The 60-Second Overview
Sawgrass Country Club is the only full gated residential community east of A1A in Ponte Vedra Beach, and its condo regimes are the attainable doors through those gates. Little Bay Harbour is the boutique one: 43 townhome-style condos on a single street near the southern gate, built 1982 to 1985, and described as the only small condo neighborhood in the community. Our complete Sawgrass Country Club guide covers the whole community; this page goes deep on this one regime.
The setting is the story. Per Frankel Realty Group, Little Bay Harbor Drive is a peninsula jutting into the lake and surrounded by the golf course, so the lake-and-golf exposure runs throughout, with large screened porches built for the sunset. The product backs it up: roughly 1,370 to 2,020 square feet, neighbors only on the sides, no one above you, wood-burning fireplaces, and the regime's signature, an oversized two-car garage, one of only two condo regimes in Sawgrass with garages, alongside Deer Run.
Recent pricing per third-party listing data: 3BR/3BA units sold for $1,001,000 in April 2024 and $950,082 in November 2024, both per Redfin, plus $955,000 in May 2025 and $860,000 in September 2025 per MLS-fed sources; 2BRs traded for $592,000 in June 2022 and $550,000 in January 2023. The spread is the market: everything dates to 1982-1985, and the distance between an original interior and a full renovation, stacked on the lake exposure, is the pricing.
Forty-three units, one peninsula street, a two-car garage, and a lake sunset off the screened porch. Little Bay Harbour is the boutique pocket behind the Sawgrass gates.
Fees and the Regime: Two Layers, No CDD
The fee stack has two layers and no CDD. Layer one is the Sawgrass master association, which funds the staffed gates, roving patrols, the three-mile loop path, and resident beach access for every owner, club member or not. Layer two is the Little Bay Harbour condominium assessment, covering exterior maintenance, grounds, the community pool, and the association's insurance program.
For scale, third-party listings have shown Little Bay Harbour condo charges roughly in the $800s to $900s monthly equivalent, sometimes billed quarterly, plus a Sawgrass master charge near $1,000 semi-annually. Those figures vary by listing and date; confirm the current amounts, exactly what each covers, and the reserve position with the association in writing before you offer. We do not quote fee numbers as current when they are not.
Two regime-specific notes. First, 1982-1985 coastal buildings live and die on maintenance cycles, and Florida's structural-inspection and reserve rules apply to older condominiums where applicable, so the inspection reports, reserve schedule, and special-assessment history are not optional reading. Second, 43 units means a small budget: one roof cycle or one insurance renewal moves the per-unit math more here than in a 200-unit regime, which makes the reserve file the single most important document in the deal.
The Units: Garages, Fireplaces, the Renovation Spread
The product is the format plus one rare feature. Townhome-style condos with private entrances, neighbors only on the sides, plans from roughly 1,370 to 2,020 square feet, wood-burning fireplaces, large screened porches, and the oversized two-car garage. In a Sawgrass condo market where almost nothing has a garage, that last item is the regime's structural advantage: per Frankel Realty Group, only Little Bay Harbour and Deer Run have them.
Third-party sources note the floorplans are similar to Fisherman's Cove inside the same gates and Players Club Villas across A1A, but neither of those gets you the two-car garage. For buyers downsizing out of a single-family home with a garage full of beach gear, golf clubs, and bikes, this is usually the feature that decides the search.
Then the honest part: everything dates to 1982-1985, and renovation depth is the rest of the pricing. An original interior and a down-to-the-studs redo on the same plan are different assets, and in a regime this size the portals average them together. The recent record runs from $860,000 to just over $1,000,000 for 3BRs, and the renovation delta plus the lake exposure explain most of that spread.
The Peninsula: Little Bay Harbour’s Core Premium
Per Frankel Realty Group, the street itself is a peninsula that juts out into the lake and is surrounded by the golf course. That sentence is the regime's value proposition. One quiet cul-de-sac street, water on the sides, fairways beyond, and sunsets off the screened porch; it lives like a vacation address that happens to be home.
It also frames the cross-shop honestly. If the lake-and-golf setting plus the garage is the point, your real comparison is Deer Run, the other garage regime with the biggest plans. If the shortest beach walk is the point, Quail Pointe and Rough Creek win that argument instead; Little Bay Harbour sits near the southern gate, where the club pool, not the sand, is the walk. Knowing which premium you are actually buying is most of the work.
Sawgrass Around It: The Gates, the Beach, the Optional Club
Little Bay Harbour inherits everything that makes Sawgrass Country Club singular: the only full gated residential community east of A1A in Ponte Vedra Beach, running from the highway to the Atlantic. Through the master HOA, every resident gets the staffed and patrolled gates, the three-mile loop path, and beach access. From Little Bay Harbour's position near the southern gate, the Sawgrass Country Club pool is a walk, coffee and shops sit just outside the south entrance, the Guana Preserve trails are minutes south, and Mayo Clinic is about fifteen minutes up the road.
