Residents Lick Lennar on Apartments but Lose on Office Venture

CLERMONT, FL-Kings Ridge, largely an adult retirement community, won a skirmish but may have lost a battle with its owner, Lennar Homes. Five hundred signed petitions by residents convinced the Clermont city council to reject the Miami-based homebuilder’s plans to build a 258-unit multifamily structure at an estimated $25 million within the Kings Ridge community.

But Lennar told residents and the council it still plans to build an estimated 100,000-sf professional office building at an estimated $10 million hard construction cost in front of the community’s clubhouse.

“That will infuriate residents even more,” a Kings Ridge homeowner tells GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity. “The residents got their priorities mixed up. They should have fought the office building and backed the apartment project.”

The apartments would have housed elderly tenants who needed special daily assistance, such as maid service and food delivery. These tenants, however, are not ready for formal assisted-living facility housing, Lennar officials told the council.

Residents objected to the apartment project largely on traffic congestion grounds at their three main entrances.

“What they didn’t take into consideration is that they may have to use this type of apartment living themselves in their later years since most are now at the retirement stage,” another Kings Ridge resident tells GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity.

Lennar bought Kings Ridge in 1995.