TAVARES, FL-Only 30 years ago, citrus land along U.S. 441 north in Lake County, 30 miles northwest of Downtown Orlando, could still be bought for $5,000 an acre or 11 cents per sf. Today, the price is about $261,360 per acre ($6) to $348,480 per acre ($8 per sf).

The six-story, $129 million, 450,000-sf Florida Hospital Waterman, going up in Tavares, FL, a city of 9,000 permanent residents, has escalated land prices to unprecedented levels in this largely agricultural community and county.

“The recession doesn't seem to have slowed down anything around here these days,” Paul Bryan, owner/president, Bryan Properties Inc., Tavares, tells GlobeSt.com. “If anything, the (development) momentum just keeps on going.”

The real problem facing developers is finding enough developable land near the perimeter of the 204-bed hospital that is scheduled to open in fall 2003. They already know the price will be high, at least by old Lake County land-purchasing standards, area brokers say.

“There might be 50 (developable) acres between the hospital in Tavares and the (547,645-sf) Lake Square Mall in Leesburg,” Bryan says. “Lake Harris and Lake Eustis (along U.S. 441 north) have pretty well boxed in” whatever developable dirt remains.

However, going southeast from the hospital site towards Eustis and Mount Dora, the broker estimates there could be “several hundred acres” available but says developing that stretch now would be premature.

Spurring commercial and retail development is the six-story Florida Hospital Medical Plaza which opened with doctors' offices in 1997 and the $10 million, 20,000-sf Florida Hospital Cancer Institute scheduled to open in November on the hospital grounds.

In the immediate hospital development area, Osprey Development Group of Sarasota, FL is talking with city officials about building a 103-unit senior apartment complex on 12 acres across from the hospital. The estimated land cost alone is in the $350,000-per-acre range ($8.03 per sf) or about $4.2 million, area brokers tell GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity.

Watkins Retail Group of Orlando has broken ground on Eustis Village shopping center, a 22-acre retail venture at David Walker Road and U.S. 441 where Beall's Department Stores Inc. of Clearwater, FL plans to erect a 55,000-sf store.

Peregrine Properties of San Francisco is studying another 22-acre retail project, Triangle MarketPlace, adjacent to the Watkins undertaking. The 10,172-sf Radnothy Orthopedic Clinic is already open in the Lakeview Center.

Chain restaurants are opening within months of each other and drawing customers up and down U.S. 441 north from Tavares to Leesburg. National retailers, such as Home Depot and Lowe's, have new stores operating about 15 miles north of the hospital area.

Is all this fresh, expensive development good or bad for a once-laid back county with a total permanent population of only 210,000 residents and 1,400 lakes?

“I really don't know at this point,” Bryan tells GlobeSt.com. “I'm a good ol' Lake County boy and I can remember when you could drive to Leesburg from Tavares (15 miles) in no time at all, but you can't do that today. Traffic is a bear.”

Instant Insights /

GlobeSt.com UPDATE: Hospital Creating Market Within Market

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