What's in this guide
- Executive Summary
- Quick Facts
- Community Overview & History
- Neighborhoods & Areas
- Real Estate Market
- Market Position
- Schools
- Amenities & Lifestyle
- HOA, CDD & Costs
- Commute Analysis
- Shopping & Dining
- Pros & Cons
- Neighborhood Comparisons
- Hidden Things to Know
- Momentum Expert Insight
- Live Listings & Recent Sales
- Price History Since 2012
- Flood Zones & Insurance
- Internet & Connectivity
- The Tax Reality
- What Your Budget Buys
- The Future of the Area
- Resale Liquidity
- The Buyer Playbook
- Questions to Ask
- Mistakes to Avoid
- Frequently Asked Questions
Executive Summary
Bentwater Place is a roughly 407-home community in Intracoastal West Jacksonville 32246, built 1994 to 2004 off Kernan Boulevard south of Atlantic Boulevard, with homes from roughly 1,262 to 2,828 square feet in 3 to 5 bedroom layouts. Third-party figures from neighborhoods.com as of June 2026 put the median sale price around $412,450, recent closings roughly $327,500 to $525,000, and price per square foot near $256. The spread inside the band is mostly renovation depth and product type: the community is primarily detached single-family but includes some attached homes per neighborhoods.com, and those trade on different math.
The carrying-cost structure is the quiet advantage: the HOA runs roughly $300 to $353 per year, among the lowest fee levels in the corridor, and no CDD is reported, which matters in an Intracoastal West market where newer master plans routinely stack a CDD assessment on top of dues for decades. The trade is 90s-2000s systems: roof age, HVAC, water heaters, and original finishes drive the inspection and the insurance quote, and those documents decide whether a specific house earns its tier.
The location is the commute seat that holds value: Kernan Boulevard runs straight to UNF and the JTB interchange for the Southside employment corridors, Atlantic Boulevard at the top of the street goes to the beaches one way and toward the Town Center the other, and Mayo Clinic sits a short drive east. Few sub-$450K-median communities split the beaches, Mayo, Town Center, and UNF this evenly, and that math keeps the buyer pool steady through rate cycles.
Quick Facts
| Category | Detail |
|---|---|
| Location | Intracoastal West, off Kernan Blvd south of Atlantic Blvd, Jacksonville 32246 |
| County | Duval County |
| ZIP code | 32246 |
| Homes | Mostly detached single-family with some attached product per neighborhoods.com; about 407 homes total, 3BR to 5BR layouts |
| Built | 1994 through 2004; one general era with renovation level varying widely house to house |
| Home sizes | Roughly 1,262 to 2,828 sq ft across the community; verify per listing |
| Amenities | Playground and jogging/walking trail inside the community, with a public park adjacent; low HOA covers the basics (verify current fee) |
| Schools | Duval County Public Schools (verify zoning and current ratings) |
| Gate / HOA | Not gated; low HOA roughly $300 to $353 per year, no CDD reported, verify current fee and documents per parcel |
Community Overview & History
A 90s-2000s original on the Kernan corridor
Bentwater Place went in from 1994 through 2004, the decade when the Kernan corridor filled in between Atlantic Boulevard and JTB, and it reads like that era: roughly 407 homes from about 1,262 to 2,828 square feet, mostly detached 3BR to 5BR single-family layouts with some attached product mixed in per neighborhoods.com, real yards on the detached lots, and a streetscape that has had two to three decades to mature. The amenity package is simple and cheap to carry: a playground and a jogging and walking trail inside the community, a public park adjacent, and an HOA around $300 to $353 per year with no CDD reported. There is no master-developer resort campus here, just a consistent housing stock where renovation level separates the comps far more than floor plan does.
What the address is actually buying
The commute seat, mostly. The community sits on Kernan Boulevard just south of Atlantic Boulevard, which puts UNF and the JTB interchange a few minutes south, the beaches roughly 10 to 15 minutes east via Atlantic, Mayo Clinic a short drive away, and St. Johns Town Center about 10 to 15 minutes west. Stack that against a neighborhoods.com-reported median sale around $412,450 (June 2026) and a fee structure of a few hundred dollars per year with no CDD reported, and Bentwater Place is the established-community answer to new construction at the same payment: a 90s-2000s house, a yard on most lots, and one of the lightest carrying costs in the corridor. Just confirm the product type on each listing, since the community includes both detached and some attached homes, and they comp differently.
