Clermont Getting First Townhomes

CLERMONT, FL-Overriding its own planning and zoning board, Clermont city council approved Greater Construction Co.’s request to build 96 townhomes near one of the area’s heavily trafficked intersections, Hancock Road and State Road 50.

Clermont (Pop. 9,333) is 25 miles west of Downtown Orlando. This is Clermont’s first townhome development.

The homes will be built on a 138-acre tract that already houses commercial and other shelter projects. Greater Construction officials couldn’t be reached at GlobeSt.com’s publication deadline to learn the cost of the project and the prices of the homes.

But Orlando general contractors familiar with the neighboring Lake County market tell GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity the aggregate hard construction cost of the project is expected to about $20 million. Homes will start in the $100s.

Greater Construction, based in the Orlando suburb of Altamonte Springs, FL didn’t win everything it sought from Clermont city council. Council rejected the builder’s request for eight units per acre and agreed to six units per acre.

The project was originally zoned for four units per acre. The more units per acre a builder can place on a tract, the greater the potential profit, area builders tell GlobeSt.com.

A bedroom community for years, Clermont has been attracting new retail and commercial projects quickly in the past three years. Home Depot is negotiating with the city to build a 100,000-sf store at Hancock Road and a planned extension of Hook Street. Other subdivision are also cropping up in the Hancock Road area.

Greater Construction’s townhome project is across State Road 50 from the south Lake campus of Lake-Sumter Community College and the University of Central Florida.