Altamonte Springs developer and civil engineer Richard Wohlfarth wants to transform roughly 70 vacant acres in Ocoee into a bustling master-planned community equipped with apartments, townhomes and more than 150,000 square feet of commercial space.
Richard Wohlfarth of Wohlfarth Consulting Group is pursuing a large-scale comprehensive plan amendment for 73.2 acres that straddles Clarcona Ocoee Road, east of North Lakewood Avenue, for a master-planned community dubbed Ocoee Village Center.
The amendment is seeking to change the property’s current Low-Density Residential land-use to High-Density Residential and Commercial, and a rezoning from R-1A (Single-Family Dwelling) to PUD/PUD Land Use Plan (Planned Unit Development).
According to a recent master development plan filed in the City of Ocoee, the land at 10711 N. Lakewood Ave. would be slated for 150,000 square feet of commercial/retail space, 196 townhomes and a 316-unit luxury apartment complex.
The land use and PUD zoning also permits lodging on the property. The master development plan shows that Ocoee Village Center could consist of a 140-room hotel.
Other plans slated for the project include a 2.39-acre public park, two small-format grocery stores, a 5,411-square-foot gas station, a 10,000-square-foot child care building and multiple buildings designated for retail space.
Wohlfarth was not immediately available to comment. In Leesburg, he’s redeveloping the shuttered Silver Lake Golf and Country Club into a 233-home subdivision.
The Ocoee Village Center rezoning case goes to the Ocoee Planning Commission on April 9 and the City Commission April 16 for its first public hearing.
Kenneth W. Buchman is representing an ownership team consisting of Elise Della Rocco, Tom and Carol Cole, Alissa Barrett, Kevin Young, Beryle and Miles Buchman, and Robert Solomon in the development. Allen & Company Inc. is the surveyor.
State Road 429 is positioned just west of the property, currently a pine forest.
The land lies close to the Ocoee-Winter Garden border, about 10 minutes south from the city’s downtown, which is in the midst of a $43 million redevelopment project that is slated to be complete by 2020.
Wharton-Smith Construction was tapped to design and build a new city hall as part of the city’s redevelopment efforts. The new city hall building will be located on the northeast corner of Bluford Avenue and McKey Street.
Nearby, homebuilder Mattamy Homes is developing a 303-lot subdivision that will comprise its new Preserve at Crown Point gated community.
The area has received interest from developers like Robert Holston of Holston Properties & Development and Beazer Homes, both of whom submitted unsolicited offers for different city-owned lots for future residential development.
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