The Villages is negotiating to purchase 200 acres or more north of County Road 466A and east of County Road 462 to develop The Villages of Wildwood.
The Villages of Wildwood would consist of neighborhoods of single-family home similar to the recent Villages expansion into Fruitland Park, according Wildwood city officials, who said project details such as the number of lots are not yet available.
A mixed-use development known as Trailwinds Village had been planned for 157 acres north of 466A and west of the Sandhill executive golf course. That project was announced about three years ago, but nothing has been built and cattle still graze on the land.
The Wildwood City Commission scheduled a workshop for 9:30 a.m. April 15 to discuss details of The Villages expansion and Mayor Ed Wolf said Monday night that he doesn’t plan to just rubber-stamp the project.
“We have a lot of negotiations coming up with The Villages,” he said.
The area is within the Wildwood city limits and The Villages needs the city to provide utility extensions for the new homes and zoning approval in the form of expansion of its Development of Regional Impact (DRI) permit, according to Wildwood development services director Melanie Peavy.
The Villages of Wildwood would be smaller than the Fruitland Park expansion, which includes nearly 2,000 homes on 760 acres. Earlier this month, The Villages also announced plans to add 300 new homes on 64.27 acres in Marion County.
Trailwinds Village was planned to include retail, office, residential, institutional and medical office uses as well as senior housing such as assisted living or nursing facilities, according to the project web site.
Brokers for sale of the Trailwinds property are the Barclay Group of Palm Harbor and Cushman & Wakefield of Tampa.
