Goodbye SoHo, Hello NoFlo? How the Watersound Area of North Florida Is Becoming New York’s Hottest New Neighborhood

Tired of the cold? A new ad campaign calling NoFlo (Northwest Florida) "New York's hottest new neighborhood" is counting on it.

While city dwellers are trapped in the season of snow and freezing temperatures, "Visit Watersound" posters with idyllic ocean scenes are being plastered in New York City subways and all around town. And during this time of hats, gloves, and too many layers, these promos are definitely getting New Yorkers' attention. (The call of the beach is strong when it's sub-zero outside.)

But what is this Watersound area all about, and why is NoFlo suddenly being presented as a perfect "escape" for New Yorkers?

It turns out, it was always there, but the reasons for visiting or relocating to the area are now far more direct.

At the end of 2025, Delta launched a daily nonstop route between Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport (ECP) and LaGuardia Airport in New York.

"This route is the first of its kind connecting the Watersound community to New York, the country’s largest population center," says Mike Kerrigan, vice president of marketing and communications for The St. Joe Company, a diversified real estate company with segments in residential, hospitality, and commercial that is responsible for developing much of the NoFlo area.

"Prior to this flight, the lack of convenient air service eliminated the Watersound community as a convenient option for New Yorkers looking for a Florida vacation or considering relocating to Florida. This new route removes that barrier."

Indeed, air accessibility has led to this renewed marketing push to introduce New York and other Northeast dwellers to an area of the Florida Panhandle that many have passed over. After digging deeper (and drooling at the thought of a seaside sojourn in January), it's clear there are many reasons to give Watersound a look in any season!

Where exactly in Florida are we talking about here?

While NoFlo (Northwest Florida) is the term being used in the New York City ad campaigns, local Floridians refer to this area as SoWal, because it lies in the southern section of Walton County.

As it borders the Gulf of Mexico, there are beautiful white-sand beaches (this region is known as the Emerald Coast for a reason), with the main drag running along the scenic beachfront 30A Highway.

"Locals and people of the South and Southeast that have vacationed here forever simply call this area '30A,' and it spans 26 miles starting at Inlet Beach and then ending at what's called Dune Allen Beach," says Allison Freeman, a top-producing real estate agent with The Premier Property Group in the 30A luxury market.

From there, however, unlike a city or other municipality, it is not so neatly defined on a map.

"It's a little confusing to everyone here because we have essentially this whole city area that is Santa Rosa Beach. But within all of that, there are all these little neighborhoods and towns and incorporated neighborhoods," says Freeman.

And that includes the focus of the New York City ad campaigns. Watersound is a master-planned community that is a collection of places and experiences located within 110,000-plus acres owned and developed by The St. Joe Company.

"Those places and experiences include residential communities, hotels and resorts, apartment communities, lifestyle shopping centers, health care facilities, a private membership club, an international airport, and 50,000-plus acres of conservation land among others," says Kerrigan. "The white-sand beaches with turquoise water and vast spans of pine forest are the geographic features that tie it all together."

Why is Watersound advertising to New Yorkers right now?

Obvious cold weather snaps and new direct flights aside, there are a host of reasons that Watersound is now appealing to New Yorkers.

For many years, Northwest Florida pulled in primarily people from the Southeast.

"People that vacation and eventually 'staycation' there have tended to be from Atlanta, Tennessee, and Texas. It is easier for them to get to the Panhandle and have warm weather and sugar-white sand beaches versus driving several additional hours south toward Southwest Florida or the East Coast of Florida," says Cara Ameer, an agent with Coldwell Banker who is licensed in California and Florida.

According to Kerrigan, more recently, that catchment area has expanded farther to include the Midwest, the mid-Atlantic states, and, to a lesser extent, the Northeast. Much of that geographic expansion has been driven by the growth of the local airport, Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport (ECP).

In fact, airline passenger counts to the area have grown from approximately 300,000 just 15 years ago, to nearly 2 million annual passengers today with direct flights to seven of the 10 largest metropolitan areas in the country.

"For decades, New Yorkers have looked to Florida for winter vacations, relocation, and retirement, but the Watersound community and Northwest Florida as a whole were never a part of that consideration set," says Kerrigan.

But now that they can get to the Watersound area in less than 2.5 hours from LaGuardia Airport, it's a different ballgame.

"We hear it over and over again from first-time visitors, especially those from the Northeast: 'I had no idea this was here.' After that initial visit, the Watersound community becomes an annual vacation tradition for travelers and an attractive destination for relocation or retirement," Kerrigan adds.