The club itself, 27 holes of championship golf, racquet sports, fitness, pools, and oceanfront dining at the Beach Club, is a separate, optional membership offered in categories. Know the current reality before you assume anything: club materials have quoted initiation from $125,000 effective December 2025, with a waitlist for full membership. That is a genuine consideration, and also a genuine advantage over mandatory-membership communities: a Little Bay Harbour buyer can own the address, use the beach access, and join the club only if and when it fits. Confirm current categories, pricing, and wait times directly with the club.
One naming trap to retire now: Sawgrass Country Club (east of A1A, where Little Bay Harbour lives) is not the Sawgrass Players Club at TPC Sawgrass (west of A1A, home of THE PLAYERS). Different gates, different clubs, different markets.
Schools: The Zone Behind the Price
Little Bay Harbour is zoned to the Ponte Vedra feeder pattern of the St. Johns County district: Rawlings Elementary, Alice B. Landrum Middle, and Ponte Vedra High per Frankel Realty Group, the school zone that anchors valuations across 32082. Plenty of owners here are retirees and second-home owners who will never enroll a student, but the next buyer's appraisal leans on the zone all the same. Verify current assignments by address, and note the private-school run up JTB to Bolles and Episcopal if that is your plan.
What Living Here Is Actually Like
Quiet, green, and self-contained. One peninsula street with 43 doors means you know the neighbors, the lake does the evening entertainment, and the daily rhythm runs through the southern gate: the club pool on foot, coffee outside the south entrance, the cart or the car only when you leave the community.
The ownership and rental profile
Little Bay Harbour mixes full-time residents, seasonal owners, and second homes, and some units have operated as furnished rentals through third-party platforms. In a 43-unit regime the leasing rules carry real weight, and they live in the association documents and can change. If income is part of your plan, get the current leasing rules, minimum terms, and approval process in writing.
The garage, daily
This is the feature owners mention first: the oversized two-car garage swallows the beach gear, the golf cart, the bikes, and still parks a car. Most Sawgrass condo buyers give that up; Little Bay Harbour and Deer Run buyers do not.
1980s stewardship
Coastal buildings from 1982-1985 weather in salt air. Ask what the association completed recently, what is scheduled next, and how the reserves stand against it; in a 43-unit budget, the maintenance calendar is the building's real biography.
The weekly rhythm
Publix and Sawgrass Village errands just across A1A, the club pool on foot, the beach through the gates, the Guana trails minutes south, Mayo Clinic in about fifteen minutes, and the sunset off the screened porch most evenings.
Five Costly Mistakes Little Bay Harbour Buyers Make
Forty-year-old coastal condos in a 43-unit regime inside a club community concentrate very specific errors:
Averaging the renovation spread
An original 1980s interior and a full renovation are different assets that portals average together. Recent 3BR sales ran from $860,000 to $1,001,000 in 2024-2025; comp the renovation depth explicitly or you will overpay for dated or underbid for done.
Skipping the regime file because the unit shows well
The kitchen is the owner's; the roofs, exteriors, pool, and reserves belong to a 43-owner association where every surprise splits 43 ways. Read the budget, reserve schedule, inspection reports, and special-assessment history before the offer, not after.
Assuming club membership is instant or cheap
Sawgrass Country Club is optional, separate, and in demand: initiation from $125,000 effective December 2025 with a waitlist, per club materials. If the club is the point, confirm the category, the cost, and the wait before you close, not after.
Paying best-exposure money for an average exposure
The peninsula gives the regime lake-and-golf character, but the specific exposure still varies unit to unit. Comp the actual view and porch orientation, not the community average.
Waiting for more inventory
Forty-three units can go a year between listings, and the dated 2022-2023 comps prove how fast the record goes stale. If the regime fits, the right answer is usually the best unit available in your window, found early, sometimes off-market.
Exposure, Condition, and Value
The garage and the peninsula are the floor; condition and exposure set the ceiling
Every Little Bay Harbour unit shares the regime-wide premiums: the two-car garage and the lake-peninsula setting. On top of that floor, renovation depth and the specific lake-or-golf exposure do the rest of the pricing, per third-party listing data. The value play, when it appears, is the structurally sound unit with dated finishes on good exposure: the setting at a discount, with the remodel on your terms.
With a listing or two a year, the right answer is usually the best exposure-and-condition combination available in your window, not the theoretical favorite.
The Little Bay Harbour Buyer Checklist
- Pull the association financials: budget, reserve schedule, special-assessment history, and twelve months of minutes for a 43-unit book.
- Confirm both fee layers in writing: Little Bay Harbour condo assessment and Sawgrass master dues, with inclusions and billing cadence.
- Verify the current leasing rules against your actual plans, in the documents, not by hearsay.
- Read the master insurance policy line: what the association covers versus your HO-6, including the wind deductible.
