Clermont Real Estate

New Development in the Lake County and Orange County Connection Area

Hey, there's a lot of new development going on in the Lake County and Orange County connection area. I've been talking about new projects coming for a long time, but we haven't updated you on what's actually happening. So, come along as we talk about infrastructure, new schools, new neighborhoods, and what will eventually be the Olympus project.

The 516 Orange Lake County Connector

Right behind me is the 516 currently underway. This is actually going to be the Orange Lake County connector. And so it's going to connect 429 right around the Hamlin area all the way down to 27 over in Lake County. And so when this is finished in 2029, it's going to make that connectivity between the two counties even easier, further adding to the massive expansion on this side of Orlando.

Chafield (Scoffield?) Road Progress

Another road that was literally a dirt road like less than two years ago is Chafield or is it Scoffield? Let me know how you say it down below. But Southern Hill Farms is directly across the street and right behind me is a Dell web community. This is a PY brand that's for active adult. It's 132 acres and they're saying that pricing is going to start roughly in the 400s. That's probably just the base model, not including the lots and upgrades and that kind of thing.

But Delell Webb has been very popular here in Central Florida for a long time. Del Webb at Minnola is just like blowing up. The one over at Oasis near Disney is like almost sold out. So, this one I think being so close to Wellness Way and the Olympus Project and everything else, having Lake County taxes still, but still being very, very close to Horizon West and everything else is going to make probably the first development on this strip. And I believe that a lot more people will follow suit.

Olympus Project Update

The wellness way and Olympus project area has been talked about for years now and it's so cool to see so much of this come along. Last week I had a conversation with Matt Carroll of the Olympus companies and he was giving us an update on timing and what's coming to the Olympus project.

What's the goal? What are you looking at in terms of time frame? I mean we're we're moving dirt. You know it's it's it's I don't want to put a date on it yet because it it's not fair. Um you know you hear something takes 12 months. It might take 14. Well, then you know it might take 14. But um everything that we're told right now is infrastructure for for what's going on in phase 2 is 12 months, vertical immediately following, and then phase three is like 18 months and and that's the town center and the sports campus and vertical immediately following. So it's it's it's coming and it's it'll be here. You know the old adage, it'll be here before you know it. Um it's it's it's true.

Posit Group Message

This video is brought to you by my real estate team, the Posit Group. Check us out over on Google. We've got over 1,600 fivestar reviews. When you're looking to sell or buy, we're here to help you navigate what's going on in every single market. Then reach out at theorlandre.com/youtube.

Ridge View Neighborhood

I thought during this update it'd be a good idea to stop into some of these builders here. We're in Ridge View, which has Lanc Homes and it's got Trinity Homebuilders just to see how the traffic's going overall. Obviously, the neighborhoods are getting built out still fairly quickly. They have five movein homes here as well as others to be built. They're also buying down rates for the houses that are quick moveins. Homes in this neighborhood range from like 2100 square feet all the way up to 3200 square feet. Start in the mid5s and go up to the mid sixes. The homeowners association is about $93 a month, which includes the access to the pool as well as the maintenance of the common areas, which is one of the lower HOAs in this area.

Let's go check out another neighborhood.

Showfield Road Connection

It's wild to see that Showfield's finally like concrete's going in. Things are starting to change. If you look here right now, it dead ends into Chafield Road and then eventually it's going to connect down over to FiveMile and then all the way over to Hartwood Marsh really connecting kind of this way as well. Not just connecting Orange County but Lake County.

Wellness Ridge by LAR

Right up the road from Ridge View is Wellness Ridge. This is by LAR. over,200 homes and they have over a dozen models, town houses, rear entry, front entry garages ranging from the 400s all the way up to the high sixes. And just like all the builders out here, they are doing deals right now. And so if you're looking to find some options where you have some flexibility, definitely reach out and I'll let you know what those are.

But it's interesting because a lot of the times builders will start a neighborhood like this and it takes a long time. But you can see here there have hundreds of houses already sold or under construction and then right across the way they have their amenity coming in. So, it's not something that you're going to have to wait for for too much longer.

Builder Comparisons

Some of the differences between Ridge View Builders and Wellness Ridge is that I think that the Ridge View Builders are a little bit better quality from out of the box, whereas LAR you're going to save a little bit and maybe need to do some upgrades over time. Also, the neighborhoods have very different homeowners associations. Uh, this one's $200 a month, but it does include internet and cable, whereas Ridge View, where the lower HOA, you have to pay for that stuff on your own, so it's kind of a wash.

This neighborhood does have a CDD. So that's a $200 a month fee that goes on top of your taxes to pay for some of the infrastructure and some of the extra stuff that you get in this neighborhood. And so when you're looking at a month-to-month payment, this is going to be a little bit cheaper in terms of the overall payment for the house, but you are going to have a slightly higher tax payment. So every builder, every neighborhood is a bit of a give and take. You have to just decide what's best for you.

