Pulte Homes and partner Sun Terra Communities have paid $90 million for 549 acres of residential land in Wellness Way, making it the most expensive land deal ever in Lake County, according to Lake Property Appraiser Carey Baker.
The Atlanta-based homebuilder closed its purchase of the residential portion of the 840-acre Schofield master-planned community in two transactions. It purchased a future Del Webb community for $37.5 million and partnered with Sun Terra on a $52.5 million deal to landbank the rest of the property, which will be home to an all-ages residential community, according to a report in GrowthSpotter.
Max Perlman, Pulte Vice President of Land Acquisition, told GrowthSpotter the goal is to break ground before the end of the year with sales to begin in late 2025. The nation’s third largest homebuilder hasn’t named the all-ages community yet, but Perlman said it will be different from Pulte’s nearby Parkside Trails community on Wellness Way Boulevard.
“Both the Del Webb and primary offerings at Schofield will have lifestyle centered around Lake Adain, which will offer kayaking, paddle boarding and a lakefront lifestyle, which will be unique to other new home communities in the area,” he said. “Both the Webb and Pulte branded communities will have amenity buildings on Lake Adain that add to this lifestyle as well as offering lakefront homesites, which will not be offered at Parkside Trails.”
The seller was GT USA , which bought the property in 2021 without zoning entitlements for $51 million. Pulte put it under contract in 2022 and secured the PUD zoning approvals this year for a mixed-use development with 1,281 homesites. Perlman said GT Homes retained the 25.5-acre commercial center on Schofield Road.
GT USA Chief Operating Officer Doug Bruk said the company would develop the 326,000-square-foot commercial center anticipated to include an anchor/commercial tenant and multiple smaller/satellite retail and restaurant tenants. The zoning does not allow apartments in the town center.
“We are very pleased with the results of our work over the last two and a half years on this project, which will provide relief to an undersupplied housing market in the highly desirable Wellness Way corridor,” Bruk said.
Bruk told GrowthSpotter the company initially planned to launch its own Central Florida homebuilding operation at Schofield and “horse-trade” other portions of the project to homebuilders in exchange for positions in their communities.
“But Pulte came to us and said, ‘You know, we want to control the whole thing’,” Bruk said. “And my response to them was make an offer we can’t refuse, which they did.”
That doesn’t mean GT Homes is pulling up stakes in Wellness Way — just the opposite. Bruk confirmed they are the contracted buyer for an even bigger assemblage spanning nearly 2,500 acres. It includes the Arnold Groves & Ranch (1,750 acres) and adjacent Roper Growers property (730 acres).
Amenities at the Pulte community will include a fitness center, food and beverage services, resort style pool, sports courts including pickleball and tennis, lake access for kayaks/canoes/paddleboard, playgrounds and dog parks. The Del Webb community will have its own amenity center comparable to the one at Del Webb Oasis in Horizon West.
Located in the Wellness Way Neighborhood District, the property is sandwiched between the U.S. 27 District and the employment center east of Cook Road. It also straddles the Lake-Orange Connector toll road (State Road 516), which will have a full interchange at County Road 455 before merging with S.R. 429. Construction on the new 4.4-mile toll road is started earlier this year.
The new Del Webb community featuring the company’s latest GenYou floorplans will be the first of three age-restricted communities in the Wellness Way. Lennar is expanding its existing Wellness Ridge community with a gated, 699-home active adult community, and Taylor Morrison is planning a 600-unit Esplanade-branded community on its McKinnon Groves property on Hartwood Marsh Road.
Some other high-dollar land deals in Lake County include:
- Sugarloaf Mountain Phase 1: sold to Lennar in 2023 for $77 million
- Hills of Minneola: sold to Sun Terra Communities in 2019 for $70.1 million
- Hickory Groves in Wellness Way: sold to Richland Communities in May, 2024, for $60 million
Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at lkinsler@GrowthSpotter.com or (407) 420-6261. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook and LinkedIn.
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