Shands Wooods / Palm terrace
Shands Woods/Palm Terrace includes properties along NW 23rd Street from West University Avenue to NW 8th Avenue, properties accessed from NW 7th Road, NW 23rd Drive, 24th Street and 25th Street. The latter three roads are cul de sacs and form the Palm Terrace portion of the neighborhood. Shands Woods/Palm Terrace is included in the boundaries of the University Park Neighborhood Association (a voluntary 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established to protect and improve its neighborhoods www.upnagnv.org).
Shands Woods is named for William A. (Bill) Shands, a graduate of UF’s law school, and a successful Gainesville businessman, who served in the Florida Senate for over 18 years, including a term as its President. Among his many accomplishments was securing funding for a medical school at the University of Florida. His house sat on a large tract of land accessed from NW 7thRoad that was subsequently subdivided for additional homes. The houses in Shands Woods and along 23rd Street were among the largest single-family homes in Gainesville built prior to 1975.
Palm Terrace is comprised of smaller houses, mostly bungalows, some of which are advantageously arranged around a sink hole surrounded by majestic oaks.
The neighborhood includes Elizabeth Creek that flows north into Hogtown Creek. The Hogtown Creek floodplain runs along the neighborhood’s northern edge providing a naturalized setting and a sense of isolation in the heart of the City. As a result of these creeks and the Palm Terrace sinkhole, the neighborhood enjoys considerable topographic relief.
Benmont Tench, the keyboardist with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, lived in this neighborhood and hosted band practices with their first band, Mudcrutch.
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