Investor opts to build commercial plaza instead of assisted living in Ocoee

Crystal Investment Group LLC, led by investor Laykram Mohan, is opting to build a commercial plaza in Ocoee instead of a previously planned assisted living facility.

The Land Use Plan for the 1.75-acre property at 1414 E. Silver Star Rd. currently allows for the development of a 60-bed assisted living project. Mohan won those entitlements in 2015.

He bought the vacant parcel of land from Good Homes Preschool of Orlando Inc. in 2007 for $490,000. About a year later, he proposed building a commercial plaza, but plans for that fell through.

Today, the property remains undeveloped.

Mohan declined to comment as to why he decided to revert back to original plans and ax the ones for the assisted living facility.

He recently activated plans to amend the property’s current Land Use Plan to allow for the originally planned two-story office and retail development.

Plans calls for an 18,000-square-foot commercial building with 9,000 square feet of office space on the second floor and 9,000-square-feet of commercial retail space on the first floor.

Access into the development will be on Silver Star Road and Ridgefield Avenue.

The request went before Ocoee’s Planning and Zoning commission on Tuesday.

Zoning manager Kiel Gajadhar told GrowthSpotter plans are postponed from being sent the city commission in order to allow for staff members to work out a few conditions and comments discussed at the meeting.

Orlando-based Regional Consulting Engineers is the civil engineer.

The site is about a mile east from where Ocoee is relocating its City Hall. The move is part of an over $40 million redevelopment plan that’s poised to revitalize its downtown area.

The master plan includes dishing out more than $8 million to develop a downtown stormwater system and $9.7 million for the reconstruction of Bluford Avenue. The expansion of the Lakeshore Center is also part of the plans.

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