With the City of Leesburg recently amending its County Road 33 Community Development District, or CDD, to include more land east of the state highway, Hanover Land Company is progressing with development of its planned Banning Ranch community inside the expanded district.
Last week, the Leesburg City Commission voted unanimously to broaden the boundaries of its CR 33 CDD to include the final three phases of Banning Ranch and an adjacent Hanover community dubbed Tierra Vista.
Spread out between CR 33 and County Road 48, south of Florida’s Turnpike, Banning Ranch is set to contain approximately 1,070 lots developed across five phases.
The current boundary of the CR 33 CDD District encompasses Preservation Place, another Hanover community south of Tierra Vista, plus Phases 1 and 2 of Banning Ranch. Expanding the CDD adds 702 acres to the district, bringing its total to 1,143 acres.
According to Leesburg Planning Director Dan Miller, the purpose of the CDD expansion is to bring all of Banning Ranch, Tierra Vista and Preservation Place under a single district rather than having Hanover split its projects across multiple CDD areas.
“It’s just a little easier,” Miller said. “More acreage, less paperwork, more buying power when you go to buy things for the CDD.”
The property for Banning Ranch was previously owned by Frank and Carol Banning. Last May, Hanover purchased 265 acres of land — the first of two takedowns for Phases 3 and 4 of Banning Ranch — for $3.86 million. Hanover VP of Land Acquisition Ben Snyder told GrowthSpotter the second takedown will close next year.
Amenities planned for Banning Ranch include a resort-style pool, playground, tot lot, dog parks, preservation areas, passive parks and green space.
According to Snyder, Banning Ranch is currently moving through the engineering process and recently closed a large portion of Preservation Place to national homebuilder Lennar earlier this month for $9.74 million.
East of Banning Ranch, Preservation Place is planned as a 561-lot subdivision to be developed over three phases right along the west side of Florida’s Turnpike. Abutting Preservation Place to the south and the turnpike to the west, plans for Tierra Vista will see it rise as a 371-home community on 153 acres.
“We have seen a significant uptick in builder interest in this area given the limited number of new community opportunities and its convenient location,” Snyder said.
The fifth and final phase of Banning Ranch received approval from the Leesburg City Commission in December. It will sit directly north of the Blake Ridge property from Orlando-based Dix Developments.
One of three properties set to comprise the proposed Oak Ridge CDD in Leesburg, the 74-acre property for Blake Ridge was purchased by Dix in March 2025 for $4.9 million.
The property was bought from retired motocross professional Blake Baggett and is planned for 216 single-family lots, with plans indicating a potential road connecting it to Banning Ranch from the south.
Formerly known as El Chupacabra Ranch, a nod to Baggett’s nickname during his racing career, earthwork for development of Blake Ridge began late last year.
Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at jwilkins@orlandosentinel.com or 407-754-4980. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook and LinkedIn.
