A much-anticipated affordable housing project in downtown Orlando has been mostly stalled for six years after the community land trust leading the effort ran into financial trouble.

Now nonprofit developer Lift Orlando may step in to complete the 30-townhome project in the West Lakes neighborhood that Hannibal Square Community Land Trust could not, according to a report in GrowthSpotter. 

The partially-constructed townhomes are currently a neighborhood eyesore, with rotting wood framing and trash on the ground.

Sandy Hostetter, Lift Orlando’s VP of Asset Development, said the nonprofit has had discussions with the City of Orlando and the lender that foreclosed on the Winter Park-based land trust.

“We’ve been working on this for almost a year now, and our hope is still within the next 60-90 days to make an offer on this parcel,” Hostetter said, adding this development “matters more to me than any development we’re doing.”

Lift Orlando was one of six developers that bid on the city-owned property along Orange Center Boulevard, across from Lift’s Pendana at West Lakes mixed-income community. At the time, the city narrowed the selection to two organizations, Lift and Hannibal Square Community Land Trust. Both proposed building owner-occupied townhomes along the narrow strip of property.

Orlando officials ultimately chose Hannibal Square CLT, which had proposed using the land trust model to keep the units affordable. Under that system, the trust would sell the townhomes and retain ownership of the land. The 20-year-old land trust has built well-regarded single-family home projects in Winter Park.

Hostetter said she was heartbroken to lose out on the West Lakes site initially because Lift’s long-term goal was to help families living at Pendana transition from renters to homeowners, who could eventually build equity and generational wealth. Lift provided on-site credit counseling and budgeting classes for their residents “so they could eventually buy one of the townhouses we hoped to build across the street,” she said.

Hannibal Square CLT purchased the townhouse property in 2021 after getting site plan approval and closing a $5.75 million construction loan from the Black Economic Development Fund. The group celebrated the groundbreaking in early 2022 with city and county leaders, but progress was slow.

“There were pretty clear signs the contractor had walked off the job,” Hostetter said, noting that there were several liens on the property.

By 2024, they had walls up on 12 of the units and slabs poured on another six. Then, the project sustained hurricane damage, and the land trust stopped making payments on the loan.

Hannibal Square CLT President Juan Hollingsworth told GrowthSpotter the nonprofit never strayed from its mission, but the project was plagued by delays.

“Soon after being selected and going through Construction Documents/Permit Processing, the pandemic arrived and placed some strains on an already strained construction budget,” Hollingsworth said. “Inflation cost and lead times, along with very stringent requirements on grant funding by the local government, the project faced many delays and strained the schedule and funding.”

The lender initiated a foreclosure suit last summer. The land trust agreed to a settlement in May that would postpone the case until November to give them six months to sell the unfinished townhouse lots and pay off its debts.

The trust owes $4.18 million to the lender and $1.65 million to various lien holders. If the property hasn’t sold within the allotted time, the land trust will sign a consent order for the foreclosure. But it’s unclear what steps, if any, the land trust has taken to sell the property. Hollingsworth said the trust is “working through the issues” with the parcel with the community in mind.

Meanwhile, Lift continued its mission to address chronic poverty in the West Orlando neighborhood by improving access to quality housing, education and healthcare. The nonprofit completed a second phase at Pendana with 120 units of affordable senior housing, built a new Boys & Girls Club, and a 34,000-square-foot wellness center.

Hostetter said she expects to be negotiating with the lender for the property, and right now Lift Orlando is evaluating the site to determine what, if anything, can be salvaged. All of the vertical construction will have to be razed. “All of the materials are rotted, and the second floor is just falling down,” she said. “It’s really sad. Somebody lit a match to a lot of money, and nothing happened, but we believe the story can still have a happy ending.”

Lift is in discussions with the city about purchasing a corner lot next to the site that Hannibal Square CLT never closed on. The approved master plan called for a three-story building with 16,000 square feet of ground-level commercial and 28 apartments on the upper floors.

But Hostetter said Lift is interested in the site for more affordable senior housing, which is still in high demand. “We just don’t think that’s a great site for retail,” she said.

Lift is hosting a community meeting on Aug. 20 from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm at the Heart of West Lakes Wellness Center to give an update on both the townhomes and get feedback on potential uses for the corner parcel.

“This is the first time we’ve even approached the subject with the community and the neighbors, so this is just our first meeting,” Hostetter said. “We’re just opening up the floor for discussion.”

Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at lkinsler@GrowthSpotter.com or (407) 420-6261. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook and LinkedIn.