NACHRICHTENRAUM

D.R. Horton looking to add more townhomes around Greystone

2021/07/13

D.R. Horton will build 335 townhomes in Atria at Ridgewood Lakes and the adjacent Greystone West neighborhood. (Dewberry).

D.R. Horton is continuing to plant a flag in the Davenport submarket, adding 573 townhomes around Del Webb Orlando at Ridgewood Lakes.The Texas-based homebuilder has three projects in the pipeline. Last month, D.R. Horton paid $4.5 million to Walton Development for a portion of the DevCo 72 Planned Unit Development right at U.S. 27 and Ridgewood Lakes Boulevard. Lawson Dann, Senior Vice President at Avison Young previously had the listing for Walton, but he said the firm brokered a deal directly with D.R. Horton for all but 20 acres of Devco 72.

DevCo 72 is a proposed mixed-use development with townhomes, apartments, and commercial that was entitled by Polk County in 2016. D.R. Horton is seeking approvals to build 238 townhomes on 31 acres that abut Starlight Homes’ Madison Place townhouse community.

D.R. Horton recently paid $4.5 million for the DevCo 72 parcel at U.S. 27 and Ridgewood Lakes Boulevard. The homebuilder has applied for approvals to build 238 townhomes. (Dewberry).

The second project is scheduled to close this week. Atria at Ridgewood Lakes is on the north side of Ridgewood Lakes Boulevard, just east of the DevCo 72 site. Sellers Tom Chapman and Mike Galvin of CG Land Services just filed the final plat for the 113-unit townhome community.

“So many townhomes are going up because of the price of houses,” Chapman said. “Building costs have just increased so much that people can’t afford them.”

D.R. Horton is already gathering an interest list for Atria at Ridgewood Lakes, which is scheduled for opening in the fall. The builder will offer two floorplans from its Express Homes brand starting at 1,673 square feet, but it has not released pricing. The average sale price for an Express Home is $260,000, compared to $320,000 for a D.R. Horton-branded home, according to the company’s second-quarter financial report.

Greystone West will be 222 townhomes with an amenity center, parks and 2 stormwater ponds on a 40-acre tract that directly abuts the Atria at Ridgewood Lakes project. The townhomes will be 20-feet wide by 100 feet deep or 2000 square feet. Polk County’s Development Review Committee met with a D.R. Horton representative on July 1 to discuss the site plan and a host of environmental issues related to both the DevCo and Greystone West projects. Orlando-based Dewberry is the engineer and project manager for both the DevCo 72 townhomes and the Greystone townhomes. Universal Engineering Services is the geotechnical consultant.

The initial Ridgewood Lakes DRI approval took place more than 35 years ago.

GrowthSpotter editor Laura Kinsler contributed to this report.