Yulee’s Growth, Emergence of Wildlight

Yulee’s new Wildlight community is in its infancy, located near Interstate I-95.

With the start of the school year 2017-2018, Nassau County School District’s newest elementary school, Wildlight, opens its doors for their inaugural year.

Fernandina schools are the “Pirates,” and Yulee is known as the home of the “Hornets.” But the kids attending school at 550 Curiosity Avenue will be the Wildlight “TrailBlazers.”

The elementary school is an integral part of the new Wildlight community located near I-95, being developed by Raydient Places & Properties, a real estate services subsidiary of Rayonier.

Wildlight Avenue Intersection, State Rd. 200/A1A
Wildlight Avenue Intersection, State Rd. 200/A1A

Huge Community To Emerge

Consider 2017 as the birth year of what will become a sizable town of its own in the future, if the area becomes the success the developers envision. UPDATE: See related article about controversy between the community’s developers and Nassau County government.

East Nassau Community Planning Area

Wildlight is within Nassau’s huge PUD, officially called the East Nassau Community Planning Area (ENCPA), still in its infancy, and will likely take three or four decades to build out completely. The site spans 24,000 acres from I-95 on the west across to Chester Road on the east, bordered by A1A/State Road 200 to the south, and the St. Marys River to the north.

Rayonier’s New Headquarters

Within Wildlight, Rayonier Inc.’s new corporate headquarters has also been under construction in 2017, a 55,000 square foot building.

Rayonier's New Yulee Headquarters Under Construction
Rayonier’s New Yulee Headquarters Under Construction

Rayonier (stock symbol RYN on the NYSE), is “one of the largest private landowners in the USA.” …[They] “own, lease or manage approximately 2.7 million acres of highly-productive timberlands in the U.S. and New Zealand to supply timber to a wide variety of markets including pulp, paper, lumber, renewable energy production and other wood products,” according to the company’s website.

Besides the new school, residential homes/neighborhoods, and Rayonier’s headquarters, Wildlight Phase I will also include the Village Center, with retail stores, restaurants, recreational parks, biking and walking trails.

Commuting

A large percentage of Nassau County, Florida’s working residents commute to employment located outside of Nassau. With the growing traffic of State Road 200/A1A (read related article), new residents commuting to employment outside of Nassau County may lean toward living in the neighborhoods next to Interstate 95.