The developer who paid $165 million a year ago for prime acreage in Lake County’s Wellness Way is planning to create a resort district just minutes from Walt Disney World with 1,200 hotel rooms and up to 1,000 vacation homes.
GT USA submitted its zoning application on Friday for the Panther Run master-planned community, which would sprawl over nearly 2,400 acres between U.S. 27 and the Orange County line and could be open to its first residents in two or three years.
COO Doug Bruk told GrowthSpotter the plan has been refined from its original concept, which called for around 3,000 homes and up to 1 million square feet of commercial uses.
Based on feedback from the county, the developer decided to focus more on creating a vacation destination as county leaders wanted more businesses and tourists and fewer homes for full-time residents as families with children can put pressure on public schools.
“We just pivoted away from our initial plan, which was to do something Baldwin Park-like,” Bruk said. “That wasn’t giving the county the other use yields that they wanted to see there.”
The new plan calls for two hotels, each with 600 rooms, a conference center and supporting retail and office uses. It also doubles the number of multifamily units to 700 and earmarks 200 acres for a resort residential community that allows short-term rentals.
All told, the plan now calls for 1.5 million square feet of mixed-use commercial and office space in the multi-use district and fronting on U.S. 27.
Bruk said the zoning allows a maximum height of 8 stories, but GT USA is requesting a waiver in the resort district for the hotels to go up to 12 stories.
The county’s recently approved “targeted industry economic development program” likely will make the district attractive for employers and for new hotels. The ordinance adopted last week named Wellness Way as one of four strategic corridors where employers can qualify for enhanced economic development incentives, including property tax waivers for up to 12 years, for creating high-paying jobs.
Lake board approves tax incentives to lure high quality hotels
The ordinance also created a grant program to lure high-quality hotels by offering to reduce their property taxes for five years.
“There’s a synergy there between the county’s tax incentive and the county’s strategy to bring resort operators into Lake County, so it can’t hurt, right?” he said.
The county staff also supported the proposal for a resort community with up to 1,000 units because the vacation homes won’t generate students, and they bring in more ad valorem revenue and tourist development tax dollars, he added.
The Panther Run residential district would now have 1,931 homesites and a 55+ “active adult community.” Both of those would like be a draw for those looking to make full-time homes in the county.
The residential portion is divided into a “neighborhood district” and a “conservation subdivision.” In the conservation subdivision, the development will be more clustered and “a substantial proportion” is going to be green space and recreational trails, Bruk said.
“The passive recreational trails will be open to the general public,” he added.
Bruk anticipates the zoning will go to the Planning Commission early next year and be on track for final approval in the second quarter. About a year after the zoning approval, construction will commence on the major roadways, including the connection to U.S. 27 and the C.R. 455 extension. The first residential units could be developed by late 2027 or early 2028.
Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at lkinsler@GrowthSpotter.com or (407) 420-6261. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook and LinkedIn.
