Sonata Senior Living is looking to expand its footprint in Winter Garden with new medical offices

Orlando-based Sonata Senior Living is looking to acquire land from New Horizon Christian Church to develop a pair of office buildings next to its assisted and independent housing facilities in Winter Garden.

Plans call for two medical offices totaling 45,000 square feet at 541 Winter Garden Vineland Road. Each two-story building will span about 22,500 square feet.

The undeveloped 5.5-acre property sits directly across its Serenades by Sonata and Sonata West communities built in 2013 and 2017.

As part of the deal, New Horizon will be granted a pad-ready site on the 5.5 acres, so the church may develop a roughly 10,475-square-foot one-story building for its services.

A site plan of the proposed medical office buildings and church site at 541 Winter Garden Vineland Road. Sonata's existing communities are immediately east of the property. (Winter Garden/GrowthSpotter)

Frank Foreman, a pastor at the Winter Garden church, told GrowthSpotter they’re currently renting out space at West Orange Church of Christ just north of the property at 1450 Daniels Road.

“It’s been a very long process, but we’re excited,” Foreman said.

In order to move forward with construction, Sonata Senior Living must amend the property’s future land use designation and rezone the property.

The Winter Garden City Commission unanimously approved plans earlier this month for the first hearing. A second hearing takes place in February.

Stephen Caruso, vice president of business development at Sonata Living, told GrowthSpotter the project is the final phase of its Sonata West Campus, which includes the assisted and independent housing facilities.

In total, Sonata West Campus features 158 units, of which, 45 are dedicated to memory care. In 2018, the development firm completed a 12,200-square-foot medical office within the campus that’s currently leased to nonprofit pediatric health system Nemours.

Serenades by Sonata, the first facility Sonata Senior Living built in Winter Garden, and Sonata West are both fully occupied, Caruso said.

“We’re hitting the ground running as soon as we get this approved,” he said. “We just saw the growth that was going on in the market and decided to put the adjacent land under contract and pull it into the PD ordinance.”

Total build-out cost for the two medical buildings will reach about $20 million, Caruso said. The company is looking for tenants that “fit the need” for senior residents.

Klima Weeks Civil Engineering is the engineer and McCree General Contractors & Architects is the architect.

Stuart Beebe, the former president of CNL Retirement Properties, launched Sonata Senior Living in 2008. In 2011, the company built its first Central Florida location in Longwood.

In May, Sonata Senior Living plans to break ground on its $52 million resort-style community within the Lake Mary Wellness and Technology Park mixed-use development. The property will feature 88 independent living, 92 assisted living and 13 memory care apartments.

Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at arabines@GrowthSpotter.com or (407) 420-5427, or tweet me at @amanda_rabines. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.