Multigenerational Living Options

One of the things I like that LAR is doing is this multigenerational living. Before we used to just see it down in the Champions Gate area. Lenar sort of pioneered it, but come here. You've got the main living area this way. You've got your main front door and upstairs, but then you can connect this over to an in-law suite, an alpair suite, a guest suite, whatever you want it to be. And so, this has a bedroom, a full kitchen, and a lot of cool options for people to use if you want to offset some of your costs or have a dual living situation, which many of you guys have been asking for.

Topography and Wellness Way

I think that's actually the Swan and Dolphin back over there. Kind of put in perspective how close we actually are. Claremont's one of the only places in Central Florida that has a lot of hills and some sort of topography, which is why the wellness way area is really interesting because there's a lot of Olympians that already come here to train to do triathlons and hike and swim and bike and all that sort of thing in this area. And so it's a really cool addition or something that Horizon West doesn't have, even though it's just literally right next door.

And so let's go check out the Wellness Way area and see how that's coming along. This looks exactly like what Horizon West looked like 12 years ago. like the two the onelane highway both ways, the trees finally coming out of the ground.

Horizon West Connection

I had no idea that this road connected so far. I mean, that's that's like the last neighborhood in in Horizon West right there. You can see the rooftops and then connects back over to Parkside Trails, which is like the PY neighborhood. We got to go inside here. Over 40 houses sold in the past 30 days or so. I can kind of see why. The level that they're offering here in the neighborhood is actually pretty fantastic. And being this close to everything in Horizon West means that you don't have to wait for as much of the other stuff coming in, although it's only a mile down the road.

Uh, but yeah, I'm excited. Let's go take a look at maybe one or two of the models. Going into the first model, it's interesting that PY is one of the most expensive. They have the highest CDD and HOA, and yet they're selling a ton, not having to discount. They're actually starting to raise their prices. And so, let me know in the comments down below. Would you rather a slightly better quality builder with more options or would you rather a value in today's market?

Pool Options and Pricing Comparisons

Not every builder is offering a pool option right now. A lot of times that they don't want to have to build a pool, have you back out of a deal and that sort of thing. So, the fact that PY is doing that is really interesting. But, as I come out here, I don't know why this is such a trip to me because it usually is like a 30 to 45 minute drive to get from Horizon West all the way around to where we're at right now. And so just understanding that how life is going to change when this connects over to new independence in a very short period of time. It just feels like this long time coming that I'm excited about.

It's interesting the same models here I sold in Dr. Phillips for $400 or $500,000 more. Yes, that's Dr. Phillips and this is Claremont, but still makes you think. I'm just new to the business and I kind of want to emulate myself after you. So, uh, you should just join us and blow you up faster. I mean, that might be part of the equation. So, uh, DM me. I'd be happy to. Really good to meet you. Likewise.

Sawrass Bay and Connectivity Promises

So Sawrass Bay has been around for 10 plus years and there's a lot of different builders that have been back here. There's been there's been KB Homes, there's been Ashton Woods, there's been Dr. Horton, there's a active adult community back here that's gated and for the longest time the big selling point was that this is going to eventually connect to Horizon West. This is like very much so one of the main reasons why people bought in here because they said, "Hey, right now it's 35 to 45 minutes to get to Disney, but eventually that'll be 15 minutes." And you can get cheaper Claremont pricing, lower Lake County taxes, uh, with a very, very short drive.

Road Connection Delays and Resident Concerns

So this is the end of Sawrass Boulevard and you can see down at the end there that they've got a little bit of a turnaround and just beyond that it's like 40 feet until you get to another road for Orange County. And so there were like hundreds of protesters that live here saying that they were promised that this would be a connection.

Now from what I understand it's not actually a Lake County problem or a Claremont problem. It's actually an Orange County problem. Making sure that the developer and the county get together to make that road actually happen. much much different than down in Western Way where you already have that road kind of ready to go and money approved. So, we talked to somebody earlier at the county. Here's what they said.

County Phone Call

Hello. Oh, hey, this is Ken Posac. How are you? Good. How are you doing? Well, I am actually calling about the new Independence Parkway Extension. Um, somebody had told me that there was money that was allocated and that's going to be moving forward. Do you have a ballpark time of when you think that might be started and finished? Yeah, I don't have a set schedule right now for going to construction. What about the Saranoa update? Do you guys know of that one? Like the connection to Lake County back down there? They're working on um sending it to construction soon, but they're still finalizing.

So, uh is So, you said they're still finalizing, but does that mean maybe next year? Plans? No, no, no. It'll be this year. We're just not sure yet. Oh, that's No, that's actually super helpful though. Thank you so much. I do appreciate you.

Final Thoughts

There's a lot of new development going on here at the Orange County and Lake Connection. The Western Way area, the Wellness Way area. There's a lot of stuff going on which I'm really excited about. And so, make sure you hit the subscribe button as we're putting out new videos every single week about life here in Orlando. We'll see you guys on the next video.