expanding HORIZONS

BREVARD COUNTY, ALSO KNOWN AS THE SPACE COAST, CONTINUES TO RISE AS A HOT SPOT AMONG HOMEBUYERS.

BY MICHAEL CANDELARIA

Just how bright is homebuilding in Brevard County?

Here’s a hint: The county is ranked as the No. 3 place to live in Florida by U.S. News & World Report. Also, Brevard ranks as the 12th fastest-growing metro area nationwide.

One only needs to look at the vitality of Viera as proof of building momentum throughout 72-mile-long Brevard. Last year, Viera — in recent years a regular on lists of top-25 master-planned communities across the United States — entered the Top 10 for sales performance, as ranked by Burns Real Estate Consulting and RCLCO Real Estate Consulting. Both firms have regional offices nationwide.

Viera’s homebuilding achievements are even more significant, the consulting firms reported, when considering the challenges the building industry has faced in the past few years. While supply chain issues, increased materials costs, labor shortages and rising mortgage rates have largely wreaked havoc in construction, Viera has forged ahead.

Specifically, success with homebuyers has come by virtue of A-rated schools, thoughtfully planned neighborhoods, abundant shopping and dining opportunities, convenient health care facilities, a wide range of housing styles and sustained regional employment growth, says Karl Pischke, vice president of RCLCO, which has an office in Orlando and is based in California.

In 2022, according to The Viera Co., master developer of the community, Viera posted 772 net new home sales from builders that included Joyal Homes, Lifestyle Homes, Stanley Homes, AMEK, Christopher Burton Luxury Homes, AR Homes, Elan Builders, Del Webb (a brand of PulteGroup) and Viera Builders.

Examples? Del Webb at Viera is PulteGroup’s first community in Brevard for more than a decade and is the builder’s first foray into the area’s 55-plus active adult market. The 1,300home gated community sits on more than 500 acres west of the Pineda Interchange at Interstate 95.

Presales began in mid-2022, with prices ranging from $377,990 to $664,540 and square footage ranging from 1,405 to 3,453. And there are plenty of potential buyers — 40 percent of county residents are 55 or older.

Viera shoppers can expect an accent on natural beauty along with coastal and Caribbean design influences, highlighted by water views and tropical landscaping.

Among the community’s amenities are a 20,000-squarefoot waterfront clubhouse on a 10-acre amenity site with a resort-style pool, a cabana oasis, tennis and pickleball courts, a fitness center, a community garden, walking and biking trails, and parks.

Similarly, Sierra Cove by Viera Builders features large homesites and winding roads. Upon completion, Sierra Cove will contain miles of trails, a hockey rink, playgrounds and a rock wall, among other amenities. Home prices will range from $442,900 to $686,900 and range in size from 1,590 to 3,087 square feet.

One example is the Baldwin model — with two stories, four-bedrooms, 4.5 bathrooms, a family room, loft and a flex room, a breakfast area, a covered patio, walk-in closets and a primary downstairs bedroom encompassed within 2,860 square feet. It’s priced at $648,900.

A bit of Viera history for perspective: Almost no homes were on the property as recently as 1989. That’s when the rural land was forever changed by A. Duda and Sons, which broke ground on the new community along Interstate 95 and Wickham Road. The Viera Co. is a subsidiary of A. Duda and Sons, an Oviedo-based agricultural company with huge land holdings.

Scott Miller, senior vice president for sales and community development at The Viera Co., describes the county’s continued influx of aerospace-related workers as “the goose that lays the golden egg.”

Note: Brevard County gets its “Space Coast “moniker from the presence of the John F. Kennedy Space Center — where the manned missions to the moon and the Space Shuttle were first based — followed now by a new generation of ambitious space travel.

More proof of expanding horizons? Just look for signs that read “Coming Soon.”

In Cocoa, a new project will soon rise along the Indian River, nestled between U.S. Highway 1 and River Road. Called River Walk, the community will have 25 homesites, with prices that range from $700,000. River Walk, developed by the Flamingo Land Co., will also feature a private neighborhood dock on the Indian River.

In Palm Bay, Landsea Homes has moved into Phase 5 at Country Club Estates, with plans to include 154 detached single-family homes and 46 attached duplex single-family homes on 200 acres. Phase 4 consisted of 68 homes.

The gated community offers many lakefront and oversized lots in a serene, natural environment that encompasses 100-year-old trees. A community park overlooks one of the central lakes. New homes range in size from 1,800 to more than 2,400 square feet, with three to four bedrooms and up to three-car garages.

