The owner of 24 acres just north of Ernie Caldwell Boulevard in Davenport is exploring entitlement options for the property after a sale fell through.
SAR Industries, based in Georgia, held a pre-application meeting with Polk County earlier this month to get feedback from county planners on a potential 240-unit apartment community on the site.
The property is CR 547 and LaRoche Road, just west of the company’s industrial site, Loughman Yard, which is leased to Martin Marietta Materials. It was rezoned from Employment Center to Residential Medium (RMX).
CRE broker Sean Fullerton, said the property is back on the market after it was under contract for a townhome development.
“Unfortunately, the buyer didn’t complete the purchase, and I took it back to Polk County to see if an apartment complex was feasible. I am preparing to put the property back on the market with an eye toward multi-family developers,” Fullerton added.
Under RMX zoning, the land could be used for mixed-use: multi-family, townhomes and single-family homes. A conceptual plan from Sloan Engineering showed eight apartment buildings
Kyle Rogus, the County Planning Administrator, indicated that the project would need a Level 3 review based on the submitted site plan and the number of units in each building. Any building that contains more than 16 units is subject to a Level 3 review. This process involves holding a public hearing in front of the County Planning Commission.
The next steps for the developers would be to address the County staff’s comments and decide whether to lower the number of units per building or continue with their current plans.
Additionally, LaRoche Road will need to be realigned and shifted north to prevent the project from being bisected.
“The road moving to the north will continue to have access to the industrial site, while the developer has all the land in one location versus divided between the road,” Rogus said. “This road relocation was approved from a previous comp plan amendment.”
Polk County’s approach to new developments emphasizes a balanced distribution that complements both residential and commercial needs, Rogus said.
“This is an area we have seen continuous growth in both residential and non-residential,” Rogus said. “This location is between two highly traveled roadways of US27 and US 17-92. It is an ideal location with easy access to those road systems.”
The corridor is transitioning from rural and industrial uses to more residential development, including the recently completed Astonia neighborhood, which has about 1,000 homes built by Highland Homes, Lennar and D.R. Horton.
The SAR Industries property abuts land owned by Standard Sand & Silica that was annexed into the City of Davenport in 2024 and zoned as a nearly 1,600-acre mixed-use Planned Development. The land use along CR 547 is approved for high-density residential housing. Atlanta-based Pulte paid $51.8 million in cash in January for a 288-acre site within the same PD at the intersection of U.S. 17-92 and Ernie Caldwell Boulevard for its fifth vacation home resort community. Pulte started construction in February on the Davenport site, which is entitled for 1,050 townhomes and single-family vacation homes.
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