Developer plotting more homesites in Phase 2 of Green Island Ranch

With construction set to take off this year on the first phase of Green Island Ranch along Osceola County’s Canoe Creek Road, the developer is moving forward with plans for phase 2.

St. Cloud’s Gentry Land Company and Wheelock Communities are awaiting final approval for the site development plans for Canoe Creek Neighborhood 3, which is divided into five sub-phases. Those plans call for 847 homes, including 213 townhomes, along with a Neighborhood Center with up to 21,000 square feet of non-residential uses.

Wheelock Principal Dan Green and Lennar Homes VP Jim Bavouset confirmed to GrowthSpotter last month that the homebuilder would have a significant presence at Green Island Ranch. No other builders have been announced for Phase 1.

This portion of Phase 2 will offer four product types. About half of the homes will be rear-loaded bungalows. The rest will all be front-loaded on 45-, 50- and 60-foot lots. (Heidt Design)

The developers and their planning team from Heidt Design have already filed a preliminary subdivision for a portion of Canoe Creek Neighborhood 1, which was designated as Phase 2 of the master-planned community. The approved concept plan for CCN-1 called for 499 attached residential units and 389 detached homes, along with a future commercial center, community park and K-8 school.

The county’s Development Review Committee on Wednesday approved the submitted PS, which covers the southeast portion of the neighborhood with detached single-family homes. It calls 126 rear-loaded bungalow lots and 131 front-loaded lots ranging in size from 45 feet to 60 feet — for a total of 257 lots.

“We’re continuing to cruise along,” Project Director Matt Call told GrowthSpotter. “We’ve had lots of interest from builders. We’re talking to a lot of folks about buying different things. We’re at that point where we’ve got a lot of irons in the fire and we just can’t wait to pull one out.”

The color coded plan shows the different lot sizes for the first neighborhoods in Phase 2. The rear-loaded 32-foot bungalow lots are brown. The others are all standard, street-loaded homesites. (Heidt Design)

The case will go to Osceola County’s Planning Commission on April 6 and the Board of County Commissioners on April 17 for final approval.

Later subphases will include the school, park and commercial development, but Call said the development team will be tweaking those plans. “We have more planning work to do for that area,” Call said, noting that the preliminary subdivision pans could vary from what was in the approved concept plan if they can upgrade the highway overpass into a half-interchange with the Turnpike.

“I think initially when we did the (concept plan) that we were hoping that we could make progress, but now that we’ve gained more support, we want to really go back and take a look at that and make sure we get it right,” he said.

The developers paid $150 million for the 6,000-acre ranch that came with entitlements for 13,000 homes. So far, the team has focused its efforts on the four neighborhoods east of the Turnpike that are accessible from Canoe Creek Road. A full interchange with the Turnpike is planned north of the Canoe Creek neighborhoods and the future Southport Connector Expressway would connect just south of them.

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