By Jack Witthaus  –  Staff Writer, Orlando Business Journal

A third apartment complex may rise soon in Hamlin — a 1,000-acre, mixed-use village in west Orange County’s Horizon West community — as demand for residential remains hot in Central Florida.

The 373-unit project, called Homestead at Hamlin Lakes, may start construction in late October, said Ken Kupp, a partner of Hamlin developer Winter Garden-based Boyd Development.

The development firm is teaming up with DWS Group and Leeward Capital to build the project, which is expected to be completed by mid-2024.

A cost estimate wasn’t provided, but Homestead at Hamlin Lakes may cost more than $80 million to build, based on industry standards.

The project team includes Maitland-based Charlan Brock & Associates as an architect and Orlando-based Kelly, Collins & Gentry Inc. as an engineer. Lake Mary-based Portrait Construction of Florida Inc. is the contractor and built the two other apartment projects in Hamlin, The Lodge at Hamlin and Lakewalk at Hamlin.

The Homestead at Hamlin Lakes development will be built on roughly 16 acres west of State Road 429 and south of New Independence Parkway, Kupp said.

Ken Kupp

The project is smaller than the original plans, which called for roughly 496 apartments on 22.6 acres at 6301 Avalon Road. Those plans surfaced in April 2020.

Hot market

There’s a big demand for new apartments and to buy multifamily properties in Central Florida, due to the region’s fast-growing population.

The highest quarterly level for the volume of deals in 15 years was in the second quarter of 2021 as volume increased to $52.7 billion, according to CBRE’s Q2 2021 U.S. Multifamily Figures report.

The increased demand for apartments locally is being felt in rising rents, growing occupancy, and cheap debt, experts say. The region ranked 12th highest for new construction and No. 11 nationwide for investment, CBRE reported. For the latter metric, Orlando captured $2.2 billion in apartment investment in the second quarter of 2021, a 51% year-over-year increase.

Apartment stats

The Windermere apartment submarket, which includes Hamlin, featured an average monthly rent of $1,920, which is higher than the Orlando-area average of $1,587, CoStar Group reported.

The Orlando area’s average apartment complex occupancy rate is 5.3% and roughly 10,206 units are under construction.