20 apartments for rent in Loretto, Jacksonville, FL

Formed by the Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine, Loretto is situated on what eventually became Old St. Augustine Road, the main thoroughfare between Jacksonville and St. Augustine. Loretto is bordered by San Jose Boulevard on the west, Phillips Highway on the east, Interstate 295 on the north, and Loretto Road on the south.

Location and a Middle America ambience are keys to Loretto’s overall appeal. The area’s mature tree cover easy access to the St. Johns River and highly ranked public schools attract families. The average price for homes is just under $200,000, and the neighborhood has several dead-end streets and cul-de-sacs.

Loretto Elementary School, at 3900 Loretto Road, which serves grades K-5, is among the few elementary schools in Florida to receive a GreatSchools rating of 10 out of 10. It’s a magnet school with 1,223 students. Private schools in the Loretto area include Promise Land Academy, St. Joseph Catholic School, Jacksonville Adventist Academy, Mandarin Christian School, and Guardian Lutheran School.

A cultural hub for the neighborhood is the Northeast Florida Conservatory, Inc., an arts and cultural center with a program for teaching musical instruments for all ages and a community band for adults. Residents have easy access to Burnett Park, which was originally developed in 1953 by the Greater Loretto Improvement Association. It is a great community asset with a long list of amenities, including four youth baseball fields, three youth softball fields, four tennis courts, a basketball court (all lighted), as well as twelve picnic tables.

For golf, Loretto residents tee up at nearby courses like San Jose Country Club, Deercreek Country Club and Deerwood Country Club. When it’s time to shop, most residents gravitate to San Jose Boulevard, which has seemingly every major chain store available, and the Mandarin Corners Shopping Center, where a Wal-Mart Supercenter, Barnes & Noble, and Office Depot are the draw.