Just days after revealing his listing for the Honey Bee Ranch property east of Bithlo, Daryl Carter of Maury L. Carter & Associates said that his team’s phones are “blowing up” with interested buyers looking to get in on a unique development opportunity.
The 1,100-acre property, located at 19543 E. Colonial Dr., was once a working cattle ranch. Now, it is being marketed as Orange County’s next big development opportunity with entitlements for about 500 residential units in an area where developable land is becoming more scarce with each passing year.
“It’s well-located, not too far from UCF, Seminole State College, and the South Florida Research Park, and midway between Orlando and the coast,” Carter said. “If you get up about 10,000 feet and get in your imaginary helicopter, and you look down, you can look at the growth patterns around there. I think it’s the next big deal and our next frontier for development, at least on the east side.”
Carter’s team refers to Honey Bee Ranch as the largest waterfront development property available in Central Florida, with over five miles of water frontage on a series of man-made deepwater lakes. The site, which also has a mile of frontage along State Road 50, has a future land use of residential and a zoning designation of PD and agricultural.
Vice President Jonathan Clayton and Associate Conrad Carter of Maury L. Carter & Associates are also marketing the listing.
“It’s had permits to excavate fill material, and that’s how you wind up with the waterfront development opportunity that exists today. There were some beautiful lakes that have been built on this property that probably at some point will be connected by canals. For whatever gets developed ultimately on the property, not every lot, but many of them will be waterfront and have a water view with a highly amenitized location,” Carter said.
Honey Bee Ranch is located down the road from The Grow, a 1,185-acre agrihood project between Lake Pickett Road and State Road 50 west of Bithlo. The mixed-use development is approved for 2,078 residential lots, 165,000 square feet of commercial space, and a nine-acre working farm. Pulte broke ground on the 504-lot first phase last year after buying into the project in 2023.
The former ranchland also isn’t far from Hi-Oaks Ranch, another one of Carter’s listings. The 672-acre property, located just north of the county line in Seminole County, is being marketed to the county for conservation. While Hi-Oaks Ranch is unique as one of the largest available properties in Seminole County, it isn’t developable like Honey Bee Ranch is.
Large parcels aren’t as common in Seminole and Orange Counties as they are in Lake, Osceola, and Polk due to geographic constraints. Last year, Carter helped broker the sale of nearly 2,500 acres in Wellness Way to GT USA in what was the most lucrative land deal in Lake County’s history. GT USA has already approached Lake County with plans for 2,805 single-family homes, 360 apartments, and about 73 acres of commercial development on the site.
Honey Bee Ranch is less than half the size of that record-setting Wellness Way deal, but Carter explained that the property is one of the most unique opportunities remaining in the region due to the location and miles of waterfront real estate.
“If you draw a big circle around Central Florida, tell me where you can find 1,100 acres of waterfront development land in that big circle. There are not very many of these kinds of opportunities anymore,” he said.
Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at (407)607-8160 or TyWilliams@GrowthSpotter.com. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook and LinkedIn.