For example, the Briella model, measuring 2,246 square feet with four bedrooms and three bathrooms, is highlighted by a primary suite, a great room, flex space, a dining room, a covered porch and a three-car garage. At press time, home prices weren’t yet announced.

Homes built in Phase 5 will be equipped with Landsea Homes’ “High Performance Home” features, such as smarthome automation technology controlled by the Apple HomeKit — including an Apple HomePod mini, wireless network internet, entry door locks, thermostat control, garage-door opener controls, light dimmer switches and doorbell camera pre-wiring.

Maronda Homes’ Egret’s Reserve is coming to Merritt Island with single-family homes that feature brick-paver driveways, walkways, tropical landscaping and oversized lots with side-load garages. Preliminary prices range from $600,000 to $800,000.

Nearby, K. Hovnanian Homes is setting its sights on Armen Groves, which will encompass 36 single-family homes. Although prices weren’t announced as of late March, home design styles will include Farmhouse, Loft, Classic and the more contemporary Elements.

Meanwhile, numerous communities are moving onward — or, perhaps more appropriately, upward — in a county that now totals more than 625,500 residents. Here is a sampling.

In Titusville, KB Home is in the midst of building at Verona Village B, which features single-family homes that range in size from 1,541 to 3,530 square feet with prices ranging from below $400,000 to more than $500,000.

One example is the two-story model Plan 3203, with three to six bedrooms and up to 4.5 bathrooms. It measures 3,203 square feet and is priced from $488,990. KB Home touts the open floorplan, which contains a great room, flex space and a spacious den as well as convenient community access to highways, beaches and shopping.

Also in Titusville, Brookshire by Stanley Martin Homes offers a variety of three- , four- and five-bedroom home designs that range in size from 1,500 to 2,800 square feet and are priced from $364,490 to $397,990.

The four-bedroom, two-bathroom Seaton model, for example, measures 2,001 square feet and is priced at $397,990. A light, airy living area with an open kitchen overlooks the family room, with access to a private patio or a large covered lanai. Three guest bedrooms share a central bathroom, and there’s a secluded primary suite with an oversized closet and ample bathroom amenities.

To the south in Cocoa, Port St. John by Maronda Homes has more than a dozen different models that are priced starting at $349,990 and measure up to 1,273 square feet in size with up to six bedrooms and three bathrooms.

One popular model is the Sequoia, priced from $422,900 for six bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms encompassed within 2,692 square feet. Among the highlights of this open-concept layout is a family room adjacent to the kitchen and dining areas that boasts plentiful natural light.

There’s also a spacious kitchen with a center island and workspace; first-floor flex space; a rear staircase leading to the second floor; an upstairs owner’s suite with a large walk-in closet and dual vanities; and three secondary bedrooms upstairs.

At Adamson Creek in Cocoa, four distinct floorplans by D.R. Horton offer up to five bedrooms in homes that range in size from 1,672 to 2,601 square feet and are priced from $315,990 to $384,990.

The largest is the two-story Hayden model, which is priced starting at approximately $385,000, with five bedrooms and three bathrooms. Highlights include first-floor flex space for a home office or formal dining room and a bedroom with a full bath, as well as a central living room and an open kitchen with an extended island. Upstairs is an owner’s suite, a secondary living room and a laundry room.

In addition, D.R. Horton touts a location close to Port Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center, as well as easy highway access to Interstate 4 and state roads 520 and 528 to Orlando.

Farther south in Rockledge, D.R. Horton is building in Harvest Landing, with prices that range from $329,990 to $379,990 for homes that measure 1,672 to 2,447 square feet in size.

The community is bordered on the east by the Indian River and to the south by Viera. The largest model is the five-bedroom, four-bathroom Robie, a two-story floorplan with an open-concept layout downstairs highlighted by a well-appointed kitchen along with dining and living areas. Upstairs, the oversized main bedroom includes a walk-in closet as well as an ensuite bathroom. Four other bedrooms share a second upstairs bathroom, and a loft provides an extra area for work or play.

Also in Rockledge, Arthur Rutenberg Homes is busy at Adelaide, a 460-acre luxury community situated on 125-acre Lake Adelaide. A total of 147 homesites are planned, ranging in size from a half-acre to an acre-plus.

Adelaide will contain four distinct neighborhoods: The Reserve, The Lakes, The Preserve and The Park. Nearly 40 percent of the community is either water or preservation areas. Community amenities include a central dock with lake access, as well as nature trails, parks, tennis courts, basketball courts, playgrounds and jogging trails nestled throughout the community.

Prices in Adelaide range from $1.35 million to $4.345 million for homes that measure 3,000 to 6,080 square feet and contain five bedrooms and up to eight bathrooms.

