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SOURCE: Palm Coast Observer

 

Even before a global pandemic, there was an increasing need for health care workers.

A 2018 report from global health care staffing consultancy Mercer determined that the U.S. needs to hire 2.3 million new health care workers by 2025 to meet the demand of its aging population.

In Florida — which has the second-highest percentage of residents 65 and older, according to the Population Reference Bureau—the need is felt even stronger. A 2020 study from RegisteredNursing.org found that Florida will have the “highest disparity of nursing supply and demand” by 2030, lacking over 57,000 nurses.

Meeting the need for this shortage at a local level is exactly what Douglas Property & Development aims to do. By creating partnerships with institutions that can educate and prepare students for medical and technical jobs, Palm Coast can provide the healthcare services its older residents need and keep local graduates from leaving the county to find work.

Palm Coast City Council recently approved investing $2.5 million to add a regional campus of Jacksonville University to Town Center. The University of North Florida Mednexus is also building a satellite presence there to provide a pathway for students seeking jobs in healthcare and medicine.

“These strategic alliances create high-paying jobs that keep families here while meeting the service needs of the existing people,” said Jeff Douglas, president of Douglas Property Development, Inc. “That keeps

the community healthy, vibrant, and growing, and takes the pressure off increases in taxes.”

While the exact design of the UNF Mednexus campus is still in the works, one of the campus’ features will be a simulation lab provided by AdventHealth. The simulation lab will give students the opportunity to practice hands-on scenarios in crisis and high-risk settings. They’ll simulate code situations, respiratory and cardiac emergencies, psychiatric conditions, and other unfamiliar situations.

“Simulations are set up to mimic crisis and high-risk settings, in which students couldn’t normally take part in a clinical area,” said Dr. Cynthia Cummings, UNF School of Nursing Director. “This early preparation will make the nursing students more fully prepared for the critical environment in acute care that they will be entering and allow for a faster and more effective transition into the patient care setting.”

While UNF had originally hoped to start classes in early 2021, enrollment is currently planned for the fall of 2021 or spring of 2022.

JU’s Town Center campus will be the first regional expansion in the university’s 86-year history, and it will eventually become an education corridor offering mental health counseling, nursing, and pathology programs. The Palm Coast campus is currently pending approval from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. The first cohort of students is expected to start in the fall of 2021.

Douglas believes that by providing education for the future healthcare workforce in the area, Palm Coast can fill the gap of keeping young talent and meeting the increasing demand of high-quality healthcare. And by doing so, making Palm Coast a healthier community.

“Let’s capitalize on what we are and who we are,” Douglas said. “Obviously, our big age group is a high consumer of medical services. I’m a consumer of the health services here as well, and so is our family.

The nice thing about growth is that it’s bringing a higher class, better class, more efficient class of service. And we want first-class service for residents for all aspects of their livelihood.”

In addition to the healthcare training and educational institutions, DPD is revitalizing Palm Coast’s Town Center with more housing, food services, office space, and entertainment. 

SOURCE: Palm Coast Observer

In case you missed it, Tuesday, Dec. 15, was a historic day for the citizens of Palm Coast and Flagler County.

With no public opposition to the proposal from Jacksonville University to expand their reach by adding a Palm Coast campus in Town Center, the Palm Coast City Council approved investing a total of $2.5 million to make the vision a reality. Welcoming Jacksonville University to Palm Coast was yet another step in the right direction for our region. Here’s why:

1. Cementing MedNex’s future and supporting Town Center

Under Mayor Milissa Holland’s leadership, with the support of Sen. Travis Hutson and Rep. Paul Renner, Palm Coast has effectively created a higher education trifecta in Flagler County. Along with Daytona State College, we will soon enjoy the benefits of a physical presence by the University of North Florida and now Jacksonville University in Palm Coast. This is a game changer and will make a lasting difference in this community for years to come. Furthermore, JU is working with Douglas Property and Development to locate their facility in the heart of Town Center, achieving a long sought-after vision for the future of our region. The exciting part is this is just the beginning. 

