The Marsan Real Estate Group, based in Orlando, recently submitted St. John's River Water Management District for the development of Whispering Hills, a planned mixed use development of 1,088 hectares in Leesburg.
At the site of the former Journey M Circle Ranch in Leesburg, east of US 27 and north of Dewey Robbins Road, Whispering Hills 2022 received the green light from the city council of Leesburg after the members of the community vehicles had triggered the objections of parishioners from Lake County officials about the planned size of the project.
The Council unanimously approved measures that would enable developers with whispering hills – and the adjacent Hodges reserve – to advance the projects.
Hodges Reserve is a 147 -hectare living development in the north side of Dewey Robbins and east of US 27. The project is active in development. Sales will probably begin later this year.
The developer Jean Marsan applied for mass amounts for phase 1a of whisper hills from SJRWMD. The application for approval contained the number of expected units for nine villages within the municipality planned by Master:
- Village A: 48 single -family units
- Village C: 56 city houses units
- Village D: 67 town house units
- Village E: 100 Stadthome units
- Village f 135 single -family units
- Village G: 103 single -family units
- Village H: 224 single -family units
- Village I: 107 single -family units
- Village J: 127 single -family units
A total of 774 single -family houses and 223 town houses were included between the nine villages listed in the application.
After several concessions to appease the concerns of the residents of areas, the current plans for whisper hills enable up to 2,942 residential units, although the planning director of Leesburg, Dan Miller, expects it to be built closer to 2,300 or 2,400 units.
“It depends on the designs,” he said. “They were approved for more than that, but if you actually carry out the technology and lay out the website, we expect around 2,300 or 2,400.”
The current plans for whisper hills, said Miller, demand a 44 hectare city center with a maximum of 451,000 square meters of commercial hotel, medical and office use.
The development will include 50 feet and 70 feet with minimal house sizes of 1,700 square foot without the garage. According to Miller, most houses contain either three bedrooms and two bathrooms or four bedrooms and two bathrooms.
Other amenities from whisper hills include hiking trails, dog parks, grill pavilions, a clubhouse with a swimming pool and a small petting zoo that could possibly contain goats, pigs and ponies.
There are also plans for a riding center and a golf course “with an asterisk,” said Miller. The size of the golf course is a dispute for the opponents of the project.
“Many of these things only depend on when the financing takes place and when they can be prepared if they are planning review times and the engineers can set up in the contractors,” he said. “The larger the project, the more complexity in the coordination. Some projects that we take 10 or 15 years will be carried out in a year and a half when it comes to individual projects.”
In view of the duration required for a project of this size, Colliers Director of Land Services Trevor Hall Jr., who is not involved in the project, said that developers who are working on whisper hills should be ready to be “in the long run” if the market forces change.
“I predict my sixth correction on the real estate market here, and I think things are getting slower than expected,” he said. “We went at an exciting pace and I only see that things are getting slower. So people can be picky where they decide.
With potential whimpering Hills tenants who will probably still travel most and the street infrastructure in the area, he hopes that developers will be successful in seducing people from their cars into the shops and amenities that have to offer the development.
“All 100 families bring at least 150 automobiles, per household,” he said. “This is our lifestyle to drive wherever we want. This is an exurbbanic project, so you better have a few things to grasp these trips within the project.”
In addition to whisper hills, Richland Communities plans a development with 825 single -family houses near the No. 2 Road and the Busby Road east of the neighborhood of Wind song.
The concerns regarding traffic on road no. 2 of the nearby residents caused the developer of the 337 hectare project to move the access point of the proposed district from this street to an access point through whisper hill.
Even in view of the size of the project to enable the hurdles, to clarify and do it, Miller said that he was still optimistic to whisper Hills and what it could lend for the completion of Leesburg.
“There will be a good amount of relaxation and a good amount of commercial,” he said. “It really tries to create a nice live, work, play community for the area. I think it will work.”
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