The big, freshly cleared lot on the west side of A1A a mile or so north of CR-510 that island residents have been asking about will be the location of four new buildings with a total of about 16,000 square feet of office and storage space.
The open 3.2-acre lot that breaks up the island’s signature wall of green landscape along A1A is located within the Town of Orchid but owned by the adjacent high-end Windsor development and will be the future home of three small office buildings and a purchasing building.
The four structures will provide more space for Windsor, which has been using nearby modular structures for development operations a little north of the site, Town of Orchid Manager Noah Powers said.
A small sign in front of the land shows the address is 10025 A1A. County property records show the undeveloped parcel has a taxable value of $640,000.
Powers looked at documents on file at the town and said the three office structures will be 3,516, 6,000 and 3,020 square feet, respectively. A purchasing building is 3,374 square feet, Powers said.
There will be parking for 62 cars.
Powers explained that the Orchid Town Council approved the building plan back in 2007 before the recession hit and delayed construction. Property records show the triangular parcel transferred from Orchid Island Properties, Inc. to Windsor Properties that year.
Schulke, Bittle & Stoddard are engineers for the project.
Geoff Barkett, one of the firm’s managing members, said invasive pepper trees have been cleared and that new landscaping will be installed after construction begins soon.
The site “should disappear again” after the landscape goes in, Barkett said.
Powers said based on preliminary documents filed in May, construction was projected to be completed in in early 2018.
32963 called Windsor Properties Vice President for Development Mark Justice several times to get more information on the buildings, but he was unavailable.
Incorporated in 1965, the Town of Orchid is almost entirely co-existent with the Orchid Island Golf and Beach Club, a high-end, member-owned country club community that stretches from the Indian River Lagoon to the Atlantic Ocean.
The club was conceived and first developed by Robert Haines III of Avon, Connecticut, beginning in 1987. Development was later taken over and completed by Canadian businessman W. Galen Weston.
Weston and his philanthropist wife, Hilary M. Weston of Toronto, founded the neighboring luxury residential community of Windsor in 1989.
Windsor’s website describes the development as a “village by the sea” with 350 homes on 425 acres. It is home to many wealthy seasonal residents, including a number of European members.
Windsor recently announced polo player Max Secunda as its director of equestrian operations.
