Inventory in Alachua Country is down again in April, which is driving sales prices up. However, even with the average sales price higher than a year prior, home sales still picked up momentum last month with a 17 percent increase over last year’s numbers. The median sale price also jumped 13 percent from $181,000 to $205,000.
The super popular Jacksonville pizza joint, V Pizza, will be opening its first location outside of Jacksonville. Two years after opening in Jax, V pizza has plans to open in Gainesville by July 1.
Gainesville’s V Pizza will be located at 115 Southeast 1st Street, across the street from Harry’s Seafood, Bar and Grille, and very closely located to the Hyppo and Mojo’s Hogtown Bar-B-Que.
Butler Plaza seems to be an ever-expanding property with no limits to the number of retailers and restaurants it will hold. With constant construction, additions and new tenants, there is always something fresh.
Butler Plaza North, the massive expansion that has been in the works since October of 2014, is expected to be completed by the end of this year. With over 750,000 square feet of retail space and parking, you are sure to find everything you need here, especially with the highly anticipated openings of some major big box stores this summer, including Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club and Dick’s Sporting Goods. The new Wal-Mart will be larger than the current Gainesville store with much more of a selection and greater inventory.
Get ready! Savvy & Company has just added some exciting new technology to their website to make your home and property search even better. Savvy has partnered with HowLoud Inc., a company based out of California that uses their patent-pending SoundscoreTM technology to give a noise rating to a given property.
The rental market in Gainesville is strong, and with an ever-increasing demand, rental prices are driving up. March was a strong month not only in Gainesville, but across the U.S. However, while rental prices are still showing increases, the steep jumps they made over the past two years seem to be leveling out.
There’s plenty to do around town in the coming weeks, and we have got you covered. Gainesville is chock-full of culture, and there is no shortage of ways to experience it.
Gainesville’s Spring Gleaning Festival and Flea Market, hosted by the Repurpose Project, will be taking place next Saturday, April 23, from noon tip 4 p.m on The Repurpose Project’s grounds at 1920 NE 23rd Avenue. So while this weekend is coming to a close, it is never too early to start planning for next weekend.
The Builders Association of North Central Florida is hosting the Spring Parade of Homes, where they will be previewing two new subdivisions and 25 new homes in 13 communities throughout Alachua County. The event will take place this Saturday and Sunday, April 9 and 10, as well as Saturday, April 16 and Sunday, April 17, from noon to 6 p.m.
Let’s check in with Eloise Gardens, where the market stats here are fairly indicative of Alachua County as a whole, where home sales have been steady and sales prices are on the rise.
Eloise Gardens is a wonderful community located near the southern end of Haile Plantation at SW 91st Street and SW 65th Lane. The neighborhood offers walking and biking trails that conveniently join with all of the Haile Plantation trails. This charming community also has a playground and is great for families, with new-construction homes built between 2005 and 2010 and averaging 2,100 square feet.
The inventory in Alachua County is dropping as home sales picked up in February, which is driving home prices up. Buyers closed on 157 existing single-family homes last month, which is up 9.8 percent from the 143 closings in February of 2015. February is looking great, even compared with January, whose year-over-year increase was 5.5 percent.
The ever-popular restaurant, Yummy House, which is currently located at 7605 Newberry Road, will be moving to a new, much larger location at 3102 SW 34th Street, with the reopening scheduled for Tuesday, March 22. Yummy House started in Tampa where it has two locations, and then expanded to Sarasota, Orlando, Ocala and Gainesville. Business for this Asian food restaurant is booming, and a new space is crucial.
A few decades ago, Northwest 13th Street was considered Gainesville’s premier retail district. The city’s original mall was situated on 13th Street near Northwest 23rd Avenue. When Oaks Mall opened on Newberry Road, however, shoppers migrated to that side of town, as well as to the growing Archer Road area, which continues to develop and expand at an ever-increasing pace. There was a bit of a lull for retail on 13th Street, until recently.
When looking to purchase a new home, everyone always wants to make sure that they are making a good investment that will ultimately lead to an even better return. Home prices are currently on the rise nationwide, however, wages are not, which can make it tricky for home-buyers to have the funds necessary to make such a big purchase. While there are plenty of loan options available that require very low down-payments, affordability still presents as an issue, making the need for a home purchase to be a promising investment even more important. Furthermore, for investors looking to buy rental properties, these economic conditions point to a growing strength in the rental market.
Home sales in Alachua County are on the rise, but with a decrease in inventory over the past year, we maybe looking at a seller’s market.
While the total number of home closings in January 2016 were lower than any other month over the past year, the numbers were still better than in 2015, and January tends to be a slow month for real estate in general, so stats are looking promising. Last month marked the continuation of Alachua County’s six-year home sales recovery. January home sales saw a 7 percent year-over-year increase. Plus, in addition to the 7 percent increase in closed sales, there was also a 13 percent increase in new pending sales.
Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation opened its new facility last week in the first of four buildings that will comprise the new Foundation Park. AGTC offices were previously located in Progress Park, which is just across US 441 from its new home. The company has a ten-year lease on approximately half of the building space, which totals 40,000 square feet and houses 42 of its 50 employees. AGTC plans to hire ten more employees by June and another ten more within the next year.
Whole Foods is testing a new concept of store, called 356 by Whole Foods Market, which will be smaller than its typical stores which average 30,000 square feet. The new smaller concept will be closer to 15,000 square feet, and will be making a debut in Gainesville, one of the first of thirteen cities who will get one of these new stores.
Innovation Square, home to Gainesville’s growing number of tech companies, is only getting bigger with the arrival of Tera Insights, a company specializing in data processing and security. The company, which was previously located in the Sun Center in downtown Gainesville, is recollecting to the square with the goal of attracting new clients, creating more jobs, expanding its office square footage and being close to the University of Florida. Tera Insights is the brain child of UF professor Alin Dobra, whose company began as a research project.
Alachua is definitely a market to keep your eye on, as home sales continue to rise.
As far as home closings go, however, new rules have meant delayed closings. The typical 30-day closing can now take anywhere from 45-60 days, which is making it harder for homebuyers to make the sale of a home happen at the same time as the purchase of another home.
You can find quality, authentic eats everywhere in Gainesville, as the food scene has really picked up the pace. Whether you are checking out fine dining restaurants, specialty shops, craft beer bars, ethnic spots, or any number of other types of eateries and culinary destinations, there are great neighborhood spots to be found. With so much to choose from and an ever-evolving scene, it can be hard to narrow it down. However, if you want to eat like a local and really get a taste for Gainesville’s deliciousness, you can start with some of these:
Have you seen all that gorgeous art around town, adorning walls on the sides of buildings and bringing more beauty to urban Gainesville?
Well, you can thank Iryna Kanishcheva for creating 352walls, a project dedicated to expanding urban art in and around downtown Gainesville. Kanishcheva’s background was not in art. In fact, she studied business and pharmaceutical sciences in the Ukraine, however her travels through Europe cementer the foundation of her love for urban street art, particularly large-scale murals.
