Massive Whispering Hills project moving ahead in Leesburg
A massive mixed-use development in Leesburg is moving ahead, three years after the controversial approval of the 1,088-acre subdivision known as Whispering Hills.
Orlando-based Marsan Real Estate Group recently filed permitting with the St. Johns River Water Management District for the first phase of the project, GrowthSpotter reported.
The activity comes as Leesburg leaders are grappling with their city's rapid growth, leading the city council to reject a much smaller annexation request for a housing project earlier this week.
Located on the site of the former Journey M Circle Ranch in Leesburg, just east of U.S. 27 and north of Dewey Robbins Road, Whispering Hills got the green light from Leesburg City Council in 2022 after vehement objection from community members and concern from Lake County officials over the project's proposed size.
The council unanimously approved measures that would allow developers with Whispering Hills — and the adjacent Hodges Reserve — to move ahead with the projects.
Hodges Reserve is a 147-acre, 449-unit residential development located near the north side of Dewey Robbins and east of U.S. 27. That project is actively in development, with sales expected to begin later this year.
Developer Jean Marsan applied for mass grading permits for Phase 1A of Whispering Hills from the water management district. A total of 774 single-family homes and 223 townhomes were included among the nine villages listed in the application.
After making several concessions to appease the concerns of area residents, current plans for Whispering Hills allow for up to 2,942 dwelling units, though Leesburg planning director Dan Miller said he expects closer to 2,300 or 2,400 units will be constructed.
'It depends on the designs,' he said. 'They were approved for more than that, but when you get down to actually doing the engineering and laying out the site, we anticipate around 2,300 or 2,400, something like that.'
Current plans for Whispering Hills, Miller said, call for a 44-acre town center with a maximum of 451,000 square feet of commercial hotel, medical and office uses.
The development will include 50-foot and 70-foot lots with minimum house sizes of 1,700 square feet, excluding the garage. Most homes will either contain three bedrooms and two bathrooms or four bedrooms and two bathrooms, according to Miller.
Other Whispering Hills amenities include walking trails, dog parks, barbecue pavilions, a clubhouse with a swimming pool and a small petting zoo that could potentially contain goats, hogs and ponies among other animals.
There are also plans for an equestrian center and a golf course 'with an asterisk', Miller said, the size of the golf course being a point of contention for opponents of the project.
'A lot of these things just depend on when financing is done and when it can be prepared, when they can plan review times and get engineers lined up in the contractors,' he said. 'The larger the project, the more complexity there is in the coordination. Some projects we've had take 10 or 15 years to build out, some get done in a year and a half, it's quite variable when it comes to individual projects.'
With prospective Whispering Hills tenants likely to drive for most trips and road infrastructure still being built up in the area, Colliers director of land services Trevor Hall, Jr., said he hopes to see developers find success in enticing people out of their cars and into the businesses and amenities the development has to offer.
'Every 100 families is bringing at least 150 automobiles with them or more,' he said. 'That's our lifestyle, to drive wherever we want to go. This is an exurban project, so they better have some things to do that capture those trips within the project.'
Adjacent to Whispering Hills, Richland Communities is planning a development with 825 detached single-family homes near No. 2 Road and Busby Road, east of the Windsong neighborhood.
Concerns about traffic on No. 2 Road from nearby residents prompted the developer of the 337-acre project to move the proposed neighborhood's access point off that road to an access point through Whispering Hills.
Even given the project's size, permitting hurdles to clear and work to be done, Miller said he's still optimistic about Whispering Hills and what it could provide to Leesburg once complete.
'There's going to be a good amount of recreation and a good amount of commercial,' he said. 'It's really trying to create a nice live, work, play community for the area. I think it's going to work.'
Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at jwilkins@orlandosentinel.com or 407-754-4980. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook and LinkedIn.
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