Slower Central Florida Housing Market Doesn’t Concern Local Home Builder

Winter Park-based Engineered Homes of Orlando Inc. is clearly bullish on the Central Florida housing market, despite the current sales slowdown.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, the company is about to launch Johns Lake Pointe, a 197-acre community on the eastern shore of Johns Lake in Winter Garden.

Company President Steve O’Dowd said the development will have 323 homes grouped in three villages. Prices will start in the $300,000s - a sum remaining affordable for many Florida mortgage seekers.

This is Engineered Homes’ largest undertaking since 2003, when it did the 774-lot Brighton Lakes development in Kissimmee.

O’Dowd said Johns Lake Pointe will have $2 million in amenities, including a 4,600-square-foot clubhouse. The company has done two other developments in west Orange County: Forest Trails in Ocoee and The Enclave near Ocoee.

Last year, the home builder sold 276 homes for more than $100 million. This year, O’Dowd is forecasting 400 sales.

In other Florida real estate news, the Celebration Co. has sold 14 acres on South Celebration Boulevard for a new development in the Osceola County community developed by Walt Disney Co.

Lured by a strong rental market, Willmark Communities of San Diego plans to build a rental development targeted at adults age 55 and up. The developer plans 416 apartments.

Construction will start with 234 units, with the rest to be completed by 2010. Amenities are to include a pool and cabanas and a nearly 16,000-square-foot clubhouse with a theater, banquet hall and cafe.

The project is Willmark’s first East Coast development. The company, which hopes to capitalize on the lack of demand for Florida mortgages, owns and manages more than 2,500 apartment units in California, Oklahoma and Nevada.

SOURCE: Orlando Sentinel