- February 20, 2026
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When Winter Garden Mayor John Rees decided to build his house in Winter Garden in 1979, he chose to move downtown because it was in the midst of 40 acres of orange groves.
Over the past 76 years of living in Winter Garden, Rees has seen the city undergo several changes.
Gone are the orange groves he cherished, and now he has Dillard Street Elementary School behind his house, Courtlea Oaks nearby and more development.
“I would prefer the 40-acre orange grove, but I had a problem; I didn’t have $3 million to buy it,” he said. “I got stuck with that.”
Today, Winter Garden residents are concerned about a new change: One individual has spent more than $40 million since 2015 to buy 36 residential and commercial properties — all in downtown Winter Garden. The purchases were made using 26 different LLCs.
Rees, who is concerned as well, said he had a two-hour sit-down talk with James Larweth, the man connected to the LLCs that own these properties.
“He acts like he wants to make it and continue a family-friendly town with its charm,” he said of Larweth. “He’s got more pictures of Winter Garden in the beginning and after the fire than I’ve seen anybody have. But as far as exactly what he’s going to do, I don’t know if he’s going to do it until he starts. … I think you’re always concerned until you start seeing something happen. I am, but we’re going to continue to encourage our thoughts on what we think Winter Garden should be, and I hope that he shares those same thoughts.”
Repeated attempts by the Observer to reach Larweth were unsuccessful.
According to property records, in 2025, LLCs connected to Larweth purchased the Edgewater Hotel for $10.3 million; the Khouzam Building for $3.2 million; portions of the Bond Building for $4 million; the building where Black Bean Deli is trying to open for $2,002,499; and the building that houses The Real Estate Collection Offices for $4,497,501.
According to property records, he also owns 16 single-family residences, seven multi-family residences, three vacant residential lots, two homes used as office spaces or stores, two duplexes and a triplex.
Besides LLCs connected to Larweth purchasing buildings along Plant Street, property records show three LLCs — all under different ownership and not connected to Larweth — purchased three downtown buildings in 2025. Southboyd109 LLC purchased 109 S. Boyd St., which will house Harlow Grove Restaurant and Bar that is expected to open in March, for $10.4 million. Devnull Winter Garden LLC purchased 16 E. Plant St., which Doxology is moving into, for $2.3 million. Shurlock LLC purchased 50 W. Plant St., where Driftwood Market is located, for $2,050,000.
Rees and City Manager Jon C. Williams said there is nothing the city can do to prevent any individual from purchasing property in Winter Garden. Transactions and sale of properties as well as lease agreements are private transactions.
“As far as restricting somebody from selling or somebody from buying, this is America, there’s not a whole lot we can do about that,” Rees said.
Numerous residents and business owners fear Winter Garden will lose its small-town charm it has become known for and helps to draw new residents, small businesses and tourism.
Rees said he and city staff are “working hard to make sure that does not happen,” and he has asked Williams and his staff to review all of the city’s ordinances, “whether it’s height of the buildings, type of buildings, types of businesses,” and meet with the City Attorney Kurt Ardaman to see if the Winter Garden City Commission needs to consider “tightening up” any ordinances.
“As our town’s gotten more popular, it is bringing in outside investors,” Rees said. “When it does that, they’re paying more for these buildings, which means they want to charge more for rent, which means that starts blocking out certain people. That’s a concern we’re having, because the charm of Winter Garden is the uniqueness of our businesses. If you went to Hilton Head or to Winter Park, you aren’t going to see the same stores. That’s part of the uniqueness and charm.”
Larweth is the founder and executive vice president at Anton Rx & Anton Health, which has offices on Boyd Street in downtown Winter Garden.
Anton Rx is a pharmacy intelligence and management firm, while Anton Health is a health care market access and advisory firm. Both firms were founded in 2018.
A few years after starting his health care businesses, Larweth branched out. In April 2021, he became the owner of Lake Cypress Ranch in Windermere followed by taking ownership of Lake Avalon Ranch in February 2022, according to property records. The ranches have cattle operations and land stewardship.
Also in 2022, LLCs connected to Larweth purchased three properties — two of which are on Davenport Road and the other on Avant Drive in Winter Garden — used for agricultural citrus production economics for a combined total of $2.5 million, according to property records. In March 2022, he opened Anton Groves, which produces Navel and Valencia oranges.
Since 2020, eight LLCs tied to Larweth also have purchased 11 properties in Windermere for a combined total of $17,659,000, according to property records.
Before Anton Rx and Anton Health, Larweth’s health care career began in 1994 with Sanofi, before he started serving in various roles from 2006 to 2018 with his former employer, Arizona-based Magellan Health. He sued Magellan Health in May 2018 for fraud and breach of contract. He contended the billion-dollar managed health care firm refused to pay him a previously-agreed-upon commission, and when he complained about it, he was fired, according to the complaint filed in federal court in Orlando. He further alleged that after he was terminated, "Magellan's executives engaged in a smear campaign to destroy his reputation throughout the health care industry." The case was settled for an undisclosed amount, court records show.
More than his career and purchasing real estate in Winter Garden, Williams said Larweth, who has been in the Winter Garden community since 2006, also has supported nonprofits within the community. This year, Anton Rx sponsored the beloved Winter Garden Music Fest, which drew more than 40,000 people to downtown Winter Garden Saturday, Feb. 21. Anton Rx also will be a sponsor of the Rotary of Winter Garden’s Evening at the Pops.
“Our conversations with (Larweth) have been nothing but positive, and he loves what Winter Garden is and what it has become over the years,” Williams said. “I certainly can’t speak for him, but (based on) my interactions with him, I don’t think the concerns that are being expressed by a lot of folks are warranted at this point in time. He wants to protect what has been built here and loves the family-friendly atmosphere. He raised his kids here is what he’s told us. At this point, all of the vision that he has shared with us verbally is very positive.”
