Osceola County will pay $8.9 million to buy the entitled 82-acre Solstice mixed-use development from Taylor Morrison Homes with plans to designate the site for affordable housing within walking distance of the Poinciana SunRail station.
Taylor Morrison inherited the project through its acquisition of AV Homes in 2018 and spent much of 2019 redesigning the community to respond to concerns from the county’s planning staff. The original Solstice project, as envisioned by AV Homes, consisted mainly of single-family detached homes, which county officials said wasn’t appropriate for the SunRail station area.
Following the vote on the land purchase, commissioners approved the amended Planned Development from Taylor Morrison would change the underlying Future Land Use to Employment Center, which sets a minimum of 18 units per acre.
“The commission believed, as I do, that we didn’t need more single family homes there,” County Manager Don Fisher said. “This is Transit Oriented Development, so we’ll be looking to do a mixed-use development on the site with an affordable housing component.”
Commissioners did not reveal any specific plans for developing the site. An agenda memo indicated the county would sell the mixed-use portion of the development to recoup its expenditure. It’s likely the county will advertise a Request for Letters of Interest from developers for the site.
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