Paradise Found

Central Florida is urban and rural, wealthy and middle class, bustling and laid back, traditional and edgy, conservative and liberal, sophisticated and naïve. But for all their contradictions, the communities known collectively as Orlando are unabashedly welcoming to newcomers. Here you’ll find picture-postcard villages where tree-shaded streets are lined with antique shops and Victorian homes, farm towns where citrus packing plants still crate and ship mouth-watering oranges and modern mixed-use developments built around resort-style amenities. And everywhere you’ll see beautiful lakes. But with so much going on in so many places, where should a newcomer look for a home? We can help with the following county-by-county primer. Read on and you’ll certainly find a place perfect for you and your family.

ORANGE

County

APOPKA

Apopka’s roots, literally and figuratively, are in agriculture. However, this booming city of about 40,000, located in the northwest corner of Orange County, now encompasses some of the region’s most exclusive addresses.

Noted as “The Indoor Foliage Capital of the World,” Apopka’s foliage industry is a multimillion-dollar business. Cut flowers, blooming plants, roses and bulbs are also grown in abundance. The new John Land Apopka Expressway, named for the city’s 90-year-old mayor, extends from S.R. 429 (Daniel Webster Western Expressway) to Maitland Boulevard at U.S. 441.

This is the first new, major Central Florida east-west corridor built in decades, and serves as a bypass around Apopka. Boosters hope the route will ease traffic along the city’s main thoroughfare and encourage redevelopment of the downtown commercial district. A new, mixed-use town center is already on the drawing board.

COLLEGE PARK

Although its residents may be getting younger, much about this beloved Orlando neighborhood, which was platted in the 1920s, remains the same. The 80-year-old commercial district along Edgewater Drive has always been home to an array of delightful mom-and-pop shops and eclectic eateries. The streets have always been quiet and the homes well kept and charming.

However, much of the talk in College Park these days is over new mixed-use condominium, office and retail developments built or being planned along the community’s Mayberryesque main drag. Many of Orlando’s movers and shakers live in older College Park homes and it remains one of Central Florida’s most desirable addresses.

GOTHA

Gotha, population about 1,000, is a quaint enclave tucked inconspicuously north of upscale Windermere. The unincorporated community’s tree-shaded, one-block commercial district features the wood vernacular, circa-1920 New Life at Zion Lutheran Church.

And across the street is Yellow Dog Eats, a funky restaurant that occupies a circa-1879 structure that had previously been a private home and a general store.

MAITLAND

Since the 1960s, Maitland, population about 14,000, has been a quintessential bedroom community. Some of the area’s first suburbs were built there to attract young families looking for large lawns and good schools.

In the late 1970s a sprawling office park called Maitland Center was built near the I-4 interchange, giving the city a distinctive business identity as well. On the drawing board are numerous big mixed-use projects aimed at giving Maitland’s somewhat nebulous downtown district a more cohesive look.

Maitland was established in 1838 as Fort Maitland, named in honor of Capt. William S. Maitland, a hero of the Second Seminole War. Today the city is home to the Enzian Theater, the region’s only art-house cinema and the setting for the annual Florida Food and Film Festival.

Adjacent to Maitland is Eatonville, founded in 1887, which is thought to be the oldest city in the country incorporated by African-Americans. Folklorist Zora Neal Hurston lived in Eatonville for a time and wrote about the community in books such as Their Eyes Were Watching God.

OAKLAND

Oakland was once the industrial and social hub of Orange County, thanks to the Orange Belt Line railroad. But in the 1890s most of the town burned and the railroad went bust. Today, Oakland is home to just 1,800 people.

Elected officials still refer to Oakland as a town, although it was incorporated as a city in 1959. The city designation does seem a bit incongruous in a quiet place where voters have rejected proposals to pave the narrow clay streets for fear that more people might want to drive on them.

Still, change is coming. Oakland’s population has nearly tripled over the past three years, and planners say 5,000 people will call themselves Oaklanders by 2010.

OCOEE

Ocoee remained an isolated citrus town clustered around Starke Lake until the 1980s. Today, with more than 30,000 residents, it has edged ahead of Winter Park to become the third-largest city in Orange County, behind Orlando and Apopka.