Williams said any plans for the properties he purchased have not been submitted to the city for review.
“We’re waiting for him to work through whatever process that he has going on right now,” he said of Larweth. “One of the visions he shared with the Edgewater Hotel was restoring it to its original grandeur and its glory days. But we haven’t seen any plans or anything at this point. … I know he has spent quite a bit of time researching the archives to look at what the buildings looked like back in the day, before he acquired them, before some of the changes we see here today, and he’s expressed his intent and desire to resort to that.”
Fear among residents is the unknown of what Larweth plans to do with the buildings and other new landlords raising rent that forces small businesses out.
Three Birds Café owner Ashley Morton and Polka Dotz owner Heidi Hardman already have been impacted by Larweth purchasing the portions of the Bond Building in which their businesses reside.
Morton opened Three Birds Café at 2 W. Plant St. five years ago after having another business, Melts on Main, on Main Street for two years.
Next door, at 12 W. Plant St., Heidi Hardman brought Polka Dotz to Plant Street nearly five years ago after 14 years in Winter Garden Village. She also started her dog rescue, Polka Dogz Pet Rescue, inside her boutique.
But on Jan. 1, Morton and Hardman both received a call from their former landlord notifying them the building had been sold, and there was no guarantee their business leases would be renewed.
A few weeks later, they received a letter in the mail from Anton Property Investments LLC, which is tied to Larweth, notifying them their deepest fear was becoming a reality: They would not be given the option to renew their leases.
Morton had been trying to receive an extension on her lease since February 2025, when she knew she only had a year left on the lease. She said the landlord at the time assured her that despite the intention to sell the building, the landlord would make sure whoever buys the building wants to keep her as a tenant.
Three Birds Café will be closing its doors Thursday, Feb. 26, as a result of promises from the previous landlord being broken and the present landlord not being willing to renew the lease.
Hardman’s Polka Dotz has until June before it must close its doors due to the landlord choosing not to give an option to renew the lease.
Both Morton and Hardman are frustrated with the previous landlord — their leases could have been extended at any time under his ownership. But now with a new owner, the decision has been made, and they have no option but to vacate. Neither Morton nor Hardman were able to connect directly with the new landlord despite numerous attempts, they said.
“There is no community, there’s no heart, it’s transactional,” Hardman said. “It’s exactly the opposite of what this town is about.”
Learning their leases officially wouldn’t be renewed caused panic for the business owners. They worried where they would take their businesses next as well as for their employees. Three Birds Café employs 22 people, while Polka Dotz has 16 employees and some seasonal workers.
“I feel like it’s a corporate raider, but worse, because corporate raiders come in and take over companies that are struggling; we have thriving small businesses, and somebody’s just coming in and devastating the small businesses that are here,” Hardman said. “That’s painful in so many ways. This was our life. This is my dream store.”
They moved to Plant Street for its blend of what small businesses and community members bring to the area. They worry their spaces will be filled with chain stores or restaurants rather than small businesses.
“What made the charm of the town is all the businesses you can’t find anywhere else,” Morton said. “We can all probably name the five franchises we always see in every small town now, and it’s like, what were those before? What’s sad is people forget about them, people’s dreams, people’s financials that they put on the line, and it’s all gone just because there’s a big investment group that comes in and is like, ‘Well, we actually don’t like this concept.’”
Hardman and Morton are looking in Lake County for new locations to house their businesses. Morton said Three Birds Café still will have its coffee carts available at farmers markets, including the Winter Garden Farmers Market. The café also will have different pop-ups that will be posted to social media in the coming months, and she is introducing Three Birds Express, a compressed version of what the café currently offers but still will include a full food and coffee menu, juices and smoothies.
Other businesses also have been impacted by their buildings being under new ownership.
Ruby & Rust, which resides in a building Candy Properties and Investments Inc. owns, announced it will close by the end of the month due to “an astronomical increase” in rent.
Driftwood Market will close at the end of May after the owner received notice its lease would not be renewed. The building in which Driftwood Market is located was sold to Shurlock LLC, which has ties to Minesh Patel, Oct. 10, 2025, for $2,050,000.
Rees and Williams said the city is working with the displaced business owners to find new homes for their businesses around Plant Street because they want to see them stay in Winter Garden.
“My wife and I are downtown all the time; we want to see them stay,” Rees said.
Residents also are concerned the buildings will become vacant for a long period of time or changes will be made to the historic buildings.
Williams said if Larweth plans to implement interior or exterior modifications to the buildings, everything will have to be reviewed and permitted. He cannot simply tear down a building or make changes without oversight. For exterior modifications, Williams said there is a development review process because the Architectural Review Board, downtown overlay and historic district code all have to be taken into consideration.
A permit applicant can appeal the decision made by city staff and ultimately, the City Commission.
As for the types of businesses that can go into the buildings he has purchased, as long as they fit in the permitted use, the city can’t control leases. Downtown Winter Garden is zoned as C-1 Central Commercial District, which allows for retail establishments; eating and drinking establishments; offices and studios, financial institutions, hotels, private clubs and lodges; personal services; recreational and entertainment uses; public buildings; churches; and upper-story residential.
Williams is asking residents and community members to be patient as plans are formulated, proposed and reviewed.
“Let him put together his plan,” he said. “Let him come in and submit (the plan), and let us do what we have done to make this city so successful. I don’t think anybody will find that our mission from the beginning has changed, or it is his desire to change. Everybody should know we’re all working together. It is our goal to maintain what has made Winter Garden what it is today and to even make it better. I think there is definitely an opportunity here to do that, and I think we’ve got to give individuals time to be able to put together their plans for us to take a look at.”
