The First Coast Expressway: How Eminent Domain Will Affect Clay and St. Johns County Landowners

The First Coast Expressway is no longer a line on a planning map. It is a working toll road, and the next phases will cut through working farms, family homesteads, timber tracts, and commercial frontage in Clay and St. Johns counties. If you own land anywhere near the corridor, the question is not whether eminent domain will touch your community. The question is whether it will touch you, and what you do about it if it does.

This article breaks down, in plain English, what the project means for landowners on both sides of the St. Johns River, how Florida’s eminent domain process actually works, and the steps you can take right now to protect the value of your property.

A 46-Mile Toll Road That Reshapes the Region

The First Coast Expressway (FCE), designated as State Road 23, is a Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise project. When complete, it will run roughly 46 miles from Interstate 10 in Duval County south through Clay County, across a new bridge over the St. Johns River, and east through St. Johns County to Interstate 95.

Three big things are happening right now:

• Clay County segments from State Road 16 south to County Road 209 are open or opening on an accelerated schedule, with the most recent 18-mile stretch coming online well ahead of its original 2026 target.
• A new four-lane bridge over the St. Johns River, just south of the existing Shands Bridge, will sit 65 feet above the water (the current bridge sits at 45 feet). The design-build contract is valued at roughly $595 million.
• St. Johns County construction is moving from preconstruction into active right-of-way acquisition and construction phases, with the I-95 connection (Project 453070-1) scheduled to begin in FY 2026 and the full corridor targeted for completion around 2030 to 2031. (Florida’s Turnpike)

For property owners, the takeaway is simple: the agencies in charge are no longer studying routes. They are buying land.

Why the FCE Triggers So Much Eminent Domain Activity

A 46-mile, six-lane, limited-access toll road needs a wide, continuous right-of-way (ROW). FDOT cannot detour around a recalcitrant landowner the way a developer might reroute a subdivision road. The alignment is set by engineering, environmental permitting, and federal funding constraints.

When FDOT cannot negotiate a voluntary purchase, Florida law allows it to use its power of eminent domain to acquire what it needs. That includes:

• Full takings of entire parcels in the path of the road.
• Partial takings that slice off frontage, a strip for a stormwater pond, or a wedge for a sound wall.
• Permanent easements for drainage, utility relocation, or sight-line preservation.
• Temporary construction easements (TCEs) that allow contractors to enter your remaining property for grading, staging, or driveway tie-ins during construction.

If you live or own land along the corridor in Middleburg, Green Cove Springs, Penney Farms, Fleming Island, World Golf Village, or the rural areas north of State Road 16 in St. Johns County, you should assume that at least one of these tools could be used on your parcel. For an overview of how these matters are handled, see our Florida Eminent Domain practice page and our service page on Eminent Domain and Condemnation Issues.

Eminent Domain in Florida: The Short Version

Eminent domain is the government’s power to take private property for a public use, so long as it pays the owner. The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires just compensation. Florida’s Constitution goes further and requires full compensation, which is broader.

In practice, Florida’s framework gives landowners stronger leverage than owners in many other states. Three points matter most:

1. The taking must be for a valid public purpose. A toll road, an interchange, and a bridge approach all qualify.
2. The owner is entitled to full compensation, not whatever number the agency originally offered.
3. The government generally pays the owner’s reasonable attorneys’ fees and expert costs in a Chapter 73 condemnation proceeding. That is a critical structural advantage in Florida and is one reason owners should not simply accept the first written offer.

For a deeper walkthrough, our Understanding the Eminent Domain Process for Florida Commercial Property Owners post walks the process step by step.

How the Process Will Unfold Along the FCE Corridor

FDOT generally follows the same sequence on a project like the First Coast Expressway. Knowing the sequence helps you spot where you are and what is coming next.

1. Project Development and Environment (PD&E)

This is the corridor study phase. FDOT identifies alternative alignments, holds public hearings, and selects a preferred route. By the time you read a news story about the FCE in Clay or St. Johns County, the PD&E for that segment is typically complete.

2. Design and Right-of-Way Mapping

Engineers draw the precise ROW lines. This is when you can usually figure out whether your parcel is in the take area, partially in the take area, or merely adjacent.

3. Appraisal

FDOT orders an appraisal of your property. The appraisal drives the first written offer. The appraisal may or may not adequately account for the highest and best use of your land, severance damages to the remainder, business damages if you operate a business on the property, or cost-to-cure items like fence relocation and well replacement.

