BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Starke had more commercial building permits pulled in 2025 than new housing permits.
The seven single family homes were one-fifth the number permitted last year, although that number had been inflated by the 21 rental homes constructed in the Sandcastle Pines development on North Westmoreland Street.
But Starke has more housing to come. The site plan for the City Walk development planned for East Call Street has been approved. Those 45 townhouses aren’t the only townhouses coming either. According to Starke’s building department, the land being cleared at the corner of State Road 16 and Weldon Road is for an additional 40 townhouses.
Unlike City Walk, which will offer a rent-to-own program at market rates, the townhouses in the as-yet unnamed development will be affordable housing. New River Place, the 80 apartments planned for Thomas Street, is also an affordable housing project.
The number of new housing permits elsewhere in the county was also down from 85 to 65 in 2025. The majority remain in the Starke or Lake Region (Keystone Heights and Melrose) zip codes, with Hampton leading the other areas.
In addition to houses, however, there were once again more than 90 mobile homes installed around the county, including a couple in the city of Starke.
Starke’s eight commercial permits included the recently opened Express Oil Change, but also the city’s new music pavilion, the expansion at the health department and work at the county’s equipment yard. There were also eight commercial remodels, including First Federal Bank, the nursing school at North Florida Technical College and the recently opened Papa Johns.
Outside of Starke, the county permitted a new gun range at the Keystone RV Resort, a new gun store at Bradford Sportsmen’s Farm, a new office building at Belle Oaks Barn, a quick lube at Murray Ford, FS Pools contractor outside Hampton and the living quarters at the Sampson City Fire Rescue station.
A new station is coming to Brooker as well, and as Starke continues to identify funding sources and complete plans for its utility extension down State Road 16, construction should begin, eventually tying the city to potentially hundreds of new homes and accompanying businesses.