What You Are Actually Buying
One community, one general era, with renovation depth, square footage, and product type doing the separating. Figures below are third-party with dates; price off recent closed sales of comparable condition and product type rather than any blended average.
Attached and smaller homes: the entry
The attached product neighborhoods.com notes and the smaller detached homes toward the 1,262 square foot end anchor the bottom of the band, with closings reported down around $327,500 (neighborhoods.com, June 2026). These are the corridor entry plays, but comp attached against attached and detached against detached; blending the two flatters one and punishes the other.
Updated mid-size detached homes: the move-in market
Renovated 3BR and 4BR detached homes in the middle of the footprint range, with newer roofs, updated kitchens and baths, and modernized systems. These cluster around the neighborhoods.com-reported median of roughly $412,450 (June 2026) and compete directly with newer Kernan-corridor construction; the low fee structure, the mature lot, and the no-CDD-reported tax bill are the case for the older house.
Large and fully renovated homes: the top of the band
The biggest footprints toward 2,828 square feet and 5 bedrooms with complete renovations, reaching toward the $525,000 end of reported closings (neighborhoods.com, June 2026). At this end verify the comp set carefully: the top of a 407-home community trades thin, and one strong renovation sale can look like a trend when it is a single data point.
Real Estate Market
The working numbers: neighborhoods.com as of June 2026 reported a median sale price around $412,450 for Bentwater Place, with recent closings roughly $327,500 to $525,000 and price per square foot near $256. The spread is renovation depth plus product type: original-condition and fully updated homes share the same streets but trade as different markets, and the attached homes run on separate math from the detached, so comp the condition tier and the product type, not the community average.
The buyer pool is Southside and Mayo commuters buying the Kernan seat, UNF faculty, staff, and graduate households a few minutes from campus, beach-adjacent buyers priced out of the zips east of the Intracoastal, first-time buyers choosing established 90s-2000s product over attached new construction at the same payment, and renovators working the spread between original and updated pricing. With roughly 407 homes, inventory comes in modest trickles, so prepared buyers with financing set tend to win the clean listings.
Read the tape with the mixed product in mind: a portal median that blends attached and detached sales will mislead in both directions, and a community this size still goes weeks between closings in some seasons. The clean read is the last several closed sales inside the community sorted by product type, condition, and square footage, plus surrounding Kernan-corridor comps for direction. Verify every figure against current third-party data and the actual closed record, since published numbers go stale fast.
Market Position
Bentwater Place draws Southside and Mayo Clinic commuters who want the Kernan seat without a CDD-sized fee stack, UNF-connected households a few minutes from campus, buyers who want established 90s-2000s square footage and a yard at an attached-new-construction price, beach-oriented households priced out of the zip codes east of the Intracoastal, renovators working the original-to-updated spread, and anyone who values a sub-$400-per-year HOA over a resort amenity campus they would rarely use.
Schools
A Bentwater Place address is served by Duval County Public Schools, with attendance zones set by home address. Third-party sources have referenced Abess Park Elementary, Kernan Middle, and Sandalwood High for this area, but zoning along the Kernan corridor has shifted over the years as Intracoastal West built out, so confirm the exact current assignments for the specific address with the district before you buy rather than relying on listing-page school fields, and verify current school ratings from primary sources as part of diligence.
Amenities & Lifestyle
A simple, low-cost amenity core funded by one of the lightest HOAs in the corridor, with no CDD reported behind any of it.
Playground
The community playground anchors the family amenity package, funded through an HOA that runs a few hundred dollars per year rather than a master-plan fee stack. Simple, built, and paid for.
Jogging and walking trail
A trail runs through the community for the daily loop, a practical amenity that costs the association little to maintain and gets used far more than most resort packages. Verify current condition during diligence.
Adjacent public park
A public park sits next to the community, effectively extending the green space without adding a dollar to the HOA budget. For buyers comparing fee-loaded master plans, park-adjacent at a few hundred a year is the quiet win.
The Kernan and Atlantic corridor at the doorstep
Groceries, restaurants, and daily services line Atlantic Boulevard minutes north of the entrance and the Kernan corridor south toward JTB, with the beaches retail strips east and the Town Center cluster west when the errand gets bigger.
