The Villages Construction Update #132
 

Here's my latest construction Update, #132 - No More Secret Promise.
There's only 4 parts to this video:
1) A look at the growth of The Villages and the other developments that didn't make it through the great recession and The Villages bought and merged into their long-term growth plans.
2) A new Then-and-Now segment - the villages of Desoto and McClure
3) A look at all the new areas that have opened up since the opening of the Southern Oaks bridge.
and
4) A comparison of the time to get from Sawgrass Grove to the Turnpike via Meggison and McNeil/Bexley Trail

Hope you enjoy the video, #133 is in the works now.

https://youtu.be/ud6Bl80lWQA?si=N3WWq4tO-l6pBbjL

Thanks again for all that you do, Don.

Very informative Don. Especially the first part about all the separate DRIs that were under development that The Villages purchased. I knew the Fenney area was one, but not all the others.

Don;
A video or two ago, you made a subtle comment on possibility of connectivity from Lake Denham/Dabney to the west side of the turnpike. I think the words were something like, Be Patient...
Any other thoughts on this ?

There is a lot more information available but time constraints made it necessary to condense and leave out a lot of details of this amazing puzzle of growth by The Villages. The amount of risk they have and are still taking in terms of dollars and resources is mind boggling. Most developers plan 3 to 5 years into the future because planning any farther involves too much risk. The Villages is planning 20 or more years into the future at considerable risk, imagine the devastating loss they would incur and the impact of the loss of over 10,000 construction related jobs in Sumter and surrounding counties if the bottom were to fall out of the retirement housing market. That takes a lot of faith to put one's future at such a risk.

Many, and many words have been spoken with knowledgable individuals on this topic. The most I can say at this point, until I find an independent alternate source to validate some information, is look at what has been built, what is scheduled to be built, and what is under and being contracted and connect the dots. #132 helped bring to light a little more of the puzzle pieces.

Do Developers own property, acquired perhaps in the past two years +/-, EAST of 470, NORTH of Turnpike? That would be on the other side of Turnpike from the recently acquired 3,000 acres.

Since 470 runs east-west I'm not 100% sure of what area you're talking about. If you're talking about the area south of Dabney/470 and North/east of the Turnpike that is opposite of the Secret Promise property they acquired in August, then yes, they own 550 acres of that area (most of it) and have a wastewater agreement with the city of Leesburg as a part of that purchase that happened about 2 years ago. The highlighted area in the lower right corner of the attached picture, just south of Dabney.

Makes me wonder how much more property they own that other than the family nobody is aware of.

amazing developers

Yes. That’s what I was asking about. THANKS

Low probability of this happening. People will continue to flee high tax jurisdictions with bad weather and unaccountable state governments. It was 30k cash savings yearly to move here. Combine that with freeing capital from selling old house and getting a new one for around half price. Earn risk free 5 percent on it.

The houses are perpetual ancillary revenue streams for the developer. It’s all about cash flow.

What makes Florida desirable

Outstanding video. Thank you!

It's not unusual for them to use sell companies to buy properties here in Sumter and surrounding counties. A typical example of this is the Landstone development, a few years ago (8? if I recall) it was purchased by a company whose principal partner was a prominent individual in the running of the Charter School and lived in the Glenn Hollow community (where the developer's family and close business associates live). It certainly wasn't an effort to compete against the developer. Magically, the property was purchased from them by the developer and is now what we know as Middleton. There are quite a few of these here in Sumter County, it takes some (a lot) digging in public records, but the trail usually ends were expected. Disney did the same thing in the 60's for WDW, as have a great many other companies. It's not illegal and it's a key tool in keeping land acquisition costs from spiraling out of control.

Hi Don

Any word on the multi modal paths that will eventually connect the area of the Southern Oaks bridge to the Fenney area ??

Nothing yet, the road and MMPs are still under construction and with all of the heavy equipment moving in the area right now it would be a bad idea to go down the roads at the risk of becoming a grease spot on the pavement.