Winter Garden approves 12 homes near downtown

WINTER GARDEN – In response to a developer’s request to build 12 homes on Dillard Street, Winter Garden city leaders approved the rezoning for 2.29 acres of property during the Feb. 9 commission meeting.

The development proposal from Avex Homes originally asked for 22 homes, some of which would have been town houses. However, the developer nixed the town homes and reduced its proposal to 12 after seeing resident opposition at community meetings.

If all goes well in subsequent readings, the homes will be ready for move-in in the first quarter of 2018, said Eric Marks, president of Avex Homes. 

At present, Marks estimates the homes will range between 2,200 and 2,800 square feet, not including porches or garages. The homes will come with three floor plans and three different elevations for each floor plan. 

The homes will also be outfitted with a 400-square-foot garage, six of which will be allowed to have granny flats. With the 20-foot-wide driveway, each home will be able to hold four cars. The public right-of-way also will have 12 extra parking spaces.

“They’ll probably be from $350,000 or more, and I could see getting into the $500,000 easily,” Marks said, referring to the homes’ base prices. “It’s a really unique site in a great location, and there’s just nothing like that. No way to reproduce that, and if you look at the market for houses in walking distance from Dillard Street to the main street of Winter Garden, there really isn’t much for sale because it’s a great place to live.”

The estimated $8 to $10 million development will have an entrance on Dillard Street and Division Street, Marks said. Neither a buffer wall or community amenities will be included on the property, which previously hosted a hospital that was demolished more than a decade ago.

“The site is too tight for community amenities and, actually, the city of Winter Garden and its main street is the amenity,” Marks said. “There’s also a big ballpark right down the street. That was what was so appealing about the site — you have all this natural infrastructure that the city’s built surrounding us within easy biking distance or in a golf cart or even walking.”

Avex Homes hopes to break ground on the model by the late third quarter or early fourth quarter of 2017. 

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Contact Gabby Baquero at [email protected]