There's no name yet, but an equestrian theme and up to 160 homes are part of the plans.
By STEPHEN HEGARTY
Published June 26, 2004
SAN ANTONIO - A Spring Hill developer plans to turn the rural Saran Ranch property near San Antonio into a high-end development with 5- and 10-acre lots and homes starting in the $500,000 range.
Construction could start early next year.
"It's a beautiful piece of property, and we're going to leave a lot of open space," said developer James DeMaria, president of Blue Stone Construction.
The property south of Johnston Road and east of Bellamy Brothers Boulevard west of San Antonio has been slated for development for years, but plans in the late 1990s never materialized. The previous owner, the Hammer family in Tampa, sold 326 acres of the property to Avalon Investment Corp. of Hernando for $6.3-million earlier this year. Now Avalon and Blue Stone Construction are seeking to build 134 to 160 homes on the land.
The development does not yet have a name. The property will be developed with an equestrian theme, said Jerry Harris of Avalon Investment Corp. It will include miles of horseback riding trails and a large, professionally run stable. The lakes on the property already are stocked with fish, DeMaria said.
The first step is to re-establish the property's status as a "planned unit development." That zoning status expired when the previous owner failed to develop the property. That process is expected to take several months.
The property zoning would allow 5- and 10-acre parcels. Under Pasco County's comprehensive plan, developments in that rural, largely undeveloped area of the county are supposed to be divided into larger parcels, so as to avoid the smaller, cookie-cutter parcels that characterize communities in much of west and central Pasco. DeMaria said he hopes to get approval to include some smaller 21/2-acre lots, a concession he hopes to offset by leaving a good deal of open space on the property.
