In total, The Grow is entitled to feature 2,078 homes and 172,000 square feet of commercial space. Between that, the community will also feature 21 acres of community gardens, a 20-acre community park, 12 miles of recreational trails, edible landscaping, a street for farmers markets and a farm-to-table restaurant, among other agricultural amenities.  PulteGroup was mentioned in a recently submitted Preliminary Subdivision Plan seeking to subdivide 408 acres owned by Saathoff’s American Land Investments Of Orange County LLC on the southern portion of the master-planned community.  PulteGroup plans to build 701 single-family detached homes and 166 single-family attached homes on roughly 400 acres in east Orlando.  Of the roughly 400 acres, 217 acres are developable.

Max Perlman, VP of land acquisition at PulteGroup, told GrowthSpotter the company intends to build townhomes and single-family one- and two-story homes. The PSP states the project will be developed in four phases. Lot widths for single-family homes will range from 34 feet to 125 feet.  “The project has excellent proximity and access to UCF, Central Florida Research Park, State Road 408 and Waterford Lakes Town Center, making it an attractive place to live,” he said. “The master amenities and agri-hood lifestyle will make The Grow a true one-of-a-kind community in Central Florida and Pulte looks forward to being a part of it.”

Saathoff with Project Finance & Development said plans for The Grow’s master infrastructure are currently under review and right behind it is the recently submitted PSP application that covers the southern portion of the project. “There’s a high degree of collaboration between us,” he said. “It would be hard to bring in someone else after there’s been over a year of discussions, visioning sessions, and development of construction plans, budget and timing. We really wanted to have those discussions with one homebuilder.”

 Jim Hall with HDSi is the community planner for the subdivision plans. VHB  serves as the civil engineer on the project. Bio-Tech Consulting Inc. is handling environmental affairs and Allen & Company is the surveyor.

The first phase will consist of 300 homesites, setting the edges of the farm and starting to ready the soil, a working barn, a welcome center with adjacent café/bakery, the first couple of miles of the edible landscape trail, Saathoff said. He said he expects to be in the position to break ground next summer.

Banksville Of Florida Inc. is another major property owner in the community. Plans have not yet been submitted for its roughly 550 acres.

Dr. Phillips Charities, master developer of the 202-acre Packing District has applied for demolition permits for four buildings fronting on Orange Blossom Trail southwest of Princeton Street. Two of the buildings had previously been identified as potential sites for adaptive reuse in the Packing District master plan, but they will instead be razed to make way for a second phase of apartments by Embrey Partners which is now leasing in The Cannery apartments in the district.

Texas-based Embrey Partners has filed a master plan with the city of Orlando for the 350-unit multifamily community. The location sits directly across Orange Blossom Trail from the Packing District food hall, which has an approved master plan. No construction plans have been submitted for the food hall, which is one of the only buildings that will feature an adaptive reuse redevelopment.

The Cannery offers 307 residential units immediately north of the Publix-anchored shopping center. Featured amenities include a pool and courtyard; two additional courtyards with entertainment areas; a lounge with roof deck; a resident lounge, a Wi-Fi lounge and game room; fitness facility with yoga and spin rooms; a dog park and dog wash; a bike shop; micro offices and a package room.

Hall said he is working on behalf of K and D Investments, which has owned the property since 1999. “We’re just taking it through entitlements, and then they’ll be able to take it to market,” he said.

Lennar Homes closed this week on the first takedown for the Wellness Way master-planned community, which comprised a little over half of the approved 1,850 single-family home lots in the Clermont mixed-use district.

Seller Jim Karr said Lennar paid $20.7 million for the entitled land and is expected to close on the balance of the project in two years. Karr said his company would keep all of the land west of Hancock Road, which is entitled for commercial, multifamily and employment use.

“Lennar is going to be putting in Wellness Way and bringing utilities down from Clermont,” Karr said. The builder also will extend Hancock Road from Hartwood Marsh south to Wellness Way. “This is the first step of a network that will be built with roads and utilities,” he said.

Karr said he spent years negotiating with neighboring property owners and swapping land so that he could acquire all of the necessary right-of-way, which will be donated to the county in exchange for impact fee credits.  Jim Hall of HDSi assisted Karr and provided all community design and entitlements for the project.

The residential portion of the community east of Hancock is approved only for detached single-family homes and townhomes. The lot widths range from 18 feet wide for the townhomes up to 70 feet wide for the detached single-family homes.

“We’ll have six different housing products: street-loaded townhomes with single car garage; alley-loaded townhomes with double garage; cottage homes and manor homes that are alley-loaded, and estates and executive homes that are street-loaded,” he said. “There will be innovative features incorporated into the community, as the area suggests.”

The homebuilder’s Next Gen floorplans will also be available in the community. They are designed to appeal to multi-generational buyers by incoprorating a guest suite with a separate entrance, living area and kitchenette, within the house.

All of the homes will offer Lennar’s “Everything’s Included” package, which includes smart home technology, upgraded finishes and energy-efficient features. But designs and pricing won’t be released until next year, at the earliest.

The PUD identifies a 10-acre amenity site on Wellness Way, as well as numerous public and private parks. It also reserves 15 acres for a future charter school and 1.5 acres for a new fire station.