In 2001, The Ginn Cos. broke ground on what was billed as Central Florida’s grandest vacation and golf resort: Reunion, with three signature golf courses, million-dollar mansions, half-million-dollar condos, a water park, a luxury condo hotel and more, all set in 2,300 acres in Osceola County just south of Walt Disney World.
Eight years later, Reunion may be the poster child for the collapse of the Central Florida housing bubble. Lenders have foreclosed on hundreds of properties; abandoned, half-built houses and condos pock the landscape; and property values have plummeted by as much as 80 percent.
“They talk about how wealth is being destroyed. I think we’re seeing that here,” said Mike Searles, general manager of Reynolds Signature Communities’ Reunion office, which manages the real estate.
Property owners who have bailed, or were tossed out by banks, have suffered big losses. And even those sticking it out find themselves in a largely vacant community where, everywhere, there are reminders of the crash.