4. Written Offer and Negotiation

FDOT sends a written offer of full compensation. You are not required to accept it. You are also not required to negotiate without counsel.

5. Order of Taking

If a deal is not reached, FDOT files a condemnation petition under Chapter 73, Florida Statutes, and seeks an Order of Taking. At that hearing, the court determines that the agency has the right to take and sets the amount FDOT must deposit into the court registry. Once the deposit is made, title passes to FDOT, but the fight over how much you are owed continues.

6. Apportionment and Final Compensation

After title passes, the parties litigate the actual value owed. This phase is where most of the real money is made or lost for landowners. Jury trials are available in Florida condemnation cases, and they often result in awards substantially higher than the initial offer.

What “Full Compensation” Really Means in Florida

The phrase “full compensation” does a lot of heavy lifting. For an FCE-impacted owner, it can include several distinct buckets:

Value of the Land Actually Taken

This is the fair market value of the strip, wedge, or whole parcel acquired, valued at its highest and best use, not just its current use. A pasture that could lawfully be subdivided or developed is not appraised as raw pasture.

Severance Damages to the Remainder

If FDOT takes only a portion of your land, the remainder may lose value because of the taking. Common severance damage drivers on highway projects include:

• Loss of frontage on a county road.
• Loss of direct access (your driveway is now blocked by a limited-access fence).
• Noise, light, and visual impacts from a new elevated lane.
• Awkward configurations that leave the remainder hard to develop.
• Drainage and stormwater changes that flood, dry out, or otherwise impair the remainder.

A landowner is entitled to be compensated for these losses. The interplay between the value of the take and severance damages is one of the most heavily litigated areas in Florida condemnation work. Our discussion of Complex Real Property Improvement Issues addresses how improvements on the remainder factor in.

Business Damages

Florida is one of the few states that allows business damages in a partial-take case. Under Section 73.071(3)(b), Florida Statutes, the owner of an established business operating on the property for a qualifying period may recover lost profits and the diminution in business value caused by the taking, even if the business itself is not condemned.

This matters in a big way along the FCE. Think of the family-run nursery on Henley Road, the boat dealer on County Road 220, the orange grove with a roadside stand, the auto repair shop on State Road 16, or the storage facility off County Road 210. Each may have a business damages claim distinct from the real estate claim.

Our two-part series, Florida Eminent Domain: An Introduction to Business Damages (Part 1) and Calculating and Proving Business Damages (Part 2), explains the prerequisites and the math.

Cost-to-Cure

If the harm to the remainder can be fixed (rebuilding a fence, drilling a new well, relocating a sign, repaving a driveway, regrading a stormwater swale), the cost of those repairs can be added to the compensation owed. A landowner does not have to choose between cost-to-cure and severance damages. Done right, the analysis pairs the two so the remainder is left as economically whole as possible.

Attorneys’ Fees and Expert Costs

In a Chapter 73 case, FDOT generally pays the landowner’s reasonable attorneys’ fees and expert costs, calculated under a statutory formula tied to the difference between the initial offer and the ultimate award. That structure exists for a reason. The Legislature wanted property owners to have professional representation without that representation eating their compensation. Owners who hire counsel early almost always net more.

Temporary Construction Easements: Small Print, Big Impact

A temporary construction easement (TCE) lets FDOT and its contractors come onto your remaining land for a defined period during construction. They sound minor. They are not.

A TCE can mean heavy equipment in your front pasture for 18 months, the loss of a row of mature oaks, blocked access to a back parcel, or compaction damage that lingers long after the contractor leaves. We covered the strategic issues in Navigating Temporary Construction Easements in Florida’s Eminent Domain Process.

Pay attention to:

• Duration. Push back on open-ended TCEs.
• Scope. Limit permitted activities to what is necessary.
• Surface restoration. Require restoration to pre-construction grade and condition.
• Compensation. A TCE is a property interest. You are entitled to be paid for it.

What the FCE Project Looks Like on the Ground

The St. Johns County segments are the next big wave of takings. According to FDOT’s open-house notice for the final phase, the project will extend State Road 23 from County Road 2209 east to Interstate 95, completing the regional bypass loop. (Jacksonville Daily Record)

The bridge segment is its own animal. The new St. Johns River crossing south of the Shands Bridge requires extensive ROW on both the Clay and St. Johns sides, including land for bridge approaches, retention ponds, and frontage road realignments. FDOT’s project pages summarize the geometry. (NFL Roads: New St. Johns River Bridge)

For landowners, that means three concurrent acquisition streams in 2026 and 2027:

1. Clay County: final segments tying into State Road 16 and the bridge approach.
2. The St. Johns River bridge corridor itself.
3. St. Johns County: the I-95 connection and the new interchanges at County Road 16A, County Road 2209, and County Road 210.