HOA, CDD & Costs
Bentwater Place carries a low HOA reported around $300 to $353 per year, which funds the playground, trail, and common areas; verify the current fee, what it covers, and the reserve picture directly with the association during diligence, since published figures go stale. The structural point is the fee level: it is a fraction of what amenity-loaded master plans along Kernan charge, and the public park next door does part of the amenity work for free.
No CDD is reported for Bentwater Place, which is a genuine monthly and tax-bill advantage over much of newer Intracoastal West, where CDD assessments commonly add a meaningful line to the property tax bill for decades. Confirm the absence on the actual tax bill for the specific parcel during diligence, and when comparing payments against newer communities along Kernan, put their CDD lines into the math explicitly; it is where the 90s-2000s house quietly wins.
The diligence that matters here is the standard established-community set: read the HOA documents and budget, confirm any architectural review or leasing rules, note whether the attached product carries any different fee or maintenance arrangement, and then put the real weight on the house itself, because 1994-2004 construction means roof age, HVAC, and water heater drive the inspection and the insurance quote. Get the insurance quote during the inspection period, not after; on housing approaching or past the 20-year mark, the roof line is what surprises buyers.
Commute Analysis
| Destination | Typical drive |
|---|---|
| UNF (University of North Florida) | About 5 to 10 minutes south via Kernan Blvd |
| Jacksonville beaches | About 10 to 15 minutes east via Atlantic Blvd |
| Mayo Clinic | About 10 to 15 minutes via Atlantic Blvd and San Pablo Rd |
| St. Johns Town Center | About 10 to 15 minutes via Kernan and JTB or Atlantic Blvd |
| JTB / Butler Blvd (via Kernan) | About 5 to 10 minutes |
| Downtown Jacksonville | About 25 to 30 minutes via Atlantic Blvd or JTB |
The Kernan seat is the whole pitch: the boulevard runs straight to UNF and the JTB interchange for the Southside employment runs, Atlantic Boulevard at the top of the street splits the beaches and the Town Center, and Mayo Clinic sits in the same short orbit. Few established communities at this price serve all four destinations this evenly.
Shopping & Dining
The Atlantic Boulevard corridor minutes north of the entrance carries the daily load: groceries, pharmacies, hardware, and a deep restaurant bench between Kernan and Hodges. The Kernan corridor south adds more options toward UNF and JTB, St. Johns Town Center handles the premier retail and dining runs about 10 to 15 minutes away, and the beaches commercial strips sit roughly 10 to 15 minutes east when the errand doubles as an ocean trip.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Established 90s-2000s homes with a neighborhoods.com-reported median sale around $412,450 and closings roughly $327,500 to $525,000 (June 2026) in the Intracoastal West corridor
- HOA around $300 to $353 per year, among the lightest fee structures in the corridor, with no CDD reported
- Kernan seat: about 5 to 10 minutes to UNF and JTB, 10 to 15 to the beaches, Mayo Clinic, and St. Johns Town Center
- Playground and jogging trail inside the community plus a public park adjacent
- Renovation spread and mixed product give entry points from roughly the low $300s to the low $500s per third-party data (June 2026)
Cons
- 1994-2004 systems: roof age, HVAC, and water heaters drive inspections and insurance quotes, especially on unrenovated homes
- Mixed product: some attached homes per neighborhoods.com means comps must be sorted by product type or they mislead
- Amenity package is basic by master-plan standards: playground and trail, not a pool or resort campus
- Kernan and Atlantic corridor traffic backs up at peak hours
- Roughly 407 homes still means modest inventory at any given time and condition-driven comp scatter
Bentwater Place vs. Comparable Communities
| Community | How it compares to Bentwater Place |
|---|---|
| Indian Springs | The 1980s step nearby off Atlantic: older systems and a smaller 221-home footprint with pool and tennis, traded on amenity package and construction era against the newer bones and lighter fee here. |
| Kensington | The bigger established neighbor in the corridor: a larger community with a fuller amenity package and a higher fee structure to match, traded on amenities against the minimal-fee math at Bentwater Place. |
| Cobblestone | The closest like-for-like: 1990s Intracoastal West product in the same orbit, traded on lot, condition, and street-by-street comps, with the low HOA and adjacent public park as the Bentwater Place differentiators. |
Hidden Things Buyers Should Know
The fee structure is the quiet math that wins the corridor
An HOA around $300 to $353 per year with no CDD reported is one of the lightest carrying structures in Intracoastal West, where newer master plans commonly run dues many times higher plus a CDD assessment riding the tax bill for decades. Run the full payment comparison against a newer community at the same sticker and the Bentwater Place house frequently carries hundreds of dollars a month lighter; buyers who only compare list prices miss it.
