SELLING LIFESTYLE CENTERS
Realtor Michael Dooley -- a Smart Growth advocate, former president of the Florida Association of Realtors and former member of Martin County’s local planning and growth agency – said there is no way to put an exact face on the typical lifestyle community buyer.
“Look at Abacoa, Traditions, Disney’s Celebration -- all of these communities have a good mix of young, active professionals and active retires,” Dooley said, adding that the only group that sales are low in is older retirees, who may be uncomfortable with the concept of new-build town centers with mixed use.
In Orlando, just three miles east of the center of downtown, developers continue to build compact urban forms, such as the live-work unit, on the site of the former Orlando Naval Training Center now known as Baldwin Park.
Realtor Matt Harkins, president of Harkins Development Corporation, built 23 urban buildings, each containing a pair of live-work units in the downtown section of Baldwin Park. The live-work units accommodate to attorneys, CPAs, therapists and other professionals.
The units can be built out three different ways, but the most pure urban form has an office space of about 600 square feet, a studio apartment of about the same space above the garage and 2,000 square foot primary residence. Each has a separate entrance, so a person could live in the main space, have his office in the separate but attached space and rent out the studio apartment for additional revenue.
TOMORROW: St. Augustine-Jacksonville
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