After completing work on the 342-unit Cypress Alta apartment community in Longwood last year, Wood Partners is planning to deliver what company leaders are calling “version 2.0” to vacant land directly across the street.
The Atlanta-based company is proposing a 244-unit luxury apartment community on 8.7 acres near the northwest intersection of North Street and S. Ronald Reagan Boulevard. The land is currently zoned for industrial and a rezoning is required to allow multifamily development. The land-use change is going before the city commission for a vote at its May 16 meeting.
City staff is recommending approval with the hope the project will catalyze retail and commercial growth on surrounding properties, which are zoned for these uses.
“Studies have shown that the vast majority of new retail developments have a residential component to them – a trend that we have seen play out in surrounding communities,” a staff report included in agenda materials reads. “While industrial projects are an important driver of the Longwood economy, in this limited and specific instance, an industrial project would not activate the adjacent commercial parcels in the same way that a multi-family development would with its built-in customer base.”
The property has been owned since 1980 by Thelma Tice. The site was previously developed and included
paving, several buildings, and miscellaneous structures. The site has recently been cleared of buildings, however paving remnants and ponds remain, according to city records.
If Alta Cypress II is approved, it would be the developer’s third multifamily project in the city of Longwood. The 260-unit Alta Longwood opened in the city’s downtown corridor in 2021. Alta Cypress opened in 2022 on what was formerly a dog track for the Sanford Orlando Kennel Club.
While Alta Cypress consists of 10, three-story buildings, Alta Cypress II is contemplated as a single, four-story, interconnected building with two enclosed, interior courtyards, surface parking, and detached garages sprinkled throughout the site.
Project amenities will include an integrated clubhouse with leasing center/lobby, coffee bar, co-working spaces, social lounge with TVs/games, fitness center with dedicated spin/yoga room, resort-style pool, mailroom with smart package room, and pet park with pet washing station, according to plans filed to the city.
Wood Partners described its latest effort in a justification report submitted to the city ahead of the commission meeting. The report was prepared by civil engineering firm Madden, Moorhead & Stokes.
“We believe the proposed redevelopment serves the interests of the city and community alike,” the report reads, in part. “It will convert the subject site from its current state as an eyesore at a focal intersection into a bookend residential development which, along with the neighboring and complementary Alta Cypress apartments, will further elevate this location as a highly desirable environment for an affluent residential clientele and by extension, contribute to establishing this location as a desirable commercial corridor to better serve that clientele and community as a whole.”
Among the most active multifamily developers in Orlando, Wood Partners has completed more than a dozen apartment properties in the area.
Most recently, the 348-unit Alta at Horizon West, located near the intersection of Avalon Road and Phil Ritson Way, began welcoming tenants in April.
Construction began last summer on the 324-unit “Alta Davenport” off Hwy 27 in Davenport near Posner Park.
The company recently filed plans for the 219-unit V by Alta, which would be its fifth multifamily product in the tourism district within one mile of the headquarters for restaurant giant Darden Corporation.
It’s also pursuing a 363-unit project less than a mile east of Full Sail University near Winter Park called Alta at Baldwin.
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