Mixed product means mixed comps
Per neighborhoods.com the community includes some attached homes alongside the detached majority, and a blended median across both flatters the attached and undersells the detached. Sort every comp by product type before you trust it, and confirm what a specific listing actually is, because portal records do not always label attached product clearly.
The public park next door is free amenity square footage
The adjacent public park effectively extends the community green space at zero HOA cost, which is part of how the fee stays where it is. Buyers comparing amenity-loaded master plans should count it: a playground, a trail, and a park next door cover most of what families actually use, without the fee stack that funds the parts they do not.
Momentum Expert Insight
Bentwater Place is what we show buyers who want the Kernan corridor seat, UNF, JTB, beaches, Mayo, Town Center, without paying the new-construction premium or the fee stack that usually comes with it: a 90s-2000s house, a yard on most lots, an HOA of a few hundred dollars a year, no CDD reported, and a band roughly $327,500 to $525,000 around a $412,450 median per neighborhoods.com as of June 2026. The trades are era systems and the mixed product, and the inspection plus a properly sorted comp set tell you within a week whether the specific house earns its tier.
The diligence here is two-track: light on the community side, since the HOA is minimal and no CDD is reported, and focused on the house side, because 1994-2004 construction means roof age, HVAC, and the four-point and wind-mitigation results do the real work on both price and the insurance quote. Comp the condition tier and the product type against recent closings inside the community, and never price off a blended average in a market that mixes attached and detached homes.
Selling a Home in Bentwater Place
Your buyers are corridor shoppers comparing you against newer communities with bigger fee stacks, so lead with the carrying-cost math: the HOA at a few hundred dollars a year, the no-CDD-reported tax bill, and the systems story, roof age, HVAC, water heater, and the wind-mitigation report if you have one, because those documents move both the offer and the buyer insurance quote that keeps deals together. Price off recent closings of comparable product type and renovation level inside the community, not a blended median.
Name the community and location precisely in the remarks: Bentwater Place, Intracoastal West, Jacksonville 32246, off Kernan Boulevard south of Atlantic Boulevard. State clearly whether the home is detached or attached, anchor the commute math that sells the corridor, about 5 to 10 minutes to UNF and JTB and 10 to 15 to the beaches, Mayo, and the Town Center, and lead the photos with the renovation work, because condition tier is what separates the comps here.
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Flood Zones & Insurance
Jacksonville sees coastal, river, and creek flooding, and pockets near the St. Johns River tributaries can sit in higher-risk zones. Jacksonville participates in the FEMA Community Rating System at a class 6, which earns flood-insurance discounts of about 10 percent for homes outside a special flood hazard area and about 20 percent for homes inside one.
The reliable move is to pull the FEMA flood designation for the exact Bentwater Place address before you write an offer, since two homes in the same area can fall in different zones. A home in Zone X can cost far less to insure than one near water in Zone AE. Get a bindable flood and homeowners quote during your inspection period, so the cost is in your monthly math before you commit, not after.
Internet & Connectivity
The Jacksonville metro is served by Xfinity (Comcast) cable across nearly all addresses and by AT&T with DSL almost everywhere plus fiber to a growing share of homes. If working from home matters, confirm the options, and fiber in particular, at the specific Bentwater Place address rather than assuming.
The Tax Reality
Duval County total millage runs roughly 17.9 to 18.5 mills depending on the taxing district. The Florida homestead exemption for 2026 is 51,411 dollars for those who qualify, and the deadline to file a new homestead exemption is March 1.
The trap to plan for is the post-sale reset: when you buy, the Save Our Homes cap from the previous owner ends and the assessed value resets to the new just value, so your second-year tax bill is often higher than the seller current one. Budget the true number, and confirm whether the specific home carries a CDD or other assessment that is billed separately from the millage and is not reduced by the homestead exemption.
