Plans are moving forward to build a seven-story, 250-unit apartment building on the north side of the 90-acre mixed-use Ravaudage development in Winter Park.
The city’s Development Review Committee last week approved plans for the project which will be owned by an entity tied to Broad Oak Development (formerly OneEleven Residential) of Lake Mary, which fill have 224 market-rate units and 26 restricted affordable units — along with a four-level structured parking garage at the southeast corner of Bennett and Monroe avenues.
The DRC also approved a request by Broad Oak to convert the remaining 92 hotel room entitlements within the Ravaudage PD into 109 market-rate residential units — all of which are incorporated into the development plan. This change is allowed under a 2024 revision to the PD development order.
Dan Bellows is president of Winter Park-based Sydgan Corporation, a property management and real estate development company that is the master developer of Ravaudage. He said he expects to close on the property with Broad Pursuit in mid-March. Construction by Apopka-based design-build firm, Finfrock, is expected to take about 18 months. The landscape plan was created by Dix.Hite + Partners.
The project is across the street and east of the Life Time Fitness expected to open in May.
The land-use map for the Ravaudage development in Winter Park. (Provided by City of Winter Park)
“This particular apartment building will have very nice high-end units — one-, two- and three-bedroom,” Bellows said. “And then just the location, to be with the Ravaudage with all the restaurants coming in, the hotel rooms, the businesses.
“At the end of the day, it’s going to be interesting to see how many people live there, work there, eat there, play there. It’s just a bigger version of Hannibal Square.”
He said the community will have copious amenities he called “current for the times,” among them a resort-style swimming pool, dog spa, podcast studio, bike repair shop, fitness center and clubhouse.
Although it’s too soon to estimate rental rates for units, Bellows said the restricted affordable units will be for households earning at or below 120% of the Orange County area median income.
Broad Oak has previously completed several Class-A communities across the Orlando market, such as The Lake House on Orlando’s Lake Ivanhoe and Harper Grove in the Four Corners submarket.
Plans from Kimley-Horn show a total site area of 2.63 acres, with a building area of 78,095 square feet and an amenity/pool area of 19,166 square feet. The building will have a total interior area of 288,356 square feet.
The building will be about 94 feet tall to the top of architectural elements, with occupied floors below the primary roof/parapet height. City planning staff said the proposed architecture presents a contemporary design with somewhat articulated façades and integrated balconies.
A rendering of the southwest view of the apartment building planned for the Ravaudage development from Monroe Avenue in Winter Park. (Rendering by Finfrock)
The garage will have 422 spaces, with 413 for standard parking (9-feet-by-18-feet) and nine for handicap parking (12-feet-by-18-feet). The garage is integrated into the building design to screen vehicles from public view and support an active, pedestrian-oriented streetscape. The project includes 45 bicycle parking spaces to meet county code requirements.
The development order requires 57,173 square feet of recreation space, divided equally between active and passive recreation. The project proposes 42,252 square feet of on-site space (all within the pool deck and fitness/clubhouse areas), with the remaining required area provided off-site within the PD pond/recreation area.
A map showing the location of various amenities at the apartment building planned for the Ravaudage development in Winter Park. (Landscape Plan by Dix.Hite Partners)
The apartment building is just one of numerous projects in the works for Ravaudage, which saw its first, Miller’s Ale House, open in 2012 on the corner of North Orlando Avenue and Lee Road.
He said a seven-story office building with retail space is planned for the corner of Lewis Drive and Monroe Avenue, directly east of where the apartments will go up. Other projects include a boutique grocery store with an associated restaurant; a three-story events center; townhomes for sale by owner; more apartments and commercial space; a five- to six-story office building with a parking garage; Bank OZK; and additional restaurants.
Bellows said the area has come a long way from the time Ravaudage started taking shape decades ago.
“That land was all overhead cables, power and utilities, there were five large advertising billboards, ” he said. “It was the gateway coming into Winter Park, and there was a pawn shop, a palm reader, massage parlor.
“I was really trying to do something that Winter Park can be proud of.”
Brian Bell can be reached at bbell@orlandosentinel.com. Have a tip about Central Florida development? Email Newsroom@GrowthSpotter.com. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook and LinkedIn.