A new resort-style community straddling the border of Keystone Heights and Starke is set to bring as many as 500 compact, move-in-ready homes to Clay County, with starting prices of just $106,900 — less than half the area's typical single-family home cost. Vintana at Keystone Heights will initially deliver 155 homes, with construction already underway and completion expected in late fall 2026.
The project, located at 6060 SE Main Street, features park model homes ranging from 400 to 850 square feet, each equipped with full kitchens and appliances, according to the Jacksonville Business Journal. Amenities include a lagoon pool designed by Lucas Lagoons, solar-heated pools, pickleball courts, an infrared sauna, and a Toptracer driving range, the outlet reports. The site sits roughly 30 minutes from Gainesville, 50 minutes from Jacksonville, and 60 minutes from St. Augustine, according to a release distributed via Cision PR Newswire.
No HOA, But a Monthly Site Bill
Vintana operates under a land-lease model, meaning residents don't own the ground beneath their homes. Instead, they pay an average site rent of $690 per month, which the same release notes covers water, sewer, trash, high-speed internet, lawn care, amenities, activities, and 24-hour security — with no HOA or community development district fees tacked on. That structure trades traditional homeownership costs for a bundled monthly fee, a distinction buyers evaluating park model living will want to weigh carefully.
The homes themselves fall under a specific legal category. Florida classifies park model residences as recreational vehicles rather than standard HUD-code manufactured homes, built to ANSI A119.5 safety standards that cap enclosed living space at roughly 400 to 500 square feet, per 21st Mortgage. That classification can shape financing options and how the homes are taxed as personal property.
Pricing Against a Pricier Local Market
The math behind Vintana's appeal becomes clearer against the backdrop of local home values. In October 2026, the median home sale price in Keystone Heights stood at roughly $269,400, according to Momentum Realty — meaning Vintana's starting price undercuts the area's single-family benchmark by more than half. Zoom out to Clay County as a whole, and the gap widens further: median residential listing prices there reached $360,000 in September, while average countywide rents climbed to $2,000 per month, per Realtor.com.
Those figures help explain why developers are leaning into smaller-footprint housing across Northeast Florida. The region has already seen similar projects, including the planned 56-unit Cove at Silver Lake community in nearby Palatka, with completion slated for fall 2026. Florida has more than 824,000 manufactured homes, according to a 2025 report.
A Developer's Local Track Record
Vintana isn't developer Vincent Esson's first project in the area. He previously designed the neighboring Keystone Heights RV Resort, according to the Bradford County Telegraph. That history gives Vintana a direct lineage from an existing RV park operation into a larger, amenity-heavy residential community.
Keystone Heights had an 81.2% homeownership rate. Adding up to 500 new home sites at full buildout could raise questions about local infrastructure and utility capacity as the project moves forward.