What Your Budget Buys Here
The working numbers from neighborhoods.com as of June 2026: a median sale around $412,450, closings roughly $327,500 to $525,000, and price per square foot near $256. The spread is renovation depth and product type: attached homes and smaller original-condition detached homes anchor the bottom, fully renovated 4BR and 5BR homes toward 2,828 square feet reach the top. The honest comparison against newer Intracoastal West is monthly, not sticker: an HOA around $300 to $353 per year and no CDD reported here versus dues plus a CDD assessment nearby means a Bentwater Place house can carry meaningfully lighter than a newer community at the same list price. Run the full payment with the real insurance quote, because on housing built 1994 to 2004 the roof age does the deciding on the premium, and a pre-2010 roof can swing the quote hard.
The Future of the Area
Duval County continues to grow, with new rooftops, retail, and road work reshaping parts of the area. That growth supports long-run demand, but it can also add competing inventory and construction traffic in the near term, so factor both the upside and the disruption into your timing and your pricing.Resale Liquidity
Resale here rides the corridor and the carrying-cost math: the UNF-JTB-beaches-Mayo-Town Center pentagon keeps a steady commuter, university, and lifestyle buyer pool, the minimal fee structure widens affordability against newer competition, and the renovation spread keeps value-add demand under original-condition homes. The risks to monitor are roof-age-driven insurance costs, which tighten the buyer pool on unrenovated homes as premiums climb, and the mixed-product comp scatter, which can make pricing feel choppy if records are not sorted by type. Sellers who document the systems work, carry the wind-mitigation report, state the product type plainly, and tag the listing precisely as Bentwater Place, Intracoastal West 32246 trade through all of it.
The Bentwater Place Playbook
How we would buy here: build the comp set first from closings inside the community sorted by product type, detached versus attached, then by condition tier, padded with surrounding Kernan-corridor sales for direction, because a blended median misleads in a mixed-product community. Inspect for the era: roof age and remaining life first, then HVAC age, water heater, and the four-point and wind-mitigation reports that drive the insurance quote. Get that quote during the inspection period, not after. Read the HOA documents and confirm the current fee, what it covers, and whether the attached product carries any different arrangement, light work given the minimal structure, and confirm the tax bill carries no CDD line, which is what the third-party data reports. Then price the condition tier honestly: original, partially updated, and fully renovated trade as three different markets on the same street here.
Questions We Would Ask Before Buying Here
Ask the seller
- What flood zone is this exact address in?
- What are the HOA dues, and is there a CDD or special assessment?
- What did the last few comparable homes actually sell for?
- How old are the roof, HVAC, and water heater?
- What is the true second-year tax estimate after reassessment?
Ask yourself
- Does the commute to work, schools, and daily life actually work?
- Do I need fiber internet, and is it at this address?
- Am I pricing against the right comparable sales, not the average?
- Does the lot and the condition fit my budget and my resale plan?
Mistakes to Avoid
The expensive mistakes in Bentwater Place: pricing off a blended median that mixes attached and detached sales; assuming a listing is detached without confirming, or comping a detached house against attached sales; shortcutting inspection on 1994-2004 systems and meeting the roof and HVAC bills after closing; skipping the insurance quote until after contract and discovering what an aging roof produces; comparing list prices against newer Kernan communities without putting their CDD assessments and dues into the monthly math; relying on listing-page school fields instead of confirming current Duval County attendance zones for the address; and treating one strong renovated sale as a trend in a market where the top trades thin. Every one of these is a verification problem, and every one is cheap to avoid before contract.
Live Market: Homes for Sale & Recent Sales
Live MLS inventory for Bentwater Place Jacksonville. Every active listing, what is under contract right now, and the last 12 months of closed sales, refreshed twice a day. Real closed prices beat any estimate.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Bentwater Place?
How much do homes in Bentwater Place cost?
Is there an HOA in Bentwater Place?
Is there a CDD fee?
When were the homes built?
What sizes are the homes?
Are all the homes detached single-family?
What amenities does the community have?
How is the commute from Bentwater Place?
What schools serve Bentwater Place?
What should I inspect on a home this age?
How is insurance on homes here?
Is Bentwater Place good for a renovation or value-add buyer?
What is nearby for shopping and dining?
Who should I call about Bentwater Place?
Do I need my own agent to buy here?
Related Reading
Shopping the Intracoastal West and Kernan corridors more broadly? Start here.