2. Workforce development

Palm Coast/Flagler County residents now have a pathway to educate a young person from pre-K to masters-level health care professional without them having to leave Flagler County. This directly addresses the community’s concern about our young, talented future leaders leaving our community. We will also supply existing healthcare organizations with high-quality talent and attract new businesses and investors solely because the talent is already located here.  

3. Future growth of Flagler County

The University of Florida’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research predicts Flagler County will grow by 23,000 residents by the year 2030, and approximately 10,000 of those residents will be 65 and older (and those are conservative figures). The JU proposal gives us an answer to the question “will we have enough health care professionals to care for the future growth in our senior citizen population?” With this approval, the answer is “yes.”

4. Shortage of health care professionals

There is a huge demand for healthcare professionals, not only in our region, but statewide. That demand exists because we don’t have enough nurses and other qualified healthcare talent to keep up with population growth. Our community is now an answer to that problem. Because of the City Council’s support, we will put the state on notice that we are up to the task of solving problems of statewide significance, and we’re capable of even more.

In closing, Mayor Milissa Holland and City Council members Eddie Branquinho and Nick Klufas made the best decision for the future of our region by investing in the JU proposal. Please take a moment to thank them. We are now building strategic partnerships with multiple reputable higher education institutions with the goal of significantly improving our community for years to come.

Greg Blosé is president and CEO of the Palm Coast-Flagler Regional Chamber.

SOURCE: Palm Coast Observer

It’s no secret that Palm Coast is slowly, but surely, becoming a more popular place to live.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the population in Flagler County grew by 20.3% (or 115,000 people) between 2010 and 2019, and even during a global pandemic, 240,256 people still moved to Florida in 2020. If these trends tell us anything, it’s that Palm Coast will need to provide more housing — and fast — to keep up with incoming residents.

In addition to bringing more medical jobs and larger educational institutions to the city, Douglas Property & Development President Jeff Douglas knows that ample housing is another necessary piece of the economic puzzle.

“There’s simply no place to live,” he said. “If you get hired by ACI or Coastal Cloud or another group wants to relocate here, you’ve got to have immediate housing, and it just didn’t exist.”

Until now, that is.

In 2019, DPD facilitated the development of 321 apartments in two complexes located in Town Center: Central Landings and The Palms at Town Center. And more housing projects are in the works.

Paytas Homes will have 208 single-family homes under construction by the end of 2021 in a new neighborhood called The Gables at Town Center. According to their website, the specifics of these residences will be comparable to their other Palm Coast developments, ranging between 1,800 – 2,800 square feet with pricing starting in the high $200,000’s.

Toll Brothers is currently undergoing the permitting process for 160 single-family and paired villa homes. According to Douglas, the overall goal is to provide more housing options for current and future residents.

“If you want the village lifestyle, it’s going to be a little denser. If you want more space, you’ve got the C section. If you want to walk everywhere, Town Center is your place. You have choices.” 

SOURCE: Palm Coast Observer

There’s a lot of factors that go into building a healthy community. You need secure jobs, available housing, and a high standard of living. While good weather and the beach give Palm Coast an enviable quality of life, Douglas Property Development, Inc. President Jeff Douglas knew there was more to do.

When DPD took over the Allete portfolio in 2017, he and his team reenvisioned the 2,050-acre Town Center as a livable downtown area and an innovative hub for med-tech jobs.

“To have a healthy community, Douglas said. “You need a healthy service sector growing with tactic jobs. There’s an absence of strategic, leading-edge companies here, and I think we can all recognize that.”

From Douglas’ perspective, attracting medical companies and institutions serves two purposes simultaneously: it fills the gap and meets the need for high-quality medical services for current residents, and it keeps young talent from leaving the county to find work.

