Universal Parks and Resorts Finds Developer for 20-Acre Affordable Housing Community in Central Florida

Universal Parks and Resorts announced that they have found a developer for their 20-acre affordable housing site, including some renderings of how it’ll look.

What’s Happening:

  • In October 2020, Universal Parks and Resorts announced a nationwide search for affordable housing developers to build and manage an affording housing community in Central Florida.
  • The community will be built on a 20-acre site the company has pledged for exclusive use in helping solve one of the region’s most challenging problems near the International Drive corridor.
  • Today, April 13, Universal announced that Wendover Housing Partners, based in Altamonte Springs, has been chosen to create the community.
  • The community will include 1,000 high-quality apartments as well as 16,000 square-feet of retail space, with construction expected to begin in late 2022.
  • Universal Creative will work with Wendover on the overall plan for the community.
  • You can learn more about the initiative at HousingforTomorrow.com.

Housing for Tomorrow:

  • Site ownership has been transferred from Universal to a not-for-profit that has been established by the company called Housing for Tomorrow, which will oversee the initiative.
  • Housing for Tomorrow will retain ownership of the site and serve as Master Developer with the mission statement “Providing and preserving housing for low- and moderate-income people that is safe, secure and affordable in perpetuity.”
  • They will now enter a $10-a-year/55-year lease for the property with Wendover and Housing for Tomorrow will create an annual certification process to ensure guidelines are being met over the 55-year agreement.
  • Wendover will seek its own financing for the project.

What They’re Saying:

  • Jonathan L. Wolf, founder and CEO of Wendover Housing Partners: “This is an unprecedented partnership between a major company in the community and a private developer to work together to design a community that is close to where people work, filled with amenities that they want and with rents they can afford. We see this as a model for the rest of the country to show how this type of partnership can be used to address the critical need for innovative affordable housing solutions.”
  • John Sprouls, Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer for Universal Parks & Resorts: “Affordable Housing is one of our community’s biggest challenges and we want to be part of the solution. We have brought people with the right expertise together with land to create a new affordable housing community – and a new approach to this issue. Wendover’s willingness to enter a long-term commitment, its experience with affordable housing in our state and its solid financing model will help us make sure we succeed.”

To learn more about the affordable housing community, please visit HousingforTomorrow.com.