Maitland may OK rentals instead of condos [Central Florida]
City leaders did not imagine a downtown full of apartments when they were planning their upscale city center.
They spent years vetting plans to replace old and shuttered storefronts on U.S. Highway 17-92 with more profitable shopping plazas, office buildings and upscale condominium complexes.
Yet they are revising their dreams as the housing and credit meltdown meets Maitland’s downtown makeover. The developer of The Villages at Lake Lily — the project that will anchor the downtown’s south end and the first major project to start construction — is pushing to convert 200 planned condominiums to luxury apartments, in addition to 250 apartments already approved, because he can’t get construction money for condos.
City leaders appeared willing to go along with that at a work session Thursday with planning, redevelopment and financial advisory board members. They advised staffers to work with the developer on a revised agreement that would allow 450 apartments but provide for their conversion to condos when the market rebounds.