Construction has started on Sunrise Hills, a sprawling 1,100-acre residential community planned along Cortez Boulevard near I-75 in Brooksville that will eventually bring close to 4,000 homes to Hernando County. The project, led by Metro Development Group, is designed around a 2.5-acre lagoon, miles of trails and a mix of housing from three major national builders.
According to floridayimby.com, Metro Development is leading the project, and homes there will come with pre-installed smart-home technology. The community sits along Cortez Boulevard near Interstate 75, placing it close to Brooksville and within reach of the broader Tampa Bay region, per the seed release distributed by Business Wire. That same release notes Sunrise Hills sits roughly 50 miles from downtown Tampa.
Lisa Gibbings, vice president of corporate affairs at Metro Development Group, said the project marks a major step up in the company's footprint in the county. “Sunrise Hills represents a significant expansion of our investment in Hernando County,” Gibbings said, according to the Business Wire release. She added that buyers and builders increasingly want communities with places to gather, stay active and enjoy the outdoors, and that Sunrise Hills will bring the company's inland coastal lifestyle to the 1,100-acre site.
Three Builders, One Lagoon-Centered Neighborhood
Sunrise Hills will feature three national homebuilders, with homes and townhomes coming from Lennar, D.R. Horton and DRB Homes, according to Metro Development Group's own project page. D.R. Horton's listing for the community describes concrete-block construction, stainless-steel appliances, quartz countertops and what it calls an industry-leading smart-home system, and invites prospective buyers to call for information, per D.R. Horton's site.
The development's amenities extend beyond housing. Patch reports the community will include a 2.5-acre lagoon and miles of trails, along with an entry monument featuring silo-style elements modeled after Brooksville's own Brooksville Silo Project, according to Patch. The lagoon fits within Metro's broader playbook; the company includes its signature MetroLagoon concept among its amenity offerings across projects, per the Business Wire release.
The name itself nods to local geography. Patch notes that Sunrise Hills references the area's reputation as one of the first places in Hernando County to see the sunrise each morning. The community is also positioned near Sherman Hills Golf Course and the Withlacoochee State Trail, giving residents access to outdoor recreation beyond the development's own trail network, the outlet reports.
Part of a Bigger Hernando County Push
Sunrise Hills isn't Metro Development Group's only Hernando County project in motion. The company is also developing Sandal Key, an 872-acre community planned for more than 3,000 homes that is anticipated to break ground in December, according to Patch and floridayimby.com. Sandal Key is set to include the company's first lazy river integrated into a lagoon setting. Combined, Sunrise Hills and Sandal Key span nearly 2,000 acres and are planned for more than 7,200 homes at full buildout, per Patch's reporting.
Metro Development Group, founded in 2003 and based in Tampa, describes itself as Florida's largest privately held residential developer, according to the company's own profile cited in the Business Wire release. The company says it manages all aspects of land development by working with investors, landowners and builders, and its portfolio of Florida master-planned communities includes Mirada, Epperson, Angeline, Southshore Bay and Seaire. Mirada and Angeline were ranked among the 30 top-selling master-planned communities in the country in 2025, according to rankings from RCLCO and John Burns Real Estate Consulting cited in the release.
Why Hernando County Keeps Growing
The timing lines up with a broader growth wave across Hernando County. The county's population grew nearly 9% between 2020 and 2023, according to U.S. Census Bureau data cited by Bay News 9. County development officials are planning for as many as 16,000 new homes over the next three, five or possibly 10 years, the station reports. Spring Hill remains the county's main population hub, home to roughly 75% of residents, according to the county's development services director as quoted by the same report.
New construction already makes up a notable chunk of the local housing market. Real estate agent Sarah Hill told Bay News 9 that about a third of homes selling between $300,000 and $400,000 in Hernando County are newly built. Road infrastructure is also catching up to the growth: the Florida Department of Transportation plans to widen Cortez Boulevard, also known as SR 50, from four lanes to six with medians, bike lanes and sidewalks, though construction on that project is not anticipated to begin until 2031, according to FDOT Tampa Bay.
