirely.
That is the trade against the master plans. A Nocatee or Shearwater buyer pays a district assessment for amenities that opened finished; a Shores buyer pays an association for a club, a pier and parks built over fifty years and a golf course that is a separate business. The monthly answer is the HOA line plus the tax bill, with no district, and I confirm the current assessment and what it covers for any home a client considers. St. Johns County CDD fees, the map →
See all photosWho it fits, and who should look elsewhere
The Shores fits buyers who want a St. Johns County address and the water at a price the master plans cannot touch; buyers who want a concrete-block house with a yard and no district line; buyers choosing a condo or villa section near the river; and anyone who wants downtown St. Augustine and the beach each fifteen minutes away. The original Mackle homes have stood through fifty years of storms, which is the quiet reason they still sell.
It fits less well if you want new construction behind one gate (the Shores is open and the infill is scattered), if you want a resort amenity campus (the club and the pier are the amenities), or if the Jacksonville commute matters daily (an hour and more at peak). On a 1970s house the roof, the electrical panel, the supply plumbing, the windows and the HVAC decide the insurance quote and belong in every offer; on a river or lake lot the elevation certificate comes first. The flood page shows the live zone mix: 56 of 61 current listings map to Zone X, and the exceptions are the frontage. St. Augustine flood zones, neighborhood by neighborhood →
The honest cons
Every place worth living in has them. These are the ones I make sure my own buyers weigh before they commit — not after.
1970s systems on the original homes
Block construction lasts; roofs, panels, plumbing, windows and HVAC do not. Price the update into the offer, and get the insurance quote before you fall in love.
An open plan, not a gated one
The Shores is a grid with public streets and scattered infill. Buyers who want a gate and a uniform streetscape are happier in the newer plans up the county.
The frontage floods on paper
The Matanzas and lake lots carry high-risk zones and early evacuation letters. Most of the Shores does not; know which street you are on.
The part nobody tells you
The Shores is priced as the county’s value tier because it is old and open, and both of those are also why it holds: the lots are bigger than a 2020s plan sells, the block houses have a fifty-year storm record, and there is no district line on the tax bill. A buyer who runs the Shores against a master plan on total monthly cost, HOA plus tax with no CDD against HOA plus tax plus district, usually finds the gap wider than the asking prices say. The buyers who do best here buy the lot and the location, price the systems honestly, and let the association’s club and pier be what they are.
This is the work I do every week. Considering the Shores? Send me the addresses. I will confirm the association’s current assessment and what it covers, pull the parcel’s tax bill and flood zone, and put the systems-age list next to the price so the monthly number is real.
Work with Krista (904) 333-8595 Text
Broker Associate · Christie's International Real Estate First Coast · 20+ years · 500+ closings
Common questions
Is St. Augustine Shores a good place to live?
For a buyer who wants a St. Johns County address near the water and downtown at the county’s value-tier price, with an association rather than a district and a yard rather than a gate, yes; the sold record (60 closings in two years at a $320,000 median) says buyers agree. For a buyer who wants new construction behind a gate or a daily Jacksonville commute, the newer plans up the county fit better.
What are the HOA fees in St. Augustine Shores?
Assessments are paid to the St. Augustine Shores Service Corporation, which maintains the Riverview Club and pool, the fishing pier, the parks and common areas, and which does not publish its dues online. Current listings report a median around $205 a month, lower on the single-family streets and higher in the condo and villa sections. There is no CDD. I confirm the current assessment for any home.
Does St. Augustine Shores flood?
Most of it maps to minimal-hazard Zone X: 56 of the 61 homes for sale today. The Matanzas frontage and the lake lots carry high-risk zones and earlier evacuation letters. Every listing on this site shows its own zone, and the St. Augustine flood page shows the live mix by neighborhood.
St. Augustine Shores or St. Augustine Beach?
The Shores is the west bank of the Matanzas at a $339,000 median with an association and no district; St. Augustine Beach is the island side at a $550,000 median with the ocean, a larger share of high-risk flood zones and the beach-town rental economy. Fifteen minutes apart across the SR-312 bridge, a tier apart in price, and a different flood and insurance conversation.
When was St. Augustine Shores built?
It opened for sales on Christmas weekend 1970 as a 2,000-acre Deltona Corporation community by the Mackle family, with nine model homes at Shores Boulevard and Palermo Road. The Riverview Club has operated since 1981, and the golf course, parks and bike paths completed the plan; infill construction continues on the remaining lots through 2026.
St. Augustine Shores homes for sale →
Every listing, live from the MLS.
Southern St. Johns County →
The hub: the Shores, St. Augustine South, the SR-207 corridor.
St. Augustine flood zones →
The live FEMA and evacuation mix by neighborhood.
Villages of Valencia →
The 2016 village inside the Shores.
St. Augustine Beach →
The island side, across the SR-312 bridge.
Moving to St. Augustine →
The three towns, honestly.
Want the Shores priced the honest way for a specific home?
The assessment, the tax bill, the flood zone and the systems-age list, in one monthly number.
The Southern St. Johns County hub
South of the city: St. Augustine Shores, St. Augustine South, the Old Moultrie fabric, and the SR-207 corridor to Elkton and Hastings, where the county’s value market and its land market meet.
Neighborhoods
SR-207 and the land
What your budget buys