The first step in attracting these key players was creating more housing. Last year, Central Landings, a 233-unit complex, was constructed, and The Palms at Town Center, an 88-unit complex, also broke ground and was 100% leased up within three weeks of its certificate of occupancy. Both complexes are waiting-list only.

Another 184 single-family homes are being constructed in Town Center, as well as 350 additional apartment condominiums.

“Diversity of housing and diversity of job opportunities is what we’re bringing,” said Walker Douglas of DPD. “Prior to this project, Palm Coast was lacking in multi-family and townhome options. We brought in more housing options that attract people with different lifestyles.”

With more housing options in the works, Jeff Douglas said DPD is turning its attention to partnering with medical education powerhouses like Jacksonville University and UNF MedNexus. Both institutions are opening campuses in Town Center that will focus on healthcare training and education.

“We are now on the radar of these institutions, companies, and the spinoffs that come from bringing these institutions here,” Jeff Douglas said. “We have great partners here already, like Coastal Cloud, Flagler Health, and ACI. Let’s give them the education, tools, product, and people so they can continue to expand.”

“Our goal is to get those med-tech jobs into Town Center and Palm Coast Park.”

In order to get to attract more of those necessary partners, Jeff Douglas said Palm Coast requires leadership that share that vision of a healthy community, like Mayor Milissa Holland, Representative Paul Renner, and Senator Travis Hudson.

“We have Matt Morton as a city manager, and Jerry Cameron at the county level who have both come in and reenvisioned that the citizen and the taxpayer is a customer, not a burden. And the companies that have come [to Palm Coast], done business and left over the years, are now coming back.”

With more housing and jobs coming to Town Center, entertainment is the obvious next step. DPD is planning 35,000 square feet of cafe, restaurant, office, retail space, and a separate art district and a regional design district. While it’s a lot of work now, Douglas believes that with the help of local leadership and the community’s support, this new vision for Town Center will soon be a reality.

“You’re going to see more key announcements in Town Center in the next 12 months,” Jeff Douglas said. “And I like to think in 24 months, we’ll be the envy of Florida communities.”

SOURCE: FlaglerLive

The University of North Florida’s plan to build a satellite presence in Palm Coast’s Town Center as a feeder of health care practitioners to regional hospitals and clinics is a go as the $6 million dollar MedNex initiative survived Gov. Ron DeSantis’s veto pen today.

Securing what will be the first university hub in town is a major coup for Palm Coast government and it anchors the city’s plan to develop Town Center as an innovation district built around education, health care and the arts. The city pledged $1.5 million to the project. The coup is a particular victory for Mayor Milissa Holland, who championed the initiative and teamed up with UNF President David Szymanski, House Rep. Paul Renner, Sen. Travis Hutson and the school district’s Lynette Shott, among others, to land it in the city.

“It is funded. The governor did not veto it,” an almost breathless Holland said by phone in mid-afternoon. She was awaiting a call from Szymanski. “I spoke with our lobbyist, Matt Brockelman, he assured me that yes, it survived the governor’s veto pen, and yes it is funded for Phase one in Palm Coast.”

MedNex’s survival is especially remarkable amid $1 billion in DeSantis vetoes today as the governor signed the state’s $92.2 billion into law. A sizeable part of the vetoes affect lower income and poor people: the State Housing Initiative Partnership, which subsidizes lower-income people’s housing costs, lost $225 million.

“Who would guess that little Palm Coast & Flagler County could time travel to the future of medical & technical education,” Jeff Douglas, president of Douglas Properties & Development, one of the key partners in the MedNex initiative, said in an email this evening. “From retired citizens to our youth, this shining light will benefit the entire community and is already created sizable medical & employment interest. Major credit to the Mayor’s vision & tireless effort in the face of extreme adversity. Most, if not every other mayor I know would have walked away when faced with the enormous time and personal capital needed to make MedNex a reality.”

