Company Press Release
March 17, 2000
WATERCOLOR, FL -- The WaterColor Welcome Center opened yesterday as the first official destination within this
Southern coastal resort and residential community being developed by Arvida, the community development arm of The
St. Joe Company (NYSE:JOE). The cottage is located just east of the Grayton Beach State Recreation Area at 1701
East County Highway 30A in Seagrove.
``We met the critical threshold of opening before spring break,'' said Arvida's president of West Florida operations,
Jim Rester. ``We're open and ready for business.''
The cottage was designed to provide separate spaces for hospitality and information gathering, according to architect,
Tom Christ, of Christ and Associates, Architects and Planners, who handled the design from his Grayton Beach office.
Turning to the rural South for inspiration, he ultimately chose a ``dog-trot'' layout, a design marked by two living
areas separated by a breezeway and one that is predominant throughout the South. The result is practical in more
ways than one. ``Besides being a great gathering place, breezes flow through (the breezeway's) open doors and side
windows, and the tall ceilings and large overhang roof generate passive cooling,'' he said. ``It's simple, really,
and very much in the Southern tradition.''
The building materials are also traditional, from the corrugated metal roof to double-hung windows and traditional
wood-styled siding. Its exterior earth-tone colors of deep moss and magnolia leaf-green blend well with the surrounding
vegetation. ``Those colors reflect the connection of the building to WaterColor's environment of a Southern coastal
landscape,'' suggested Christ and Associates partner, Jamie Christ, ASID. To evoke the informal simplicity of northwest
Florida's late forties Southern vernacular style, she used simple pine desks, utilitarian schoolhouse chairs, and
period Florida memorabilia inside the cottage.
``We juxtaposed rustic hand-made exhibits and natural artifacts with more modern elements like galvanized steel
light fixtures and black chair color accents to balance the period effect against the building's current function
as an information center with high-resolution computer screens and interactive displays,'' Christ said about the
cottage interiors.
``We've already had a great deal of interest in the three residential options that will initially be released this
Spring,'' according to Arvida vice president of sales, Tom Dodson. They include distinctive neighborhood settings
with custom homes; Arvida's Southern cottage and village homes designed by Looney Ricks Kiss of Memphis, Tenn.
and Historical Concepts of Peachtree City, Ga.; and multi-family residences above shops and businesses in WaterColor's
Town Center designed by the New York firm of Cooper, Robertson & Partners. Arvida's real estate sales executives
will initially be located in the Welcome Center and will then move to permanent office space within the Town Center,
just west of the cottage, later this summer. The Welcome Center will be open and serving complimentary refreshments
daily, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. weekdays and Saturdays and 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday.
For more information about the Welcome Center or WaterColor's first offering, call 850/231-6500 or 877/459-4537.
WaterColor is a 499-acre southern coastal resort and residential community in northwest Florida, directly on the
Gulf of Mexico, adjacent to the acclaimed Grayton Beach State Recreation Area along south Walton County's Scenic
Highway 30A. It was master-planned by acclaimed planner-architect, Jaquelin T. Robertson, of Cooper, Robertson
& Partners of New York. At full build-out, the community, which will include 1,140 residences; beach club;
tennis club; boathouse; 60-room inn; 100,000-square-feet of commercial space; dune walkovers and boardwalks and
a lakefront park. Nearly half the site is being devoted to open space and preservation areas.
WaterColor features a resident horticulturist, naturalist and artist. Phase one is currently underway on 102 acres
to include 338 residences and 40,000-square-feet of the total retail space, as well as the boathouse, beach club
and tennis club.
Arvida is a primary developer of master-planned residential, resort and business communities nationwide. Since
the company was founded more than 40 years ago by Arthur Vining Davis, it has completed more than 50 planned communities
comprising more than 35,000 new homes and 28 golf courses in Florida, Georgia, Texas, California and North Carolina.
St. Joe, a publicly held company based in Jacksonville, is Florida's largest real estate operating company. It
is engaged in community, commercial, industrial, leisure, hospitality and resort development, along with residential
and commercial real estate services. The company also has significant interests in timber.
For more information about WaterColor, see the website at www.watercolorflorida.com.
More information about St. Joe can be found at www.joe.com. Additional information about Arvida can be found at
www.arvida.com.
The above discussion contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act
of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such statements are based on current
expectations and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Should one or more of these risks
or uncertainties materialize or should the underlying assumptions prove incorrect, the company's actual performance
may differ materially from that indicated or suggested by any forward-looking statement contained herein.
``Arvida'' is a registered trademark. ``Arvida, a St. Joe company'' and the ``taking flight'' logo are service
marks of The St. Joe Company.
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Contact:
Arvida, a St. Joe Company, Panama City Beach, Fla.
Karen Terrell or Pam Selton
850.233.3032 o 850 914.6176