After a lengthy fight, development is set to begin soon on a controversial mixed-use project planned within the Wolf Branch Innovation District in Mount Dora.
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Apopka-based AMCO Development is planning to develop a mixed-use master-planned community with approximately 1,800 residential units, some of which will be age-restricted, and buildings up to 175 feet tall.
The 830-acre Wolf Branch Innovation District is set along State Road 46 near the Wekiva Parkway and is planned as a mixed-use employment and residential corridor.
The project received rezoning approval from the Mount Dora City Council in June 2024, despite doubts among council members that it would ever be built as proposed.
A month later, the council’s decision was appealed by a group of residents who alleged the project exceeded the floor-area ratio permitted by city plans. The appeal was filed against defendants AMCO and the City of Mount Dora, which had previously rejected the project and then lost that fight in court.
The Fifth Judicial Circuit Court ruled in favor of AMCO and Mount Dora in December 2025. The city and developer sought to have their legal costs reimbursed, and Circuit Judge Brian Welke granted their motions earlier this month.
“Now we’re in the process of finally being able to start development,” AMCO president and lead developer Aaron Hakim said.
The development calls for up to 950,000 square feet of commercial space, including a 100,000-square-foot convention center, 325 hotel rooms, a 60,000-square-foot medical office, a 125,000-square-foot self-storage facility, a preschool, and an underground parking garage.
A 5.2-acre man-made lake with walking trails and a public water park are also planned for the community.
Initial plans for the development called for towers up to 300 feet, but those were denied by Mount Dora City Council in February 2023. The council said the building heights did not align with the Wolf Branch Innovation District’s previously approved maximum height of 100 feet.
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A year later, in February 2024, Mount Dora City Council rejected a settlement with AMCO after the developer took legal action against the city in response to council’s denial of the project.
Special Magistrate Patrice Boyes later sided with AMCO in court, concluding that the City of Mount Dora executed a series of actions indicating that they would approve the project. Those actions included an annexation of the property in 2022, approval of land-use changes, and the fact that city staff had never recommended denial.
Despite the contentious approval process Hakim said AMCO views the community from “a stewardship perspective.”
“We’re very selective about the projects that we undertake right now, and our main focus is projects that not only benefit the here and now, but also for future generations to come,” he said. “We want to make sure these projects are mutually beneficial for the communities they serve.”
Hakim said the project should be a catalyst for the Wolf Branch Innovation District.
“Lake County is generally considered a bedroom community in that people will live there but go to Orange or Seminole to work and shop,” he said. “I think that most people would like to have access to amenities around them as well so they can work and shop in their backyard. This is a great first step in formalizing the Wolf Branch Innovation District’s intent.”
Activity on the project site will begin before the end of the year, according to Hakim, with preliminary tree clearing for the borings to take place. The project is expected to formally break ground and begin development in the first quarter of 2027.
“We’re probably going to need a year and a half just for infrastructure because there’s so much that has to happen underground,” he said. “We’re building parking garages underground, and we’re building all the underground infrastructure you would normally have on a site. I’d love to be turning dirt around the beginning of 2027.”
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