The transformation began two decades ago, when devastating freezes destroyed thousands of acres of citrus trees and opened west Orange and south Lake counties for development. Today, Ocoee boasts a one-million-square-foot regional mall and at least two dozen new subdivisions with homes in all price ranges.

DOWNTOWN ORLANDO

During the last two year’s building frenzy, scarcely a week passed without another major condominium development being announced for once-sleepy downtown Orlando.

Now, reality has taken hold and the pace has slowed. Yet, despite a softening market, more than 30 projects are either planned, under construction or recently finished. That means roughly 7,000 condominium units are in the pipeline, along with more than 1 million square feet of office space.

Also on tap: a new arena for the NBA’s Orlando Magic, a state-of-the-art performing arts center and a facelift for the Citrus Bowl stadium.

SOUTHEAST ORLANDO

At roughly 100 square miles, the region generally referred to as Southeast Orlando encompasses the University of Central Florida, Orlando International Airport and an array of master-planned communities as well as stretches of pastureland, piney forests and wetlands abutting the Econlockhatchee River.

But the remaining rural areas are rapidly vanishing as the pace of growth accelerates. Today the southeast sector, which includes portions of the city of Orlando as well as unincorporated Orange County, is home to more than 200,000 people, with more arriving daily.

On property donated by the Tavistock Group, , developers of Lake Nona, is a burgeoning Medical City encompassing UCF’s Burnett College of Biomedical Sciences; the Burnham Institute, a California-based medical research lab; a Nemours Childrens Hospital and a Veterans’ Administration Hospital..

WINDERMERE

Nestled on an isthmus among the spring-fed Butler Chain of Lakes, the cozy town of Windermere, population about 2,300, has emerged as a magnet for the wealthiest Central Floridians.

But while Isleworth and other exclusive enclaves carry Windermere mailing addresses, they are actually located outside the town limits. Windermere proper encompasses only about one square mile and consists largely of a laid-back retail district with a few mom-and-pop stores and a scattering of older homes lining sandy streets.

Those streets remain unpaved to discourage traffic and prevent runoff from damaging the Butler Chain, which consists of eight pristine lakes connected by a canal system.

WINTER GARDEN

Winter Garden, population about 30,000, began its greatest period of growth in the 1980s, when devastating freezes destroyed thousands of acres of citrus. Developers began buying up decimated groves for new homes, creating new subdivisions seemingly overnight.

The popular West Orange Trail passes directly through downtown Winter Garden, thus converting the all-but-forgotten city into an oasis for thousands of ready-to-spend strollers. And most are charmed by what they see.

While the renovated downtown has reemerged as a force to be reckoned with, several miles south a 1.15 million square-foot open-air mall called Winter Garden Village at Fowler Groves opened last year.

WINTER PARK

Once a haven for artists, writers, and some of the most influential families in the country, Winter Park was promoted in the late 1800s as a refuge for “the cultured and wealthy.” Those early boosters would almost certainly be pleased to see how it all turned out.

Today, the city is home to 70 parks and nearly as many oak trees (20,000) as residents (28,445). The heart of Winter Park is Park Avenue, stretching 10 blocks and boasting more than 100 shops, from upscale national retailers to one-of-a-kind boutiques.

Year-round the city is alive with festivals and special events, most notably the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival. On the shores of Lake Virginia is beautiful Rollins College, the oldest institution of higher education in Florida and one of the top-rated private liberal arts colleges in the country.

Seminole

County

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS

Although Altamonte Springs was incorporated in 1920, its population totaled only 5,000 as recently as 1970. But that was before developers turned this erstwhile whistle stop into a thriving suburb.

Today, Altamonte Springs, population about 40,000, is known primarily for the Altamonte Mall, built in 1974 as the area’s first regional mall, and for the presence of virtually every chain eatery in the world. But because no city wants its identity tied entirely to a mall, local officials are proud of a 25-acre project called Uptown Altamonte, which has shifted the focus toward adjacent Crane’s Roost Park and its 40-acre manmade lake.

Uptown Altamonte encompasses more than 550 multifamily residential units, 255,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 150,000 square feet of office space, a park and an amphitheater on Crane’s Roost Lake.

CASSELBERRY

Founded by World War I veteran Hibbard Casselberry, who in 1926 bought 3,000 acres to grow ferns, Casselberry emerged as a suburban residential community after World War II.

