{"id":382773,"date":"2026-08-27T17:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T17:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/382773\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T17:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T17:48:09","slug":"merrywoods-new-owners-still-seek-demo-permit-for-winter-park-mansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/382773\/","title":{"rendered":"Merrywood’s new owners still seek demo permit for Winter Park mansion"},"content":{"rendered":"

While no one has heard publicly from the new owners of Winter Park\u2019s historic Merrywood estate<\/a>, they told the city through a representative that they want a permit to demolish it.<\/p>\n

The initial application for a permit filed by the former owners was extended this week for 90 days \u2014 allowing more time to complete the requirements to obtain it. The city said it received authorization to do so from the new owner\u2019s representative.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, city commissioners Wednesday unanimously tabled until Oct. 14 the second, and final, vote on a controversial proposed lot split for the Merrywood land in the tony area along Lake Osceola.<\/p>\n

Mayor Sheila DeCiccio said at the beginning of the meeting the city has no idea what\u2019s next for the property.<\/p>\n

\u201cApparently there\u2019s new owners of the property and we\u2019re not sure what they\u2019re going to do, whether they\u2019re going to keep Merrywood, designate it (as historic), tear it down,\u201d DeCiccio said. \u201cSo this will give us time to get a handle on what\u2019s going to be happening with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new owners had asked the city to delay the second vote until October.<\/p>\n

Siblings Cathy and Raymond Gilmer sold<\/a> the 3.67-acre property last week for $15 million to Lake Osceola Holdings LLC in a move that stunned those working to save the house from demolition. The entity \u2014 registered with the state June 10, two weeks before the commission\u2019s first vote on the lot split issue \u2014 lists its registered agent as Orlando law firm Cypress Row Advisors and one of its senior attorneys, Carla DeLoach, as its manager. The identity of the actual buyers are unknown.<\/p>\n

The Gilmers applied for a demolition permit<\/a> Feb. 26, but never completed any of the steps required to issue it \u2014 such as various inspections and paying about $1,500 in fees. Sorenson Construction, the Winter Garden contractor listed on the application, requested an extension Friday morning. The city\u2019s permitting portal<\/a> showed $150 was paid Tuesday for the extension on the application, which would\u2019ve expired Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Allison McGillis, the city\u2019s Planning & Zoning director, has said she doesn\u2019t know how long the permitting process will take, but once all required documentation and pre-demo inspections are approved, it would be issued upon payment of fees. In general, landowners have the right to demolish structures on their land once permits are filed and paid for, and Merrywood has no historical designation to get in the way of that.<\/p>\n

The 7,300-square-foot Spanish-style home built in 1939 is the largest residence designed by the city\u2019s famed architect,\u00a0James Gamble Rogers II<\/a>. It\u2019s estimated fewer than 30 homes he designed remain standing in the city. Commissioners recently tasked their\u00a0historic preservation board<\/a> with recommending ways to improve preservation efforts, as iconic homes are torn down to make way for new ones in a city where vacant land is scarce.<\/p>\n

An exclusive look inside Winter Park\u2019s historic, imperiled Merrywood House<\/a><\/p>\n

Multiple attempts to reach DeLoach, the new owners representative, by phone and email for comment were not successful.<\/p>\n

Attorney Tara Tedrow, with Orlando-based Lowndes Law, originally requested the lot-split amendment earlier this year because she said she had a contract on the property with plans to build a home on part it. Although the deed of sale was prepared by one of her colleagues, Tedrow has told the city she\u2019s not connected to Lake Osceola Holdings.<\/p>\n

The sale, the largest-ever for a single lot in city history, could potentially allow the owner to build a 55,991-square-foot house on the land under existing ordinances. It\u2019s about 300 feet from the city\u2019s largest home at 916 Palmer Avenue \u2014 which is about 40,000 square feet.<\/p>\n

Orlando-based attorney Matt Morgan offered $10 million in 2025 for the entire property<\/a> and upped it to $12 million in July, adding that he\u2019d spend his own money to preserve the house. He was told the Gilmers weren\u2019t interested in his first offer and did not receive a response to his second.<\/p>\n

Betsy Owens, executive director of\u00a0Friends of Casa Feliz<\/a> and one of the people working to save Merrywood, attended the meeting with plans to speak. However after the lot-split issue was tabled, Owens, the granddaughter of Gamble, said she would wait to address commissioners when they take it up in October.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While no one has heard publicly from the new owners of Winter Park\u2019s historic Merrywood estate, they told…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":382774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[558,28,266,115,1335,139,141,140,480,109,76686,4567],"class_list":["post-382773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-business","tag-florida","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-real-estate","tag-social","tag-social-business","tag-winter-park"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=382773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/382773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/382774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=382773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=382773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=382773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}