- Inspect the 1982-1985 envelope: roof age, exteriors, porches, fireplace and chimney condition, and any structural-inspection reports.
- Comp the exposure honestly: lake, golf, or average, plus porch orientation for the sunset.
- Pull the FEMA flood designation and a real insurance quote for the exact unit, inside the window.
- Settle the club question separately: Sawgrass categories, initiation, dues, and the waitlist, confirmed current.
Little Bay Harbour is the regime we show when the buyer says two things: I want inside the Sawgrass gates, and I am not giving up my garage. Only two condo regimes there answer both, and this is the boutique one: 43 doors on a lake peninsula, fireplaces, screened porches, and a sunset that does not get old.
What the listing photos do not show is a 43-unit budget from 1982-1985, and that is where the deal is won or lost: the reserve file, the renovation math, and the exposure comp. Our job is to verify everything the listing does not say and make sure the unit you fall for is also the contract you should sign.
Little Bay Harbour vs. the Inside-the-Gates Set
The realistic cross-shop for a Little Bay Harbour buyer, with the honest caveat that comps inside any single regime, and especially this one, are very thin:
| Community | Format | The honest one-liner |
|---|---|---|
| Deer Run | 81 villa condos, same gates | The other garage regime, with the biggest plans; the head-to-head if the garage is the point. |
| Quail Pointe | ~90 townhome condos, same gates | The short beach walk and more inventory, but no garage. |
| Fisherman's Cove | 85 cottage condos, same gates | Similar floorplans per third-party sources, with lake docks but no garage. |
| Rough Creek Villas | Villas, same gates | The other closest-to-the-beach regime; a different premium entirely. |
| Tifton Cove | 96 stucco condos, same gates | Mediterranean stucco instead of 1980s coastal wood; a different regime with different books. |
| Sawgrass Country Club | The umbrella community | The full menu behind one gate, from condos to oceanfront estates. |
Little Bay Harbour's lane: the smallest regime inside the gates, the lake-peninsula setting, and one of only two garage answers. If the beach walk is the point, Quail Pointe and Rough Creek win; if you want maximum square footage with the garage, Deer Run wins; if you want boutique scale, a two-car garage, and the lake sunset, this is the conversation.
The Honest Pros and Cons
Pros
- One of only two condo regimes in Sawgrass with garages, and these are oversized two-car
- Lake-peninsula street surrounded by golf, with sunset screened porches
- Boutique scale: 43 units, one quiet street, real neighbor familiarity
- Walking distance to the club pool and the southern gate
- No CDD; club membership optional and tiered
- Staffed gates, patrols, and the loop path through the master HOA
Cons
- Everything dates to 1982-1985: real maintenance and inspection diligence
- 43 units means a year can pass between listings, and comps are very thin
- A small association budget concentrates every surprise across 43 owners
- Two fee layers, and club costs stack on top if you join
- Club initiation from $125,000 and a waitlist, per club materials
- Not the beach-walk regime; that is Quail Pointe and Rough Creek
Our Little Bay Harbour Buyer Playbook
How we run a Little Bay Harbour purchase, in order:
- Decide the exposure and condition targets first: lake, golf, or average; original, updated, or done, ranked before a listing forces the choice.
- Watch the regime, not the portal: with 43 units, we track the community so you see opportunities early, including off-market.
- Pull the association file on day one: financials, reserves, minutes, inspections, and assessment history for the 43-unit book.
- Underwrite insurance and the 1980s envelope before offering, not during a panic in week three.
- Negotiate on renovation depth and exposure, precisely: the remodel delta and the lake-view premium are the leverage.
Questions We Ask Before You Sign
Six answers we get in writing on every Little Bay Harbour contract:
- What are the current Little Bay Harbour and Sawgrass master assessments, and exactly what does each cover?
- What do the financials, reserve schedule, and inspection reports show, and what projects are next on a 43-unit budget?
- What assessments are pending or discussed in the minutes?
- What are the current leasing rules, and how are they enforced?
- What does the master insurance policy cover versus the HO-6, including the wind deductible?
- What did the last true comparables trade for, condition- and exposure-adjusted, on and off market?
Is Little Bay Harbour Not For You?
The honest cut, both directions:
Consider elsewhere if you want
- New construction or modern systems out of the box
- The shortest walk to the sand (look at Quail Pointe or Rough Creek)
- Maximum square footage (look at Deer Run)
- Bundled club amenities in one fee, no waitlist
- Lots of inventory to tour this quarter
- A large association that dilutes every surprise
Little Bay Harbour fits if you want
- A real two-car garage on a condo inside the gates
- A lake-peninsula street with golf around it and sunset porches
- Boutique scale where you know all 43 doors
- Townhome living with nobody above you, plus a fireplace
- Club life on your own timeline, not a mandate
- The walkable southern-gate corner of Sawgrass