It’s difficult to go almost anywhere in Jacksonville without running into something the Skinner family has touched. Generations of Skinners have been about helping to develop the community and meeting their “responsibility to the city.”
“Our land represented our family,” Chip Skinner said.
ICI Homes and David Weekley Homes are using the land to develop Seven Pines, a master-planned community of about 1,060 acres in the southeast quadrant of Butler Boulevard and Interstate 295. The tagline for the community, “a legacy of gathering,” is meant to symbolize the importance of people coming together, Skinner said.
Once completed, Seven Pines will include 1,600 single-family homes, apartments, more than 1 million square feet of commercial and retail space and a 34- acre park with a lake. Mori Hosseini, chairman and CEO of ICI Homes, said he has known the Skinner family for about two decades.
“The Skinner family wants their legacy to be one which leaves an indelible mark that will have a positive impact on the Jacksonville area for generations to come,” Hosseini said. “In 43 years in business, I’ve never seen a family that was so detailed on what they wanted to see in the master plan.” Hosseini said the family took at least a year to work on the master plan for Seven Pines and most of the family members showed up to meetings on a weekly or every-other-week basis to go through the steps together.
“They’re a fantastic family,” Hosseini said. “They have a huge impact in Jacksonville.”
Residential areas are going in with home sales starting now at Seven Pines, and commercial development plans will follow.
“We’re hoping to see a community here,” Skinner said. “We would like to think we’ve been a big part of Jacksonville’s history.”