New planned community expects 100,000 residents near Downtown Orlando

Horizon West development is next growth zone for Orange County

A huge development in West Orange County called Horizon West is now under construction. When complete it will be a mixed-use project that will ultimately be home to thousands of residents around a town center with shops and restaurants.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - About 20 minutes west of Downtown Orlando, a brand new community is being built from scratch.

Horizon West is the latest master-planned community, much like Lake Nona and Winter Park.

“The second fastest-growing place in terms of residential starts in the U.S., only behind The Villages,” said Ken Kupp, partner at Boyd Development Corporation.

Kupp said more than 50 percent of residential permits in Orange County are for this area.

A new mixed-use town center planned for West Orange County. (Boyd Development)

In time, upwards of 100,000 people are expected to call this community home.

Like other planned neighborhoods, a town center will act as the centerpiece.

“A 950-acre, mixed-use town center, that’s designed to be very walkable and it’s event-driven space, that creates a community center for the surrounding residents,” Kupp said.

It’s called Hamlin, a town center right off the 429, where people can live, work and play.

“You can walk to work, walk to the nearest restaurant, or theater, spend time on the lakefront and really have an outdoor Floridian lifestyle,” Kupp said.

More restaurants, retail and entertainment in the plans. The town center backs up to Lake Hancock, where there will be an outdoor, lakefront entertainment district where the community can come together to enjoy an evening out or attend a special event.

The center is also incorporating office space and apartments, surrounding subdivisions, building homes as far as the eye can see.

“Hamlin is only a small piece of a much larger puzzle,” Kupp said.

Brian Currier just bought a home in this community. He’s glad to hear the plans for his new neighborhood.

“We’re from Massachusetts,” Currier said. “I hear a lot of things are coming, so I’m looking forward to it.”

But will this community be affordable? Kupp says it depends how you look at it.

“You can get into a townhome for $250,000 on one end of the scale and you can go all the way up. If you’d like, you could be on a lake for $900,000 to $1.2 million. [It] sounds like a lot of money, but truth is when you compare that to closer into town... If you want to be on the Butler channel on a lake, those numbers are much, much higher,” Kupp said.

The developer plans to build about two dozen more structures this year at the town center.

He expects the full build-out to take five to seven years.

In the meantime, home builders are going full steam ahead.