A few local projects did not fare well, among them Daytona State College’s Critical Nursing and Health Sciences program in Palm Coast, which lost $895,000 (an irony, considering the program’s tie-in with MedNex), $1.8 million for behavioral health services in Flagler, $900,000 for Flagler Beach’s sewer plant, and $200,000 for flood-management in western Flagler County.

For MedNex in Palm Coast, the first of three phases is a $6 million appropriation, with groundbreaking in the next few months on a property yet to be determined. The property is to be provided likely by Douglas Properties or Allete Energy in Town Center, Holland said. Meanwhile, UNF is looking at potentially starting classes as early as January in temporary locations, depending on how the coronavirus emergency limits possibilities. It could be online classes, small, in person classes or a hybrid.

“We never lost sight of the goal in two and a half years we’ve spent advancing this project through a very cumbersome process,” Holland said. “To have it funded today in the middle of a global pandemic that our state is continuing to battle is just a tremendously successful outcome. But it’s one I’m very proud to be part of, such a collaborative process, one that took a lot of very skilled, strategic partners that really cared at the end of the day for career paths for so many students in northeast Florida.”

Holland said earlier this month a conference call brought together Wally de Aquino, the Chief Operating Officer at AdventHealth Palm Coast–a major partner in the MedNex initiative–along with the hospital’s chief nursing officer, Douglas, Szymanski and others to start moving the project in anticipation of an appropriation. Douglas is meeting with the university’s design team to understand space needs and start constructing a facility. AdventHealth is meeting the head of the university’s nursing program to identify clinical rotations through the AdbentHealth system. The hospital is also providing a simulation lab.

“The city will be moving forward with our continued participation, continuing to foster relationships with the different hospital systems to make sure we’re clearly aligned with Daytona State College and the flagship program at the high school, the medical flagship,” Holland said in reference to Flagler Palm Coast High School’s medical flagship.

Phases two and three of the MexNex initiative won’t have to go through the same legislative approval process. The phases will go through to the University Board of Governors’ process, but not as a new project. It’s been appropriated legislatively as implying recurring funds. “We knew this was going to be a three-year ask, this is year one,” Holland said.

It’s not yet clear what the city’s $1.5 million contribution will fund–whether in providing classroom space, operational expenses or underwriting faculty costs.

The hub–the university has been reluctant to call it a campus just yet–will be drawing on nursing and other students in health care fields from Volusia, St. Johns, Putnam, and Flagler counties, and redistribute those students as health care professionals back to the region’s clinics and hospitals at a time when health care is expected to be in critical need of new practitioners.

“This was an area I was very passionate about,” Holland said. “I believe it’s truly how economic development should happen in communities. Of course I feel very very proud at this moment.”

She and Douglas stressed that the initiative benefited from the support of Renner and Hutson ” to structure,” Douglas said, “a cutting edge public/private partnership that looks to be the national model that Governor DeSantis and his staff pushed for.”

University budgets suffered a slew of vetoes, but the college and university system’s overall budget rises to $4 billion and will not require tuition increases. Everglades restoration will get a $322 million infusion. Florida Forever, the state’s conservation and recreation lands acquisition program, will get $100 million.

“Our current economic landscape is vastly different since the Legislature passed this budget in March,” DeSantis said in a statement on the budget. “This budget reflects a steadfast commitment to Floridians by safeguarding important investments in key areas including education, the environment, infrastructure, public safety and more.”

The budget includes $500 million to raise the minimum K-12 teacher salary to $47,500 and increases per-student funding to $7,793, or by $137 per student.

SOURCE: Daytona Beach News Journal

Jeff Douglas, president of Douglas Property Development, Inc., shares his thoughts on the future of Palm Coast’s Town Center.

Lots of new construction is underway in Palm Coast’s Town Center and many residents are wondering what the future holds. Overseeing major projects across Florida, Douglas Property Development, Inc. is a driving force behind Town Center’s recent reactivation and with a footprint in Flagler County reaching back decades, Jeff Douglas, president of DPD, shares his vision as this week’s On the Spot guest.

