Hot market: Pandemic can’t stop growth, activity in Lake Nona

In just 30 years, a 17-square-mile span of land — now called Lake Nona — went from being a countryside cow pasture to one of the leading communities in Central Florida and the nation in real estate, innovation and health care.

The southeast Orlando community has been a work in progress for decades. But in recent years, several key deals were finalized to make it a destination, as well as a great place to live, work, play and do business.

The Tavistock Group-developed community today has roughly 17,000 residents, 12,000 employees and about 15,000 students — including those attending University of Central Florida and Valencia College Lake Nona campuses. It boasts multiple districts, including the 650-acre Medical City life sciences hub, the 300-acre Sports & Performance District, the growing Lake Nona Town Center and several residential neighborhoods. And just beyond its boundaries, a development boom is underway, capitalizing on Lake Nona’s growth.

The area has roughly 5,000 white-collar workers, about 22.8% of the population hold bachelor’s degrees, and the average household income is $101,785.47, per data from Point2Homes gathered from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2018 American Community Survey.

Although Covid-19 hurt the local economy, activity has returned in Lake Nona. Home sales continue, restaurants are back open, and commercial construction is in full force on projects including medical facilities, a hotel, a 7-Eleven and multiple recreational facilities across its 11,000 acres.

Work underway in and around Lake Nona amounts to billions of dollars of construction, plus there’s another estimated $2 billion in the pipeline in the next few years.

For the full article, visit the Orlando Business Journal online.