Bulldozers are finally headed toward the Wolf Branch Innovation District. AMCO Development says it plans to begin preliminary tree clearing for borings on its long-contested mixed-use project near Mount Dora before the end of 2026, with formal groundbreaking expected in the first quarter of 2027, following years of legal battles over how tall the development's buildings could rise.
The Apopka-based developer's master-planned community calls for roughly 1,800 residential units, including age-restricted housing, along with up to 950,000 square feet of commercial space, according to the Orlando Sentinel. That commercial footprint would include a 125,000-square-foot self-storage facility, 325 hotel rooms, a 60,000-square-foot medical office, a 100,000-square-foot convention center, a preschool, and an underground parking garage. The plan also features a public water park and a 5.2-acre man-made lake with walking trails.
AMCO principal Aaron Hakim told the Sentinel that his company is finally able to start development, framing the project as one that benefits current and future generations. Hakim said AMCO selects projects with that long view in mind and views the community from a stewardship perspective, according to the same report. He also argued the project should catalyze growth throughout the surrounding Wolf Branch Innovation District, an 830-acre mixed-use employment and residential corridor located near State Road 46 and the Wekiva Parkway.
A Fight Over Height That Dragged On for Years
The path to this point was anything but smooth. The City of Mount Dora annexed the project property in 2022, and initial development plans in February 2023 called for towers up to 300 feet tall — far above the 100-foot maximum height previously approved for the Wolf Branch corridor. Mount Dora City Council denied those 300-foot towers that same month, and the council rejected a subsequent settlement offer from AMCO in February 2024.
Despite city staff recommending approval, the standoff eventually reached a resolution when special magistrate Patrice Boyes ruled in favor of AMCO Development under the state's dispute resolution process. Mount Dora City Council went on to approve rezoning for the project in June 2024, ultimately allowing buildings up to 175 feet tall and approving broader land-use changes for the property — a steep reduction from the original height proposal but still well above the district's original cap.
Residents Pushed Back in Court, Judge Ruled for the City and Developer
The rezoning approval didn't end the dispute. Residents appealed the Mount Dora rezoning decision in July 2024, alleging the project exceeded the floor-area ratio permitted under city plans. A separate appeal was also filed against both AMCO Development and the City of Mount Dora. But the Fifth Judicial Circuit Court ruled in favor of AMCO and the city in December 2025, and Circuit Judge Brian Welke later granted motions seeking reimbursement of legal costs, according to the Orlando Sentinel's report.
With the legal hurdles cleared, AMCO says infrastructure work — including underground parking garages and underground site infrastructure — will take approximately a year and a half to complete once it begins. The Wolf Branch Innovation District has long been envisioned as a corridor meant to provide employment, residential uses, amenities and local shopping, a framework Mount Dora and Lake County first began shaping as a joint planning partnership around 2004, according to Mount Dora Buzz.
Why the Corridor Suddenly Looks So Valuable
Much of the pressure behind projects like AMCO's traces back to a single piece of infrastructure. The Florida Department of Transportation completed the final 2.6-mile section of the $1.6 billion Wekiva Parkway in January 2024, closing the more than 100-mile beltway loop around metropolitan Orlando, as detailed by Flexway Realty. That completed loop gave eastern Lake County direct expressway access to major Central Florida job centers, turning what was once envisioned as a modest employment corridor into some of the region's most sought-after development land.
The Wolf Branch district's 100-foot height ceiling wasn't arbitrary — Mount Dora's City Council formally adopted it in 2018 as part of comprehensive land-use design standards meant to protect the city's small-town character, Mount Dora Buzz reported. AMCO's original 36-acre master plan submitted in early 2023 sought buildings as tall as 350 feet before successive revisions brought the peak height down through 310 feet and 250 feet before settling at 175 feet.
The scale of what's at stake extends well beyond one developer's project. State economic development filings estimated that full build-out of the 850-acre Wolf Branch Innovation District could eventually generate up to 4,000 infrastructure jobs initially and as many as 17,000 long-term jobs over a 20-to-30-year horizon, according to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. Lake County commissioners also approved two separate multi-family and commercial land development proposals elsewhere in the surrounding Wolf Branch district in March 2025, signaling growth pressure isn't confined to Mount Dora's city limits.
Growth Strains Already Visible Downtown
Mount Dora is already adjusting to growing pains tied to regional expansion. City Council moved forward this month with converting three downtown streets to one-way routes, a change aimed at improving emergency vehicle access while preserving parking as Hoodline previously reported. That kind of infrastructure retrofitting illustrates the broader tension AMCO's project embodies: a small city built around a lakeside downtown now negotiating what growth driven by a beltway highway and a two-decade-old economic development vision should actually look like.
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