What is your background and how did you come to be in Palm Coast?

DPD is a brokerage/development firm focused on the re-positioning, planning and development of strategically located, master planned communities. Our investment in Palm Coast dates back to 1998 and in 2014 DPD re-entered the market with a private equity team and began a multimillion-dollar redevelopment of Grand Landings on Seminole Woods Boulevard. In April of 2017, DPD was tasked with revisioning, planning and selling the Allete portfolio, which included the 4,000-acre Palm Coast Park and the 2,050-acre Town Center.

What is your vision for Town Center?

A bustling and walkable downtown anchored by local businesses, education, City Hall, the arts district and MedNex. Embracing the realities and future that technology is going to give us, the mayor (Palm Coast Mayor Milissa Holland) envisions an inviting center and gathering place that unites all ages and members of this vibrant coastal community. Town Center’s entertainment district on the corner of City Place and Central embodies that vision. It is currently in permitting with 19 storefront lots designed for restaurant, retail, office, second-floor residential, and includes courtyards for hosting live music and entertainment.

How do you see the new apartment homes being built as a spark of life for the area?

A vibrant community requires a variety of homes, and so many of the people that contribute to our community — nurses, teachers, law enforcement — live in Volusia or St Johns County because that’s where the multifamily options are. The Palms and Central Landings not only provide that variety, but their locations in Town Center’s urban core allow residents to walk to the movie theater or the café, walk the kids to Imagine School or FPC, walk to the Picnic and Pops event or simply stroll the pathways around the lakes. Multifamily housing not only is necessary to draw businesses to Palm Coast but it’s also the catalyst that enables us to tap the fantastic, albeit scattered, food scene in Flagler County. We look to solidify Town Center as Palm Coast’s food destination.

Are there any particular businesses or industry you’d like to attract to Town Center?

We are working hard with the mayor and community partners to establish Town Center as a hub for innovation and technology —particularly in the medical sector via MedNex. Because of the Mayor’s dogged determination and the strong leadership from (state) Representative (Paul) Renner and (State) Senator (Travis) Hutson, MedNex’s cutting edge public/private structure could be America’s medical education model for the future. That said, I cannot stress enough the importance that Flagler Palm Coast and Matanzas High Schools and Flagler County School’s flagship academies play in providing a pipeline of entrepreneurs and the very best employees to the businesses and institutions that locate here.

Having developed other distressed or overlooked sections of communities across the nation, how do arts districts enhance opportunities for a community?

Communities need gathering places that are inviting, compelling, and entertaining — an arts district achieves all three. We have an incredible arts community in Palm Coast and finally have an opportunity to showcase it in an urban, walkable environment. Our vision for the arts district sees local students sharing stages and galleries with world-class musicians and artists.

SOURCE: Palm Coast Observer

Jeff Douglas, president of Douglas Property and Development, announced that development for 184 single-family homes in Town Center will begin in March, with 350 apartment condominiums to undergo development in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Douglas said these properties will contribute to his goal of Town Center encouraging the different generations present in Palm Coast to intermingle.

“We get a lot of seniors renting them, and a lot of single people,” Douglas said of the coming apartments. “A lot of government workers, a lot of all kinds of working people.”

He called the single-family homes “something tighter, smaller and more manageable for seniors. For the families, their family budgets will be better spent on food and other things than on maintaining an 85-foot massive lot.” 

SOURCE: Palm Coast Observer

Nearly two weeks after the groundbreaking of the first project in the new Innovation District of Palm Coast’s Town Center, a new development is now in the works in an area city officials envision becoming a “vibrant downtown community.”

A deal was brokered between Florida Landmark Communities LLC and Atlantic Housing Partners LLC — a group based in Winter Park that built the Brookhaven community and Palm Coast Landings — on Monday, June 3, for 233 apartments to be built on a 7.8-acre lot east of Epic Theatres of Palm Coast.

