The South Florida investors who bought a future industrial site within the Harmony master-planned community are under contract for the remaining undeveloped land and plan to build it out with additional retail, hospitality and multifamily users.
Coastline-Nakash Equity Capital Group, or CNE, paid $9.5 million earlier this month for the 45-acre site next to Harmony High School. Senior Analyst Joey Lazerowitz told GrowthSpotter the partners were drawn to the Harmony project because it’s surrounded by existing homes and new construction.
“We saw this as an opportunity to buy land right in the middle of all these high-end homes where there’s a lot of growth and not enough retail to serve all these residents,” Lazerowitz said. The land transactions will involve roughly 100 acres, including the industrial site.
CNE has partnered with Transamerican Development Corp. and developer Moti Maximoff. Together, they plan to build up to 950 residential units and bring a new grocery store and other retail to Harmony. The partners have multiple closings scheduled over the next few months and will be submitting new development plans throughout the remainder of the year.
Lazerowitz said the first phase is expected to be a 280-unit apartment complex on the vacant land immediately west of the Harmony Town Center. “It’s going to be zoned for up to 400 units, but we’re going start with 280 in the first phase,” he said.
The design calls for seven midrise elevator-served buildings with a separate pool and clubhouse for the residents. Lazerowitz said the partners would close on this parcel within a month and submit a site development plan within 45 days.
Civil engineer Steven Boyd held a pre-application meeting with Osceola County’s DRC in February to discuss the multifamily development. He subsequently filed an application for a minor PD amendment to increase the maximum height from 50 feet to 55 feet to accommodate the building design.
Ground-floor apartments would have private gardens while the upper floors would have balconies. The estimated budget is $65 million.
The partners are scheduled to close later this week on the purchase of the Harmony clubhouse, but will not be taking over ownership or management of the golf course. They plan to convert an existing office building across from the clubhouse into a Bed & Breakfast or boutique hotel to complement the wedding business at the club and event garden next door.
CNE Chairman Yaniv Nakash said the partners are also under contract to buy roughly 15 acres east of the town center for additional multifamily units.
The partners have plans for a major retail expansion in the mixed-use community. While the town center currently has a small market and a few restaurants, the closest grocery store is about 8 miles away, at Narcoossee Road. The CNE-Transamerican group wants to bring a standard-sized grocery store into the community with several commercial outparcels that could accommodate restaurants, medical offices, a bank or a charter school. The group is targeting Publix but does not have a signed lease.
While much of the original Harmony subdivision is completed, D.R. Horton is actively building over 2,000 homes in Harmony West. The section formerly known as Harmony Central, just east of the main community, has approvals for 522 new single-family homes, and horizontal construction is underway.
Across from Harmony West, Lennar Homes will build 286 homes across U.S. 192 from Harmony West in a community called Pine Glen. Meanwhile, M/I Homes just bought Bay Lake Farms, a 206-lot subdivision adjacent to Harmony West.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was updated to clarify the status of planned grocery store tenants.
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