By the time it was incorporated in 1965, Casselberry encompassed a number of family-oriented subdivisions and a budding business district near the intersection of S.R. 436 and U.S. 17-92. Today, there’s a 16-acre town center along U.S.17-92 near City Hall, which is helping the city of 25,000 retain a distinctive identitiy.

LAKE MARY

In 1900, Planters Manufacturing Company built a factory in Lake Mary—then called “Bents”—to produce starches, dextrins, farina and tapioca. Today, Lake Mary, population about 15,000, sits at the epicenter of Florida’s High-Tech Corridor, which follows I-4 from Tampa through Seminole County and northeast to Daytona Beach.

Along the route, government and industry have joined forces to attract leading-edge companies in such fields as telecommunications, medical technology and microelectronics. In Lake Mary, dozens of such companies have set up shop in several sprawling business centers that have combined to create a Central Florida version of Silicon Valley.

And there are an array of new projects in Lake Mary as well, such as Colonial Town Park, a 175-acre mixed-use development featuring shops, restaurants, movie theaters and apartments in a village setting.

LONGWOOD

Of all Seminole County’s municipalities, Longwood, population about 14,000, has the most history to preserve, and has done the best job of preserving it. But it’s still a modern place, with a plethora of exclusive country club communities, office parks and shopping centers.

In 1873 a New Englander named Edward Henck homesteaded a tract of land that he dubbed Longwood, after a Boston suburb he had helped plan. Henck was also the town’s first postmaster and its first mayor. And in what may have been his spare time, Henck co-founded the South Florida Railroad and built a line connecting Sanford and Orlando, which enabled Longwood to boom as a citrus- and lumber-shipping center as well as a winter resort destination.

But as crucial as Henck was to Longwood’s development, it was a carpenter named Josiah Clouser, a Henck employee, whose legacy is most visible. Clouser, a Pennsylvanian, constructed most of the buildings still standing in Longwood’s remarkable historic district, a two-block area on Warren and Church avenues near the intersection of C.R. 427 and S.R. 434.

OVIEDO

While Oviedo might be one of Central Florida’s oldest communities, first settled some 140 years ago, this Seminole County boomtown knows how to embrace newcomers. Indeed, few Central Florida municipalities have witnessed the kind of growth Oviedo has seen in recent years. The town’s population has now surpassed 30,000, more than a tenfold increase since 1980.

Oviedo’s growth was a long time coming. The area’s first settlers, who put down stakes near Lake Jesup in the 1860s, called it Solary’s Wharf. In 1883 postmaster Andrew Aulin dubbed it Oviedo, supposedly after seeing a Spanish town of the same name on a map.

Longtime locals point to 1964 as perhaps the most significant year in Oviedo’s history. That’s when a desolate 1,145-acre tract in rural northeast Orange County, about seven miles east of the city, was selected as the site for Florida Technological University (now the University of Central Florida).

SANFORD

Located on the shores of Lake Monroe, Sanford once rivaled Orlando as the region’s largest city. A major distribution center for vegetables and citrus, it was known as “The Celery Capital of the World.”

But agriculture is no longer king in Sanford, population about 50,000. Today it’s the Seminole County seat, making county government the leading employer. And, after years of stagnation, Sanford is also a city on the rise, thanks to a burgeoning airport—one of the fastest-growing in the country—and a downtown redevelopment project.

In historic downtown Sanford, work is complete on the $11 million Sanford Riverwalk, which includes sidewalks and bike trails along Lake Monroe between Mellonville and French avenues. Several large condominium towers have also been proposed.

WINTER SPRINGS

Until the mid-1950s, Winter Springs was nothing more than several square miles of scrub pine and palmettos. That’s when developers Raymond Moss and William Edgemon bought the land, subdivided it and introduced the Village of North Orlando.

At the start of the 1970s, a time of rampant growth throughout Central Florida, the area contained one small grocery store and roughly 300 homes straddling S.R. 434. Tuscawilla, eastern Seminole County’s first upscale golf-course community, changed all that. Also, a new city charter was adopted in 1972, changing the city’s name to Winter Springs.

Today, the city’s growth rivals that of adjacent Oviedo. In the past two decades, population has increased 800 percent, to more than 32,000.