ThePalm Coast Observer first reported on the possibility of apartments being constructed on that property in early February. There will be a senior component to the new complex, as well, according to Jeff  Douglas, owner of Douglas Property and Development Inc.

“It’s been a lot of work, and we’re extremely excited,” he said. “This fits a demand in the marketplace for nurses, public servants and the workers who are now commuting in.”

The pace is starting to pick up in the development of the Town Center area, a vision that the city has had for nearly two decades. The newest development, to be called Central Landings, comes nearly two weeks after the groundbreaking of The Palms at Town Center, which is an 88-unit apartment complex at 470 Bulldog Drive — a project that Douglas is currently working on.

In addition, Douglas said there are negotiations now for 186 single-family homes on Track 19 in Town Center. They’re also planning for another 55,000 square feet of retail space, a separate art district and a regional design district.

“It’s time consuming,” Douglas said. “But it’s rewarding to finally see this coming to fruition.”

SOURCE: City of Palm Coast, Press Release

The first project in the new Innovation District of Town Center held its groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday at 470 Bulldog Drive.

The Palms at Town Center, located at the southeast corner of Central Avenue and Bulldog Drive, will be an 88-unit apartment complex spanning 9.12 acres that includes a clubhouse, pool, dog park, volleyball area and nature path.

The project is estimated to be completed in 2020.

Developer The Housing Trust Group organized the event to commemorate the historic occasion. Mayor Milissa Holland spoke, as well as representatives from HTG, Chase, Fifth Third Bank, Raymond James and Douglas Property and Development, who are all involved in the development of the property.

“With this new apartment complex and the promise of more development to follow soon, we’re on our way to making Town Center a hub for innovation, technology and growth,” Mayor Holland said. “Our vision is clear: a mix of high-tech companies, amenity-rich residential areas, the park, cultural arts, coffee shops, entrepreneurs and retail in a walkable neighborhood with well-designed indoor and outdoor spaces.”

“We know The Palms at Town Center will serve as a catalyst for more development – to bring in more restaurants, retail and employers.”

Real estate sales and prices rose in Flagler County last year, responding to a growing demand. But figures show construction is not keeping up with demand, which may lead to a housing shortage causing prices to increase even more.

About 1,000 units were constructed in Flagler County in 2017. (A unit is a single family house or one side of a duplex.) There were 770 in 2016.

“That’s the most growth since 2006,” said Jason DeLorenzo, government affairs director at Flagler Home Builders Association. He predicts the same amount of increase next year.

Recently announced new construction includes Sawmill, planned for 2,000 homes off U.S. 1 north of Matanzas Parkway. Construction could start in the third quarter by investor/developer Southeast Georgia Acquisitions

Toby Tobin, local realtor, cautions that even more construction is needed, saying housing is not keeping up with the predicted population growth.

SOURCE: Palm Coast Observer

U.S. Census estimates show a net gain of 3,122 new residents in Flagler County from July 2015 to July 2016, with 2,376 of those in Palm Coast. Using a standard calculation of 2.33 residents per dwelling, about 1,400 dwelling units would needed for one year of growth in the county, much more than the 1,000 units built this year.

“If we do not achieve a demand/supply balance, prices ‘to buy’ and ‘to rent’ will continue to rise beyond the rise in the consumer price index,” Tobin said.

DeLoranzo said builders could construct more houses but there is a labor shortage in the county.

Jeff Douglas, of Douglas Property and Development Inc., currently marketing Palm Coast Town Center as well as Grand Landings, said there is a need for more training for construction jobs. He said more educational opportunities and internships need to be available to provide an adequate labor force in the county.

The data shows the demand for housing. Through November, the number of sales through the Multiple Listing Service was up 2.14% over the same period in 2016, according to data provided by Tobin. He predicts sales will increase in 2018 by about the same amount.

Demand also drives up prices. The median price January through November, 2016, was $197,264; and the median price January through November, 2017, was $215,000.