Scores of new homes near Waterford Lakes
New residential development activity is erupting along a two-lane road in east Orlando, a short drive from the University of Central Florida and two masterplanned communities.
Hancock Lone Palm Road, off the south side of Colonial Drive just east of S.R. 408, has at least 268 single-family housing units in the pipeline across several projects led by different developers.
Atlanta-based Pulte Homes, Los Angeles-based KB Home, and Maitland-based CFB Homes have all recently established a presence on the corridor. And several national homebuilders have expressed interest in taking on plans for a 100-unit townhome community here — so long as a land developer agrees to improve road infrastructure to accommodate the extra traffic.
This street — near Waterford Lakes and Avalon Park — could be home to even more growth if the owners of a large piece of property were willing to sell.
Max Perlman, the vice president of land acquisition with Pulte Homes, told GrowthSpotter that he’s spoken to Ritchie and Linda Parker about acquiring their 15-acre piece of farmland.
“That family is just keeping the land,” he said. “We talked to them, and they weren’t ready to sell.”
Pulte, the nation’s third-largest homebuilder, bought 21 acres to the south of the Parker property in 2021 for $2.36 million. It’s building a 56-home subdivision here called Savannah Palms with lots as large as 70 feet.
Across the street from the Pulte site, KB Home is building a 37-lot residential community on the east side of Hancock Lone Palm Road called Lone Palm.
KB Home, the nation’s sixth-largest homebuilder, bought the nine-acre parcel in March for $2.3 million.
A few parcels to the south, Maitland-based CFB Homes snagged four parcels totaling 16 acres in December 2021 for $3.4 million. The company is moving forward on plans to bring Hancock Lone Palm Road a 75-lot subdivision called Palm Village.
According to the developer’s website, homes here will range in size from two to four bedrooms.
This property was previously owned by Carlos Rivera, a principal with Cafe Construction & Development. Rivera secured all of the necessary approvals from Orange County before parting with the land.
“We bought that first piece of land there 21 years ago,” Rivera said. “It was too early back then to do anything with, but the timing is just right now with the market being the way it is. So that’s why we decided to move forward with this last year.”
A 100-unit townhome community with a dog park, a jogging path, and large pond could also be coming to the east side of Hancock Lone Palm Road.
Plans tweaked for Baldwin Park project
Boca Raton-based Gables Residential is tweaking the design for its first Orlando multifamily community as it preps for the construction of the 222-unit project in Baldwin Park.
The 5-story buildings will rise at 1801 Prospect Ave., next door to the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol office and across Lakemont Avenue from the Baldwin Harbor apartments in the Village Center.
The site was previously used for a credit union, but Gables received site plan approval for the apartments in 2021 after a zoning update to the Baldwin Park PD that converted office entitlements to residential. The developer has applied for building permits to begin clearing and fencing the site as it waits for final approval for the revised master plan.
The latest submittal from Baker Barrios’ Meghan Dietz explains that minor changes were made to improve the logistics of the garbage collection and to create a staging area for residents moving in and out where they have direct access to a commercial elevator reserved specifically for that purpose
The plan calls for five studio units, 127 one-bedroom units, 80 two-bedroom units and 10 three-bedroom units. The parking garage can accommodate 355 vehicles and has storage for 46 bicycles.
This is a sampling of stories from GrowthSpotter, a premium subscription service from the Orlando Sentinel that focuses on the early stages of real estate development. To subscribe, go to GrowthSpotter.com