OSCEOLA

County

KISSIMMEE

“Big-time attractions, small-town hospitality.” Although much has changed during the past several decades, that one-time slogan for Kissimmee still largely rings true. This is a friendly, down-to-earth community still best known for its biannual Silver Spurs Rodeo and its genuine cowboy panache. It just happens to exist alongside Walt Disney World, the world’s No. 1 tourist attraction.

Kissimmee, formerly called Allendale, had its beginnings as a tiny trading post on the northern bank of Lake Tohopekaliga. The community was incorporated in 1887 and renamed Kissimmee. It later became the Osceola County seat and, by the 1930s, cattle rivaled citrus as its main industry.

But housing is going to power the Osceola County economy in the foreseeable future. With developable land becoming scarce in Orange and Seminole counties, about 40 percent of the region’s residential growth for the next 25 years is expected to take place in and around Kissimmee.

ST. CLOUD

St. Cloud, population about 27,000, has been called “A Soldier’s Colony,” “The Friendly Soldier City,” “The Wonder City,” and “The City of Schools.” It’s also been known as an inexpensive place for tourists to stay while visiting Walt Disney World, although city officials are now actively downplaying the once-ballyhooed tourism connection and promoting the charms of St. Cloud as a great place to live.

The military references hearken back to 1909, when the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization for Union soldiers who had served in the Civil War, bought 35,000 acres for development as a community for veterans.

LAke

County

The Citrus Tower, built in 1956, once drew awestruck tourists to its observation deck for panoramic views of Lake County’s sprawling citrus groves. The tower—now considered a kitschy relic of a bygone era —is still there, but the landscape has changed. Now you’ll see thousands of new homes on the rolling hills that have always distinguished burgeoning Lake County from its topographically-challenged neighbors.

Which isn’t to say that sprawl has destroyed Lake County’s charm—at least not yet. There are still groves, woods, barns and more than 1,400 lakes scattered across 221 square miles. The county’s unpretentious municipalities still boast quaint business districts with mom-and-pop shops.

The city of Clermont, population 12,972, is ground zero for the county’s housing boom. The stage was set with construction of the turnpike system’s Western Beltway, which made a once-daunting Orlando commute quite manageable.

To the north, picture-postcard Mount Dora, population 12,091 is the center of attention and the focus of development. The aptly named “New England of the South,” was founded in 1874, when homesteaders first discovered the gently sloping lakeside hills that rise to 184 feet—hardly a mountain, but a formidable height by Central Florida standards.

POLK
County

Larger than Rhode Island and as big as Delaware with a population of more than a half-million, Polk County has a major selling point: its location between Tampa and Orlando, two metropolises that are steadily growing toward one another.

It’s also a beautiful and eclectic place. Venerable Cypress Gardens, one of Florida’s first major tourist draws, recently closed and will be redeveloped as a Lego Land theme park. And historic Bok Tower Gardens, with its 60-bell carillon tower, remains the perfect place for a pastoral stroll through lush parklands.

Polk County has its share of bustling mid-sized cities, including its two largest: Lakeland, population 90,207, which is on Money magazine’s “Best Places to Live in America” list; and Winter Haven, population 30,978, which is home to Cypress Gardens. Laid-back Bartow, population 16,455, is the county’s seat.

A thriving arts scene is also evident, with a string of museums, art centers and theaters. And architecture buffs can see the largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work in one location on the campus of Florida Southern College.

But it looks like housing may be Polk’s next big industry, particularly in the Four Corners area where Polk, Lake, Orange and Osceola counties meet.

Volusia

County

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 growth is pushing outward in all four directions, geography doesn’t mean as much as it once did.

Today the county, once identified almost exclusively with Daytona Beach, is emerging as a suburb of Orlando. Much of the activity is spurred by commercial development along the HighTech Corridor, which runs the length of I-4 between Tampa and Daytona Beach. New communities in the western part of the county are particularly attractive to people who work in Seminole County.

Buyers have also discovered the impressive stock of historic residences west of downtown DeLand, which is clearly one of the coolest small towns in Florida. The quaint downtown district, which is on the National Registry of Historic Places, is thick with eateries and antique shops. And stately Stetson University, which has been located here for more than a century, adds an air of permanence.