MHK Investments LLC officials say they want to build 863 homes in a community with a woodsy feel and some suburban touches.
By JAMES THORNER, Times Staff Writer
Published April 8, 2005
SHADY HILLS - Promising a variation on the rustic theme pioneered by the Wilderness Lake neighborhood in Land O'Lakes, an Orlando developer has dropped a deposit on 438 acres in Shady Hills to build a lakeside community of 863 homes.
Book-ended by two lakes, Bee Tree Pond and Cabbage Slough, the property, under contract to developer MHK Investments LLC, stretches southwest of Hudson Avenue and Hays Road.
MHK proposes an "ecothemed community" featuring "modern amenities with a natural style." Creating a rustic touch would be fishing piers, canoe launches, fire pits and campsites.
Suburban accents planned include an 8.7-acre recreation center with a fitness club, four playgrounds, two sand volleyball courts, tennis courts, resort-style pool and four ball fields. A "bark park" will cater to homeowners with pets, a "sailing lagoon" to boat owners.
The proposed name of the neighborhood is Lakeside, and its logo is a pair of crossed canoe paddles.
Mark Kerslake, head of MHK, said he spent two years tracking the site before the owners agreed to sell. The property belongs to the Lyons family.
The land's natural attributes attracted Kerslake to Shady Hills, but so did the 3-mile drive to the State Road 52 interchange of the Suncoast Parkway.
"It's commuter friendly," Kerslake said of the parkway's connection to jobs in Tampa.
Kerslake's model is Wilderness Lake Preserve, a 950-home community on U.S. 41 in Land O'Lakes centered around a clubhouse hewn from logs and beams.
MHK hired the same Orlando planners, the Evans Group, and requested the company duplicate Wilderness Lake's outdoorsy feel. About 180 acres of Lakeside's 438 acres are planned to stay in their natural state.
"Wilderness Lake has won lots of awards and consumer acceptance," Kerslake said. "We've embedded a lot of the same concepts."
Kerslake's rezoning application could come up for a vote as early as summer, though MHK has yet to select builders for its mix of single-family houses, townhomes and duplexes.
