Boca Raton-based developer Equity Investments, LLC, paid $2.6 million on Friday for 74.74 acres near the future Florida Hospital Apopka. The group will begin developing a site plan to market to single-family homebuilders, and has yet to hire a civil engineer for the project, a managing member of the company told GrowthSpotter.
The property lies at 2210 and 1950 S. Binion Road at the intersection with Harmon Road. It’s just west of where Adventist Health System is building Apopka’s new hospital, near the intersection of the Western Beltway and Apopka Expressway, and east of Lake Apopka.
“We’re excited about the location, given its proximity to the new hospital and the intersection of major highways there,” said David Shapiro, managing member. “The location also offers beautiful views of the lake. We think this is an up-and-coming area with an easy commute to Orlando.”
Equity Investments is led by former owners of Engle Homes, which was one of the largest single-family and townhome builder brands in Orlando before the 2008 economic recession, said Shapiro, himself a former vice president of finance with the homebuilder. Engle went under after parent company TOUSA Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2008.
Equity Investments bought the Apopka property on spec, Shapiro said, without developing a site plan and ensuring the desired entitlements were available through Apopka’s planning and zoning department. The property holds some entitlements for single-family residential and other development types. Shapiro couldn’t recall on Monday the current lot count already entitled.
The company will spend the next few weeks by hiring a civil engineer, and working with them and Apopka planning staff to develop a site plan, which will then be marketed to homebuilders.
The property’s seller was Water’s Edge Partners LP, an affiliate of Andrew A. Ross, better known as real estate broker “Drew” Ross of Lakefield Realty Group in Winter Garden. Ross and some family members held ownership stakes in the 74.74 acres.
Other recent developments by Equity Investments in the area have been focused in St. Cloud, where the company acquired 170 lots in the Oak Ridge Place townhome development that were sold and now being built by A&M Homes.
The group is also developing single-family projects Terra Vista (72 lots) and the Preserve at Turtle Creek in St. Cloud, also with A&M Homes.
Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at bmoser@growthspotter.com, (407) 420-5685 or 
@bobmoser333. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
