Crane Island is a 185-acre master-planned community on the western, Intracoastal side of Amelia Island in Fernandina Beach, Florida, limited to just 113 homesites with roughly 100 acres left as preserved maritime forest and salt marsh. It sits on deep-water frontage along the Intracoastal Waterway, was the site of the 2019 Southern Living Idea House, and is one of the few places on the island where a new home can come with a private dock.
I've walked a lot of Amelia listings, and Crane Island is the one where the math surprises people. The parcel was originally entitled for 169 dwellings. The developers cut it to 113. On a barrier island where waterfront land almost never comes free, choosing to build fewer homes and keep more trees is not the usual playbook. That decision is the whole personality of the place.
Where is Crane Island, exactly?
Crane Island sits on the western edge of Amelia Island, the Intracoastal side facing the marsh and the Amelia River, at 3163 Bailey Road in Fernandina Beach. That is the quieter, back-of-the-island water, not the Atlantic beach side. The community has over 3,500 feet of Intracoastal Waterway frontage and over 4,000 feet abutting salt marshes, so most of its edges are water or wetland rather than road.
If you know Amelia, picture the marsh views you get driving in along Bailey Road, then imagine a gated island community built into that landscape. It shares a border with the Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport, which matters to one specific kind of buyer (more on that below).
Who is the developer, and how many homesites are there?
Crane Island was developed by Jack B. Healan Jr. and his partners, who purchased the roughly 185-acre property in 2014. The plan holds it to 113 single-family homesites, down from the 169 dwellings the land was entitled for. Roughly 100 acres, about 56% of the site, stays preserved, including most of the mature maritime forest.
Healan is not a parachuted-in name. He has lived on Amelia Island since the early 1970s and spent years as president of the Amelia Island Company, the developer behind the Amelia Island Plantation resort. When he talks about the site, he frames it as a stewardship problem more than a sales problem.
"We are all inspired by the opportunity at hand, the incredible chance to sustainably develop one of the last parcels of Intracoastal Waterway land on Amelia Island," Healan said, as Jack B. Healan Jr., Developer and Co-Founder of Crane Island.
That restraint shows up in the engineering, too. Instead of the retention ponds you see in most Florida subdivisions, Crane Island uses bioswales to manage stormwater, and the roads were laid out to work around old oaks rather than through them. The community also leans on its history: the land was purchased by John Broadbent in 1886, and Alice Park and Broadbent Road carry the family's name forward.
What amenities and homesites does Crane Island offer?
The centerpiece is the River House, a clubhouse sitting directly on the Intracoastal Waterway with an infinity-edge pool, a chef's catering kitchen, a fitness center, firepits, and an oyster-cooking area. Designated Intracoastal homesites come with private docks and boat lifts and direct deep-water access, which at opening made Crane Island the first new Intracoastal-access development on Amelia Island in 15 years.
A few features set it apart from a standard gated community:
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| River House club | Infinity pool, catering kitchen, fitness center, firepits, oyster-cooking area |
| Water access | Private docks and boat lifts on designated Intracoastal homesites |
| Trails | On the Amelia River-to-Sea Trail; the public 15-acre Crane Island Park sits at its river end |
| Architecture | Lowcountry-rooted, with Historical Concepts and 15+ firms available to custom buyers |
| Aviation | Adjacent to Fernandina Beach Municipal Airport (KFHB), with Bent Wing Flight Services as the FBO |
That airport line is not a throwaway. For pilots, the island's proximity to KFHB is a genuine draw, and both original partners were flyers themselves. For everyone else, the Amelia River-to-Sea Trail is the daily amenity: a 3-mile paved path running from Beach Access 30 at A1A over to Crane Island Park on the Amelia River, the 15-acre park that, unlike the neighborhood itself, is open to the general public.
Design at Crane Island runs to Lowcountry tradition: deep porches, standing-seam roofs, the vernacular you'd recognize from the older streets of downtown Fernandina. Custom buyers work from a roster of more than 15 architectural firms, including Historical Concepts, the Southern firm Jim Strickland founded in 1982. That pedigree is part of why Southern Living chose Crane Island for its 2019 Idea House, open for public tours from June 8 through December 8, 2019, with $20 admission benefiting the Amelia Island Museum of History.
What do homes and lots at Crane Island cost?
Pricing at Crane Island spans a wide band. As of the community's own listings, move-in ready homes on the market include a 5,245-square-foot waterfront house at $8.5 million and a 4,243-square-foot marsh-front house at $2.95 million. For buyers who want to build, 14 custom homesites remain available out of the 112 total properties, so lot availability is genuinely limited and thins as the community sells out.
Where a specific lot lands in that range depends on the things that always drive Amelia waterfront: whether it's true Intracoastal deep-water with a dock, whether it faces open marsh or interior greenspace, and how much of that preserved forest buffers it. Those are not details you can read off a listing sheet. This is where a local agent earns the commission, sorting which lots hold their view when the neighboring homesites build out, and which "waterfront" tags mean a boat lift versus a marsh vista. If you're weighing Crane Island against other spots on the island, that's the conversation we have at Salt Harbor Real Estate before you ever make an offer.
A community that deliberately capped itself at 113 homes is a finite thing. On Amelia Island, where new Intracoastal land is nearly gone, that scarcity is the point, and it's worth understanding what you're buying into before the last lots are gone.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Crane Island, FL?
Crane Island is on the western, Intracoastal side of Amelia Island in Fernandina Beach, Florida, at 3163 Bailey Road. It faces the salt marsh and the Amelia River rather than the Atlantic beach, with over 3,500 feet of Intracoastal Waterway frontage.
Who is the developer of Crane Island?
Crane Island was developed by Jack B. Healan Jr. and his partners, who purchased the roughly 185-acre property in 2014. Healan has lived on Amelia Island since the early 1970s and previously served as president of the Amelia Island Company, the developer behind Amelia Island Plantation.
How many homesites are at Crane Island?
The community is limited to 113 single-family homesites, down from the 169 dwellings the parcel was originally entitled for. Roughly 100 acres, about 56% of the site, is preserved as maritime forest and salt marsh. As of the community's current listings, 14 custom homesites remain available.
How much do homes and lots at Crane Island cost?
Prices span a wide range. Current move-in ready listings include a 5,245-square-foot waterfront home at $8.5 million and a 4,243-square-foot marsh-front home at $2.95 million. Custom homesites are also available for buyers who want to build. Where a lot lands depends on deep-water dock access, marsh versus interior views, and preserved-forest buffering.