The ad campaign, which started just in December 2025, seems to be working as New Yorkers are finding out about this formerly inaccessible gem.

"The campaign is still very new, having just launched in December. However, in that short time, we have seen an approximately 1,500% increase in weekly visitors from New York to www.watersound.com as our marketing campaign has rolled out and New Yorkers are looking for more information," says Kerrigan.  

Hotel bookings have followed, which seem to be the "gateway drug" to more extended stays in the area.

"We often refer to our hotels as the ‘front porch’ of the Watersound community," says Kerrigan. There is a natural sequence that occurs where travelers visit the area for the first time, stay in one of the hotels, and fall in love with the Watersound community.

"They become loyal hotel customers and, before too long, start considering Watersound as a place to relocate, purchase a second home, or retire, depending on their phase in life."

What type of person will thrive in the Watersound area?

For New Yorkers who want to get out of the cold but prefer something a little quieter, Watersound may be just the ticket.

"If you want a slower pace of life that’s less flashy and not as much about nightlife, shopping, and an overall less pretentious lifestyle, NoFlo is a great place to be," says Ameer. "You can come as you are and not worry about having to impress people. Quiet wealth loves this area for this exact reason." 

While NoFlo is definitely a luxury market, since it's not quite as warm as more southern areas in the winter, its rates tend to be a little more reasonable. It also attracts a different clientele than the "typical" snowbird escapes.

"Palm Beach and Miami are popular vacation destinations for New Yorkers, but feature many of the same pain points that New Yorkers feel at home: crowds, fast pace, congestion," says Kerrigan. "In Watersound, especially during a winter vacation, visitors experience just the opposite: peace and quiet, serenity, calm."

That distinction is reflected in the ad campaign that urges people to “Trade NYC’s hustle for NoFLo’s hush.”  

What's more, NoFlo has a variety of neighborhoods, so "there really is something for everyone since there's a different style to each of the 30A neighborhoods," says Freeman, who lives in the Watersound Origins area herself.

She explains that Watersound has more of a New England look with shake siding on the homes and sand dunes spanned by gorgeous boardwalks. Rosemary Beach is more European Colonial/U.S. Southern in style, while Seaside is more Southern coastal. Alys Beach is all white-hued and ultraluxury.

"It's very sleepy and probably our highest-priced market here and has more of an Antiguan or Bermudian feel," says Freeman of Alys Beach.

Price points can also fluctuate, depending on where a homebuyer is looking: more inland or on the Gulf.

For example, in the Watersound area alone, there is wide variability. According to Kerrigan, these are the price ranges in the fastest-growing areas:

• Watersound Origins: $500,000 to $3 million-plus
• Watersound Camp Creek: $4 million to $6 million (new-construction homes)
• Ward Creek: $270,000 to $750,000-plus
• Latitude Margaritaville Watersound: $300,000 to $1 million-plus (55-plus active adult community)

Similarly, hotels in NoFlo can range anywhere from $97 to $500 a night in the winter.

But the beautiful thing about the area is that all the neighborhoods along the 30A corridor are connected.

"We have a bike path or sidewalk that runs the full 26 miles of the 30A highway, so that's great because it connects people because they can ride bikes, jog, and walk their dogs. It's very outdoorsy," says Freeman.

"People are always on their cruisers and can pedal from one little town to the next to go grab lunch or see live music outside of a coffee shop, and there's always something going on like wine festivals or this weekend's 30A Songwriters Festival that people come in for from all over the country."

Growing, growing, but not all gone

A handful of factors have led to the rapid growth of Watersound over the past several years. The area benefited from the post-COVID-19 migration and increased popularity of remote work, which brought many Americans from the Midwest and Northeast to the Southeast.

"Homebuyers were also drawn to the quality of life, the highly rated schools, and the sense of safety that residents experience in Watersound," adds Kerrigan.

However, the 30A market is one of those areas that has higher-than-average inventory levels. At the moment, according to Freeman, 30A is a buyer's market.

And though many people have vacation or second homes in the area, the number of full-time residents is also increasing.

"The full-time local population is booming as evidenced by several new schools and roads that have been built just in the past several years," says Kerrigan.

Watersound was just included among the top 25 master-planned communities for new-home sales in 2025, with a total of 582, and all of the homes that are included in that total are in neighborhoods that do not permit short-term rentals. (This means those buyers are either full-time residents or true second-home owners, not speculators or investors.)