25-acre Clermont site with apartment plan sells for $4.4M, ready for construction

More than 25 acres near Clermont with a site plan recently approved for 328 apartments sold Jan. 6, the same day of the plan's approval, for $4.4 million.

Lake County approved a site plan on the 25.3 acres on the south side of S.R. 50, west of Hartle Road and behind Rooms To Go. The site plan includes 21 buildings that total 328 apartment units, according to Lake County planner Melvin Isaac.

The seller was BFG Lakeshore LTD, which previously bought the land in 2004 for $3.8 million. The buyer was Hartle Groves Apartments LLC, with connections to Realty Cap Solutions in Colorado.

Tom Lawler, manager at LSG of Orlando and at multifamily developer Highland Investment Partners, is the owner, with an equity partner he chose not to reveal.

"I think that it's going to be a really great site and market there is growing like crazy," Lawler told GrowthSpotter. "There are a lot of jobs in Clermont and south Lake County and you can be in downtown (Orlando) in half an hour."

While the land is currently in unincorporated Lake County, Clermont has initiated plans to annex it. It's not contiguous to Clermont's city limits, but is within the city's service area boundaries where the city is allowed to annex land, in order to provide services such as water and sewer to the landowner.

Lawler hopes to start moving dirt on the property in the next couple of weeks and begin vertical construction by March 1. If the schedule holds, the first building will be delivered in December.

The General Contractor is Mark Baron Construction, of Orlando and the architect is Fugleberg Koch of Winter Park.

Teresa Burney can be reached at 352-455-1955 or at teresaburney4@gmail.com. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.