Just to the south, Maronda Homes is building The Vue in Satellite Beach, the area’s only new-construction beachside community. It’s also Maronda’s first beachside community, with homes that are touted as “never seen before” from the builder.

The homes are priced from $816,900 to slightly more than $1 million. There are six home designs available that range in size from 2,031 to 3,714 square feet.

One example: The two-story Jupiter, at 3,714 square feet, contains six bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms and is priced at $1,031 million. The floorplan is highlighted by a spacious great room, and a kitchen and breakfast nook that are attached to an oversized lanai.

The owner’s suite is on the first floor, while the second floor mainly consists of the bedrooms and bathrooms, as well as an open loft area. The Jupiter is available in two different elevations and offers the option of adding a second owner’s suite on the second floor.

DID YOU KNOW?

Brevard County’s estimated 2023 population is 625,584, making it the 10th-largest county in Florida. Since 2010, the county’s annual growth rate has been more than 15%, led by the Palm Bay-Melbourne corridor, which ranks among the nation’s fastest-growing areas. The county’s most populace city is Palm Bay. n

Towns and Cities in Brevard County

Cape Canaveral

Cocoa

Cocoa Beach

Grant Indialantic

Malabar

Melbourne

Melbourne Beach

Merritt Island

Mims

Palm Bay

Rockledge

Satellite Beach

Scottsmoor

Sebastian

Sharpes

Titusville

volusia County At a Glance

Land Area: 1,103 square miles

Population: 555,000

2010-2020 Population Growth: 14%

2025 Projected Population Growth: 573,800

Mean Travel Time to Work (Minutes): 25.9

Mean Household Income: $49,494

Education: Bachelor’s Degree or Higher: 23.7%

Geographically, Volusia County sits 50 miles northeast of Orlando, between the St. Johns River and the Atlantic Ocean. But these days, in a region where the growth is pushing outward in all four directions, geography doesn’t mean as much as it once did.

Indeed, as metro Orlando spreads north and east along Interstate 4 through Seminole County, west Volusia is directly in growth’s path.

Today the area, once identified almost exclusively with Daytona Beach (population 72,600), is emerging as a suburb of Orlando. For example, with 96,000 residents, Deltona has long since surpassed Daytona Beach as the largest municipality in the county. It has seen monumental growth since 1980.

Much of the activity is spurred by commercial development along the High-Tech Corridor, which runs the length of Interstate 4 between Tampa and Daytona Beach.

In addition, the widening of the Interstate 4/St. Johns River Bridge alleviated one of the region’s most annoying traffic bottlenecks, making the western portion of Volusia an easy 30-minute commute to downtown Orlando.

Buyers have discovered the impressive stock of historic homes west of downtown DeLand (population 37,700), which is clearly one of the coolest small towns in Florida.

The quaint downtown district, which is on the National

Register of Historic Places, is thick with eateries and antique shops. And stately Stetson University, which has been located here since 1883, adds an air of permanence.

Meanwhile, tiny Lake Helen (population 2,800) is holding its breath as Victoria Park adds 4,000 homes and 10,000 residents right near the city’s border. The rural enclave is expected to grow nearly 20 percent by 2025.

Those interested in more natural settings, plus an unusual lunch, may head north on U.S. 17 to De León Springs State Park, where you can cook your own pancakes at the Old Spanish Sugar Mill and then paddle a canoe through the wilderness.

In the winter, manatees seeking warmer water can be seen lolling around at Blue Springs State Park. In the summer, humans seeking relief plunge into the same bubbling blue oasis.

Many of the changes in Volusia County involve Daytona Beach, especially around Interstate 95 and LPGA Boulevard.

Five or six years ago, big stories included the arrival of a Trader Joe’s distribution center, the opening of Tanger Outlets Mall and the Tomoka Town Center, and the completion of a new headquarters site for TopBuild Corp., a Fortune 1000 company.

Then came more retail, restaurants, apartment complexes and the massive live/work/play communities of Mosaic and Latitude Margaritaville.

Leading Employers

AdventHealth System

Halifax Hospital System

Publix Supermarkets

Walmart Associates Inc.

Stetson University

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Florida Healthcare Plans

Sykes Communications

Winn Dixie Supermarkets

Brunswick Corp.

D.R Horton & Express

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D.R. Horton is an Equal Housing Opportunity Builder. *Home and community information, including pricing, included features, terms, availability and amenities, are subject to change and prior sale at any time without notice or obligation. Pictures, photographs, features, colors and sizes are approximate for illustration purposes only and will vary from the homes as built. ^Square footage dimensions are approximate. Certified Builder Contractor License # CBC1265174