Florida’s New Eminent Domain Rules

Florida law has tightened the rules governing what governments and quasi-governmental entities can do with condemned property. Our overview of Florida’s New Eminent Domain Rules: What Business Owners Need to Know is required reading for anyone tracking an FDOT acquisition. It addresses how the post-Kelo statutory reforms in Florida limit downstream conveyances and how courts have interpreted those rules.

Owners along the FCE should also understand the Bert Harris Act, which provides relief in some situations where a government action devalues property without a formal taking. The Act is a separate remedy from a Chapter 73 case, but it sometimes runs in parallel when, for example, a regulatory change before the official taking renders a parcel unusable.

Pre-Suit Strategy: What to Do the Moment You Hear About the FCE Near Your Property

The single most common mistake is waiting. By the time the first offer arrives, the appraisal is already locked in, and FDOT has spent months building its valuation file. Owners should act earlier.

A short, practical checklist:

1. Pull the corridor maps. Identify whether your parcel is in the ROW, abuts it, or sits within the influence area.
2. Inventory your property. Document existing access points, drainage, fences, wells, septic, outbuildings, billboards, and signage. Photos and dated drone footage are gold.
3. Identify your business operations. If you run a business on the property, gather three to five years of tax returns and financials. Business damages claims rise and fall on this data.
4. Map your easements and title issues. Existing easements and restrictive covenants, unresolved boundary line issues, and quiet title issues all need to be cleaned up before the appraiser shows up.
5. Engage counsel before negotiating. Because FDOT generally pays the landowner’s reasonable fees and expert costs in a Chapter 73 case, the structural cost barrier that exists in other litigation is much lower here. Owners who lawyer up early consistently outperform owners who try to negotiate alone.

For a broader context on protecting development-grade land, our discussion of Property Owners and Real Estate Developers and Disputes Involving Easements, Facility Usage, Signage and Security Matters lays out the broader framework.

Common Mistakes Landowners Make

Even sophisticated owners stumble. Watch out for these:

• Accepting the first offer. It is almost never the final number a jury would award.
• Assuming the appraiser saw what you see. If the appraisal misses business operations, drainage issues, or a higher-and-better-use case, the offer will be low.
• Talking to FDOT without counsel. Casual statements about the property’s use or condition can become exhibits.
• Ignoring TCE terms. A poorly drafted TCE can permit far more contractor activity than the owner ever envisioned.
• Letting deadlines slip. Once the Order of Taking enters and the deposit lands in the court registry, certain rights have to be invoked promptly.
• Forgetting about the remainder. The remainder is often where the biggest dollars are, especially when severance damages and cost-to-cure are properly developed.

Our earlier piece on Pre-Trial Settlement Strategies in Eminent Domain Proceedings walks through how strategic positioning before suit can change the trajectory of the entire case.

A Note for Commercial Developers and Investors Along the Corridor

If you are an investor or developer holding land for future use along the FCE, eminent domain is only half the story. The other half is what the corridor does to the surrounding parcels. New interchanges create winners and losers. Land directly at an interchange may double in value, while land a quarter mile from a frontage road and behind a sound wall may lose visibility entirely.

Owners and operators should be thinking about:

• Highest and best use reanalysis once the corridor is final.
• Lease provisions covering condemnation events (most commercial leases address them, but the allocation between landlord and tenant is often poorly drafted).
• Refinancing and lender consent issues if a partial taking triggers loan covenants.
• Coordination with your tax planning around any award.

Bottom Line

The First Coast Expressway is going to be built. The corridor through Clay and St. Johns counties is moving from planning to acquisition, and many landowners will hear from FDOT in the coming 12 to 36 months. Florida’s framework gives owners real leverage when they understand it and use it early. The owners who fare best are the ones who treat an FDOT letter the way they would treat a lawsuit served at the front gate: as something to act on, not something to set aside.

If your property in Jacksonville, St. Augustine, Duval County, Clay County, or St. Johns County may be touched by the First Coast Expressway, the time to map your strategy is now, not after the first offer arrives.

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