Uproar pays off in Rosemont

Developer withdraws $1B plan for golf course space after neighbors rise up

It’s back to the drawing board for the owner of the 128-acre Lake Orlando golf course in the city’s Rosemont neighborhood.

Faced with the prospect of Orlando’s City Council denying the proposed $1 billion vision for the site, owner-developer

withdrew all of its applications during a recent council meeting.

“Our team has spent 18 months listening to the residents and learning what they would like to see for their neighborhood,” spokesperson Dana Locar said. “We look forward to moving the project forward and making changes that will positively impact the community.”

Last November Orlando’s Municipal Planning Board approved the proposed multi-phased redevelopment of the land, which called for 6,000 residential units surrounded by parks, with adjacent shopping and dining within the community. The project drew support, as well as fierce opposition due to the proposed building heights and intensity of the project.

Rosemont area residents appealed the MPB decision, and the City Council was seconds away from granting that appeal on April 12 when the attorney Rebecca Wilson withdrew the applications.

Commissioners Tony Ortiz and Patty Sheehan said they agreed with the Rosemont residents that Westside Capital’s vision wasn’t compatible with the existing neighborhood.

“Our main role here is representing the community,” Ortiz said. “I think this community wants a development — they really do. They just want a certain type of development.”

Commissioner Robert Stuart said he was prepared to support the project, but with a maximum density of 1,600 units for all three phases.

“At that point, it is a very different project,” said Planning Division Manager Elisabeth Dang. “It probably is not going to have as much of the town center elements. It won’t have the open space, because they have to do garden apartments with surface parking.”

Tavistock prepares Sunbridge sales center

The sales center for Weslyn Park, the first residential subdivision to be developed by Tavistock in its 24,000-acre Sunbridge community, is scheduled to open in October.

But the master developer is already thinking and planning for the future. Tavistock recently filed construction permits to extend Cyrils Drive into Phase 1 of Sunbridge while simultaneously filing a Concept Plan for Phase 2, which covers over 11,000 acres in northeast Osceola County.

Tavistock Group Managing Director Jim Zboril told GrowthSpotter the road permit is critical to the project because it includes a bridge over the canal system, which extends the project into its marina district.

“We’re very close to the start of excavation of what we call the Big Dig, which is building that marina basin,” Zboril said. “And so that’s exciting, and that ramps us up to a whole other level of activity.”

Phase 1 of Sunbridge began last year with the opening of Del Webb at Sunbridge. “We’re super excited about what’s happening out there,” Zboril said.

Del Webb and Weslyn Park are the first of six major neighborhoods that make up the nearly 4,600 residential units in Phase 1. Other major components are the marina district and an employment center with up to 1.75 million square feet of offices.

It could all be dwarfed by Phase 2, which is four times the size. Zboril estimates that construction on Phase 2 is still a few years away, but the scale of the project is so massive the permitting process has to start now.

The concept plan calls for seven primary neighborhoods with about 9,000 detached homes and townhomes, a town center and a 145-acre employment center along Sunbridge Parkway. In total, it would be approved for 16,540 residential units, nearly 3.2 million square feet of offices, 1,350 hotel rooms and about 1.2 million square feet of retail