After convincing a church to sell off its land, a development company is gearing up to bring a single-family townhome community to 9.5 acres just east of the City of Orlando.
Palm Property Partners submitted a preliminary application to Orange County on Dec. 27 with plans for 94 attached units along the west side of S. Goldenrod Road, just south of where it intersects with Curry Ford Road.
The newly-formed company — led by a trio of local real estate veterans — acquired two of the three parcels for $400,000 in April. But even before these deeds were secured, the development team had been hoping the Orlando Church of Christ, located at 2400 S Goldenrod Rd, would agree to part with its 2.8 acres to the south.
“There were probably six to seven months of negotiating back and forth with the church,” Lonnie White, a partner with Palm Property Partners, told GrowthSpotter. “Initially we were just going to move forward with the two northern pieces, and we made a decision as a group that we stall and put this project on the backburner and we wait and see if the church is going to come around and decide to sell. We knew that if they sold, it would enhance our project tremendously. We decided to be patient and wait.”
Waiting paid off as the church ultimately decided to sell. It’s the latest example of church land being redeveloped with housing in mind.
In Winter Park, a vacated Seventh-Day Adventist Church at the corner of Swope and Capen Avenues will be razed and replaced with a 53-unit Build-to-rent community with a mix of attached and detached homes.
After more tweaks, Winter Park BTR project finally wins approval
In Orlando, the New Life Church of God located at 2820 N Alafaya Trail is slated to be replaced by a 605-bed student housing community.
For the project along Goldenrod Road, Palm Property Partners is planning to build a mix of front-loaded and rear-loaded townhome units available for purchase. A conceptual plan drafted by Suddeth Civil LLC shows a dog park, pool and jogging trail. Townhome units would rise two stories and range in size from 1,500 to 1,900 square feet, White said.
It’s not yet determined whether the land will be sold to a major homebuilder to complete the project or if Palm Property Partners will build the townhomes themselves.
White said that county officials have stated a desire to see some commercial square footage go into the southern portion of the property to accompany the residential units.
“We are still having conversations with the county and getting some feedback to see what is going to be the best product to put there,” White said.
Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at (407)-800-1161 or dwyatt@GrowthSpotter.com. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook and LinkedIn.