Olympus: Master Development Coming to Wellness Way
Dan Wilson
This is Olympus!! Cue some video footage of a classic Greek battle scene, ala “300”, and that will explain what, err… no, it won’t, just kidding! Olympus is the vision created by the Carrolls (Mike and Mike Sr.) and their team, who have done the unthinkable in dreaming up (and now bringing to reality) a sports and wellness-based community amidst the orange groves in (then) rural Lake County, FL (Clermont area). Their vision is to artfully blend medium-density housing, shopping, restaurants, healthcare and wellness amenities with world-class sports venues & events, facilities, performance centers, all while maintaining lots of green spaces and taking full advantage of those things that are very rare in Florida – HILLS!
In ~2014, the Carrolls and the Olympus team began to create the master plan and worked diligently to assemble what is now approximately 247 total acres. With a project of this size, there are many levels of zoning, planning, and City/County approvals required, which, takes time and resources. From 2014 – 2019, extensive work was completed in the areas of land planning, engineering, physical due diligence (environmental, wetlands, soils, topography, etc.), traffic and school board impacts, financial modeling, and many other areas.
They were able to develop a strong relationship with Lake County planning officials, and ultimately received approval for their Planned Unit Development (“PUD”), which consists of the ability to develop:
- Over 1 million SF of space (commercial office, medical, retail, restaurants, mixed-use),
- ± 1,000 residential units,
- ± 1,300 hotel rooms,
- ± 15,000 sports venue seats (among various facilities),
- Up to 130,000 SF of conference space.
Once this massive PUD was approved, the Olympus team was able to close on the land (2019) and begin marketing for parcel sales and start the process for bringing the roads, stormwater, and utility infrastructure to, and within the site.
A side note on this process, developers in FL (and some other states) can utilize what is known as a Community Development District (“CDD”), to help fund some, or most of the infrastructure costs for the horizontal construction in a sizeable development, basically everything except the vertical construction. The CDD becomes its own “district” in a sense and sells bonds to investors to raise capital for the infrastructure costs. As the development moves forward, the bondholders are paid back over a period of 20-30 years, with end-users (homeowners, commercial tenants, etc.) paying a small portion annually to pay back the bonds. The Olympus team is very fortunate to have Mr. Hank Fishkind on their team, he’s basically the G.O.A.T of CDD Bond financing (my words, not his). At last discussion, I believe he has completed over $5 billion in CDD bond issuances, used in some of the most prestigious/successful developments across the state of Florida.
Fast forward to early 2020, the Olympus CDD had been annexed into the City of Clermont, and the team was preparing to float bonds for the first phases of infrastructure and this thing called “COVID19” (?!) popped up, essentially putting a stop to any commercial real estate development activity (and basically all human activity for a period of many months). With no ability to fund/begin the infrastructure needed in order to sell parcels of land to various developers, which is the bulk of their non-sports campus business model, the Olympus team was in a pretty challenging position. Well, what did they do?? They survived a pandemic. It wasn’t glamorous, but when land development was a “bad word”, during a period when MANY people wondered if some offices, hotels, and retail stores would go away forever, it was more than enough to keep progressing, and keep the vision alive.
They got creative with their financing plan, advanced the project in areas that they could, (hired First Capital Property Group to help with parcel sales 😉 and they essentially weathered the storm, until mid-late 2021, when the bond markets thawed, and a couple pioneers (that saw the vision) decided to move forward (Integra Land Company & David Weekley Homes). This stamped a strong endorsement on the development, the team, and the vision for Olympus in the heart of Lake County.
Momentum continues to build for Olympus, with a contract in place with a large healthcare REIT, under LOI with a prominent area developer for the Town Center mixed-use (multi-family, commercial, retail, hotel) area and the active-adult 55+ Senior Housing facility. Infrastructure construction has BEGUN (sorry Clay Loop runners, but the result will be so much better!!), many other partnerships and sales are in various stages, and the Olympus team is turning vision into reality. Right. Now.
Stay tuned for the next update, there is so much more to come! For now, visit FCPG.com/Olympus to download the flyer or to contact us for more information.