Teresa Burney
Teresa Burney covered growth and development for GrowthSpotter.com in Lake County, as well as communities in West Orange County, from May 2015 through March 2018.
A Florida native, Teresa has been a journalist for 30-plus years, writing about everything from alligator hunting to real estate to the businesses of building homes and developing land. Most recently she spent seven years chronicling the rise, fall, and nascent recovery of the home building industry as a senior editor for BUILDER and BIG BUILDER magazines.
Recent Articles
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Mount Dora approves design standards for new home construction
In a move to make future development in Mount Dora align with the historic city’s architecture and live up to its “Someplace Special” moniker, the City Council preliminarily approved design standards Tuesday for development in the Wolf Branch district on the east side of US 441, a likely location...
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Eyesore lakefront mobile home park in Eustis under contract for redevelopment
For years, the city of Eustis has had Sharp’s Mobile Home park in downtown in its crosshairs for redevelopment. But residents of the unsightly mobile home community with a spectacular lake view balked at the loss of their homes. Now the mobile home park is on its way out, as a group of local investors...
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Single-family and apartment plans progress for massive Hills of Minneola
It has been decades since the fierce 1980s freezes killed Family Dynamics Land Company's 1,840 acres of orange groves in rural Lake County. But in the past two months, the Leesburg family-owned business has taken key steps with developers for the land that takes up a good swath of Minneola. “I...
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Avalon Park Group preps initial home lots for mixed-use lakeside project in Tavares
Avalon Park Group is making progress with plans to build 1,000-plus homes and a mixed-use community in Tavares around Lake Hermosa, a smaller version of its successful Avalon Park community in east Orlando. Following the filing of a conceptual development plan in August 2016 with the city for...
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Leesburg approves rezoning of 2,631 acres for The Villages w/developer's agreement
Leesburg Commissioners voted Monday night to give initial approval for a new development of The Villages in its city limits, approving Age-Restricted Development (ARD) zoning for 2,631 acres near the Florida Turnpike. Commissioners also approved a development agreement between the city and The Villages...
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Growing stroller rental business rolls into new building plans in Winter Garden
Matt and Angela Wilhite started their Kingdom Strollers rental business from their condominium in 2010. In the years since they outgrew that and moved into two larger buildings in Clermont and Winter Garden, but business is booming and they're now packed in at 6,700 square feet. "We are all on...
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Local builder plans new HQ office in Oviedo for 13-acre light industrial park
Chuluota-based Southern Development & Construction is in the process of building out 13 acres of land in Oviedo for a mixed-use commercial center, with one headquarters relocation already in the works. To be named Oviedo Commercial Center and located off Connection Point west of S.R. 426, plans...
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New Leesburg-area mall owners update city on new tenants, investment efforts
The new owners of Lake County’s only mall unveiled ambitious plans for its improvement to the Leesburg City Commission Tuesday evening, promising to bring new life to an underdeveloped property. Meir Benzaken and Laurent Abitbol, real estate investors and brokers with Exclusive Management and Properties,...