Fact Sheet

LAKEWOOD RANCH FACT SHEET

08/03/2018

Lakewood Ranch (LWR) is a master-planned community located in Manatee and Sarasota Counties east of Interstate 75, and accessible from interchanges at State Road 64, State Road 70, University Parkway and Fruitville Road. 

The approximately 31,000-acre community is part of Schroeder-Manatee Ranch (SMR), a working ranch. Since the early 1900s, the Uihlein family, one of the original owners of the Schlitz Brewery, has owned the property. Ranch activities have included cattle ranching and citrus, tree and turf farming, and aggregate mining. 

SMR transitioned into community development in February of 1994 and today, Lakewood Ranch is the 2nd fastest selling community in the United States (per RCLCO’s mid-year MPC Ranking) with approximately 33,000 residents in more than 20 villages. 

Lakewood Ranch is planned as a primary home, multi-generational community with appropriately priced and designed residential product types and lifestyle amenities that appeal to various age, income, and household segments; 80% of the households are owner-occupied. The average age in 2017 was 45. 

Lakewood Ranch has a broad array of residential product, from apartments (1,700 units); to senior living facilities (407 units), to neighborhoods with attached and detached family homes (11,542 units). 

To date, most of the existing residential development is located in Manatee County, but there are more than 5,000 residential units planned and under development in Sarasota County in the Lakewood Ranch Waterside village. 

More than 13,600 for-sale and rental homes are either built or under construction in Lakewood Ranch, with approvals for an additional 20,000 units. Prices for new homes range from the $200,000s to more than $5 million. 

Since March of 2004, more than 14,000 acres have been certified “green” by the Florida Green Building Coalition.  

With more than four-and-a half million square feet of current commercial development and entitlements for up to 14 million square feet, there is plenty of room to grow. Some 2,600 acres have been set aside for future development and mixed-use, campus style business parks, including CORE, a site for national life sciences and health care companies.

Lakewood Ranch’s 1,383 businesses employ more than 15,000 employees in diverse fields including finance and insurance, healthcare, retail, professional/technology, and construction.

There are vibrant and varied shopping districts throughout Lakewood Ranch that include more than 70 restaurants and other eating establishments.

Lakewood Ranch Main Street offers stylish boutiques and international restaurants, the Lakewood Ranch Cinemas and other creative entertainment opportunities. Main Street combines elements of the ideal downtown with easy to access stores. The open-air environment provides a unique place for strolling and shopping, special events, and concerts and festivals throughout the year, making this the focal point of the community and Lakewood Ranch's "downtown." 

The Green serves as the town center for the northern villages of Lakewood Ranch and is part of the CORE mixed-use project. The Green is a 37-acre development featuring more than two dozen businesses within 150,000 square feet of retail, office and restaurant spaces. Anchor tenants include Earth Fare Specialty Grocer and LA Fitness 

Waterside Place, in Sarasota County, will be the village center for Lakewood Ranch Waterside, and is scheduled to break ground in October of 2018. The center will include apartments, restaurants, retail shops, professional offices and the Players Centre for Performing Arts, all within walking distance of every residence and connected by water taxi to many neighborhoods. 

There are numerous public and private schools – elementary through college. The public schools zoned for Lakewood Ranch consistently receive high ratings from the Florida State Board of Education. The nine college campuses include medical, pharmacy and dental schools. There are more than 15 places of worship in Lakewood Ranch, along with several beginning congregations. Lakewood Ranch Medical Center, a 120-bed hospital that opened in the fall of 2004, is undergoing a large expansion project in 2018. 

Since its inception in 2000, the Lakewood Ranch Community Fund has given more than $1 million to non-profit organizations in the community. The fund’s mission is to help support programs that promote a hometown lifestyle and enhance the community in the areas of education, youth, sports, elderly, health, environment, libraries and culture. 

Preservation and stewardship of the land is a top priority. Of the Ranch’s total acreage, nearly 60% is open space – nature composes 52 percent, and 8 percent is for recreation.

SMR has also made considerable efforts to set aside large tracts of land, eradicate invasive species that have overtaken them, and restore their native flora and fauna. Long Swamp, a 400-acre conservation area, and Heritage Ranch, a 2,000-acre parcel, are two such examples. Through the use of a combination of habitat management techniques, nuisance and exotic plant overgrowth has been reversed. There is also a 38-acre preserve for the gopher tortoise, a threatened and protected species.

The private Lakewood Ranch Golf and Country Club (LWRG&CC) offers 54 holes of superb golf. The Club is a member of the Audubon International Sanctuary. There are 18 holes in King’s Dunes and 18 holes in Cypress Links, both designed by the Arnold Palmer design team. The 44,000-square-foot main clubhouse at LWRG&CC is one of the largest in the area, and underwent a major renovation in 2016. The club includes a newlyrenovated, 20,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art athletic center and a tennis facility with 20 courts. 

Opened in 2007, the Rick Robbins-designed 18 holes of golf in Country Club East, called Royal Lakes, is a part of LWRG&CC, and includes a short-game practice facility and an 18-hole putting course. In April of 2016 a second, 29,000-square-foot clubhouse, The Lodge, was opened at Royal Lakes, featuring close to 6,000 square feet of outdoor covered spaces, as well as a pro shop.

The Legacy Golf Course in LWR is a daily-pay course with 18 holes of Arnold Palmerdesigned golf that is open to the public; Lakewood National and Esplanade Golf and Country Club have tee times available for non-members as well. Also located on the Ranch is the private Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, offering a Tom Fazio-designed 18-hole championship course.

The Sarasota Polo Club opened in 1991, making this one of the few communities where residents can live near polo fields. Polo players from around the world come to play on one of seven fields. LWR is also home to the Sarasota International Cricket and Rugby Club. 

In 2011, The Premier Sports Campus at Lakewood Ranch opened – a multi-purpose facility that is home to 22 full-sized, mixed-use fields for soccer, lacrosse and other amateur sports, and features Celebration grass and underground irrigation. In 2017, stadium bleachers, a ticket office, concession stand, meeting rooms, bathrooms and a Lakewood Ranch Information Center location were added. PSC hosted 200,000 visitors in 2017. Manatee County took over ownership at the end of 2017. 

From 2011 through 2017, two national real estate consulting firms (RCLCO and John Burns Real Estate Consulting) ranked Lakewood Ranch as one of the top 10, best-selling, master-planned communities in the United States. More than 130 communities across the U.S. were included in the study. Lakewood Ranch was named second best-selling in the U.S. in July of 2017 (mid-year rankings) and is the No. 1 best-selling all-ages community in Florida. 

Lakewood Ranch has two information center locations (both minutes from I-75), and a team of professional community specialists who are eager to customize a guided tour of the Ranch or provide answers to any questions prospective buyers may have. 

Source:

https://lakewoodranch.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/LAKEWOOD-RANCH-FACT-SHEET-8-2018.pdf