A Coral Gables developer wants to build new townhomes on a 9-acre site in Orange County just south of Lake Nona Boulevard.
Element One LLC, is under contract to take over the land and build out the project, according to the company’s managing partner Carlos Cacciamani.
Caroline Marsan with Terravest Global Engineering Services, Inc submitted an application to the county on Nov. 11 seeking to change the land use from its rural residential designation to allow the development of an 88-unit townhome community with a pool and cabana.
The development team has previously handled ground-up housing projects in the South Florida region under the name Urban Development. This would be the company’s first foray into the Orlando market, Cacciamani told GrowthSpotter.
“This location is very good,” Cacciamani said, adding that his company has been eyeing the property for the past six months. “It’s in the Lake Nona area, it’s very accessible and there’s a hospital close by.”
The Lake Nona area, just southeast of the Orlando International Airport, is the top-selling residential community in Orange County, adding 685 rooftops in 2021. Last year the community ended the year ranked 18th among the fastest-growing master-planned communities in the nation, according to RCLCO. In 2021, the area got another economic boost with the arrival of the UCF Lake Nona Hospital.
The property eyed by Cacciamani sits on the outskirts of Lake Nona, just west of Boggy Creek Road, where a number of large-scale mixed-use development projects are in the pipeline with a promise to bring thousands of residential dwelling units.
On the east side of Boggy Creek Road, north of Beth Road, Lake Mary-based Integra Land Company is developing the 364-unit multifamily portion of a mixed-use project that was annexed into the city in 2020. That project could also see the development of 78,700 square feet of commercial and 92 townhomes.
Across from where Integra is building its apartment complex, DHI Communities, a wholly-owned subsidiary of D.R. Horton, is planning 660 multi-family units, 166 townhomes, 160 senior housing units, 150,000 square feet of retail use and 150,000 square feet of office uses on a 114-acre tract owned by Advent Health.
The Tyson Ranch PD sits just south of that project where plans call for ten acres of commercial space and 1,000 housing units, including townhomes built by MI Homes and a 297-unit apartment community built by Arlington Properties.
Arlington applied for building permits for its project on Nov. 11.
An application was submitted to Orange County on Aug. 15 seeking to rezone eight acres of the Tyson Ranch property on parcel 2 to allow for another 297 multifamily units. And on Aug. 30, the project’s master developer Ralph Singleton filed a preliminary application to discuss with county staff the construction of two six-story hotels with a combined total of 250 rooms.
On the opposite side of Boggy Creek Road, James Dowd, president of Dowd Properties, Inc, and land developer Daryl Carter are planning a mixed-use community with 350 apartment units and 15,000 square feet of commercial space on 22 acres.
The latest application for the 88-unit townhome community involves rural land at 14154 Ward Rd surrounded on all sides by urban development.
Somerset Crossings Townhomes sits to the north while the Harrington Pointe Townhomes sits to the west. To the east and south are subdivisions with detached single-family homes.
In a letter to Orange County, Marsan with Terravest Global Engineering Services said that the proposed (land-use) amendment is compatible with the existing adjacent and nearby land uses.
“This proposed development will follow the existing growth trend in the area,” she wrote. “The location is directly adjacent to central Florida Greenway road and adjacent to several townhomes currently in use. The property is in an area that currently has urban development to the west, east and south of the property.”
Cacciamani said in a phone call that the townhomes would be two stories and range in size from 1,800 square feet to 2,200 square feet. He does not yet know the price range for the units.
In Orange County, detached homes sold at an average price of $544,510 in 2021 while townhomes in the county sold for an average price of $331,873 in that same year, according to the property appraiser’s office.
Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at (407)-800-1161 or dwyatt@GrowthSpotter.com, or tweet me at @DustinWyattGS. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
