Changes at Babcock Ranch

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• Leadership: Babcock Ranch, which touts itself as America’s first solar-powered town, has named Al Dougherty COO of Babcock Ranch. Doughtery will remain COO of Communities for Kitson & Partners, the town’s development company. Rick Severance, who had been Babcock Ranch’s president, stepped down to become president of Mattamy Homes’ West Villages division, a 9,650-acre tract in south Sarasota County.
• Milestones: The leadership change follows numerous milestones for Babcock Ranch, including opening its first school in 2017 and getting its FPL Babcock Ranch Solar Energy Center online in 2017. The 440-acre solar plant has 343,000 solar panels designed to produce nearly 75 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 15,000 homes. Developer Syd Kitson says more generating capacity is being added now.
• Residents: As of last March, Babcock Ranch had 333 homes under contract, 196 homes closed and 490 residents. Ultimately, Kitson & Partners says the town will have 19,500 homes, 6 million square feet of commercial space and up to 50,000 residents. The 18,000-acre development is located in both Charlotte and Lee counties, about 15 miles northeast of Fort Myers.

Water Street WELL

Water Street Tampa, the $3-billion, 56-acre mixed-use development being constructed in downtown Tampa, is the first neighborhood to be certified as a healthy community by the New York-based International WELL Building Institute. The institute praised Water Street’s efforts to promote walkability — via wide sidewalks and shorter blocks — and Water Street’s efforts to promote healthy living, such as setting aside areas for yoga in public spaces and offering residents easy access to filtered water bottle refilling stations.

Read more in Florida Trend's November issue.

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Tags: Energy & Utilities, Environment, Housing/Construction, Real Estate, Economic Backbone, Feature