Illinois builder buys land on Westside Blvd corridor for vacation home resort

An Illinois-based homebuilder closed this week on the purchase of 60 acres on the Westside Boulevard corridor, directly across from a future expansion of Lennar's ChampionsGate Country Club.

Eli Steinhardt, owner of Steinhardt Builders, told GrowthSpotter earlier this summer that Orlando has been like a second home to his family. That's why he decided to invest in the red-hot Westside corridor in Osceola County's Four Corners area.

Steinhardt actually had two sites under contract -- the other was a 27-acre parcel next to the Four Corners Charter School on Teacher Lane. He met with Osceola County planners in July to discuss the potential development of that parcel.

Abdul Alkadry of Harris Civil Engineers prepared site plans for both projects.

Ultimately, Steinhardt chose the larger site with better access to Westside Boulevard and ChampionsGate. He and his wife, Sharona, paid $3 million on Monday for two adjacent parcels from two different sellers. NAI Realvest's Jason Toll represented both sellers in the transaction.

The parcels front on the future southern extension of Westside Boulevard, which eventually will intersect with Bella Citta Boulevard in ChampionsGate. A preliminary conceptual plan shows a mix of single-family homes on various lot sizes and a few dozen townhome and condo units. The plan also has a pool and clubhouse, tennis courts and an on-site grocery store, coffee shop and restaurant.

Lennar is planning to add more than 800 homes, vacation homes, townhomes and condos on 214 acres around the ChampionsGate Country Club. In May, the builder signed a purchase contract for 30 acres adjacent to the project that would allow for a direct east-west connection with Westside Boulevard.

The future multimodal corridor is currently being extended south from the intersection at Goodman Road/Florence Villa Grove Road by several developers with active projects along the road, most notably Mattamy Homes.

Mattamy is building the first phase of Solar at Westside, a vacation home resort with more than 900 homes and townhouses. A Brazilian investment group is planning to build more than 500 apartments on a 20-acre site just south of Solara.

Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at lkinsler@GrowthSpotter.com or (407)420-6261, or tweet me at @LKinslerOGrowth. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.