A local developer wants to build a senior living community near Sanford on the north side of State Road 46, just east of FL-429.
David Stokes of engineering firm Madden, Moorhead & Stokes and representatives from Winter Park-based developer Atlantic Housing Partners held a pre-application meeting with the Seminole County Development Review Committee on Wednesday to discuss a potential senior independent living apartment community next to the existing Circle K gas station at the northwest corner of SR 46 and Orange Boulevard.
Aloha Sanford Senior Living LLC, an entity associated with Miami-based developer Raul Ramirez, bought the 7.5-acre vacant property last year for $2 million.
A site plan calls for a four-story building with 130 apartments, including a mix of one- and two-bedroom units. While the plans are preliminary, the building could have a gym, bocce ball courts, outdoor seating and lounge space, a fire pit, and an outdoor garden.
The proposed use is permitted under the property’s approved Seminole Springs Retirement Community PD zoning, which allows for up to 130 senior living multifamily units and buildings as tall as 45 feet.
This isn’t the first proposal for a senior living community on the site. North Palm Beach-based AgeWell Solvere Living submitted plans to the county at the beginning of 2024 for a 161-unit, four-building senior living community. The project would have included amenities such as a pickleball court, a pool, a spa, a dog park, and a clubhouse.
There’s another residential project planned for a vacant property across the street from the proposed senior living community. Middleburg Communities filed plans with the county earlier this year for a 300-unit apartment complex on 12.2 acres at the southwest intersection of State Road 46 and Orange Boulevard. The community would have five elevator-serviced, four-story buildings with a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments.
Middleburg intends to utilize the Live Local Act, which allows developers to build apartments on land zoned commercial or industrial without a rezoning. The developer plans to maintain 40% of the units as attainable, which means the rents must be at or below 90% of the market rate and leased to people who earn 80-120% of Area Median Income (AMI). In Seminole County, 120% of AMI is $81,120 for a single-person household and $104,280 for a three-person household, according to 2024 data from HUD.
Atlantic Housing Partners has another senior apartment community in the works for the Sanford area. The developer filed plans with the City of Sanford last year for an age-restricted, 146-unit apartment building at 3750 E. State Road 46 that would be built using the Live Local Act.
All of the units would be affordable and would be built in a 4-story building with 1,600 square feet of ground-floor commercial/office space. An amenity area at the back of the property would also have outdoor seating and a cornhole court, situated next to a 2,350-square-foot clubhouse within the ground floor of the building.
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