After a year of robust sales in its three Indian River County subdivisions – including numerous sales to buyers downsizing out of older, larger houses on the island – DiVosta Homes announced a fourth project late last month.
Emerson Oaks on 43rd Avenue a few blocks south of Oslo Road was timed to capitalize on the new Oslo Road/I-95 interchange, which is slated to be complete about the same time as the subdivision.
After several years of planning, DiVosta closed on 83 acres of land on the west side of 43rd, a short walk from the Publix plaza on Oslo, purchasing the property from members of the Sexton family in mid-December for $7 million.
Brent Baker, Southeast Florida Division president of PulteGroup, told Vero Beach 32963 that there will be 171 single-family homes in the development, ranging in size from 1,880 to 2,628 square feet.
“Base prices will start in the high $400s and go up to $800,000,” Baker said.
DiVosta Homes is a PulteGroup brand “that builds consumer inspired homes and communities that provide casual, resort-style living for those wanting a winter retreat or a home year-round in its home state of Florida,” according to the company.
DiVosta plans to break ground this summer and Baker said the first residents will move in about 15 months from now.
Buildout is slated for 2028, around the time the Florida Department of Transportation expects to complete the Oslo/I-95 interchange four miles west of Emerson Oaks. The $95-million project, which includes widening Oslo, will improve highway access and mobility for subdivision residents and add value to property along and near the upgraded arterial road.
DiVosta’s other subdivisions in Indian River County were beehives of activity in 2024.
There are at least 60 new homes going up at Costa Pointe, which opened for sales in 2024 on 11th Drive a block north of Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospital.
“The response to Costa has been overwhelming with many buyers downsizing off the island but wanting to stay close to their network of friends and social activities,” Baker said. “In general, those downsizing from the island want new construction and a smaller house to maintain, while still being close to the amenities they enjoy.”
For members of Quail Valley who make the move to the mainland, nearby amenities will include Quail’s newest club facility, now in the planning stages on approximately eight acres right across the street from Costa Pointe.
When it opens there will be eight pickleball courts, four padel courts, four bocce ball courts, and an expansive croquet section with full and half-court fields, according to county documents. There will also be an exhibition tennis court, lap pool, fitness center, spa, market and dedicated Kids Zone building.
Grand Harbor Golf & Beach Club is less than a mile away from the subdivision entrance on 11th Drive, and Boulevard Tennis & Padel Club is even closer.
Baker said 70 percent of buyers in the 200-plus-home subdivision are local, fueling 50 sales in 2024.
DiVosta sold 80 homes last year at its 270-home Harbor Isle subdivision, which is located south of route 510 and east of U.S. 1, just across the lagoon from the barrier island.
Meanwhile, there are only 20 homes left at the 260-plus-home final phase of Waterway Village.
The Preserve at Waterway Village opened for sales in 2021 and has sold briskly ever since, especially in the past year or so, with scores of new homes going up simultaneously.
“Our outstanding project of Waterway Village is nearly complete,” Baker said. “Interest has stayed strong as buyers know it’s the last chance to buy new in Waterway Village, and we will close out in early 2025.”
When complete, the multiphase, 20-plus-year project with nearly 1,400 homes will be the largest residential development in Indian River County.
DiVosta offers a wide range of home models, sizes and prices, and all of its Indian River County subdivisions are beautifully landscaped and loaded with amenities such as community clubhouses, swimming pools, racquet courts and other popular features.
“Each of our communities is in a similar range, with prices from the low $400s to over $1 million,” Baker told Vero Beach 32963.
Looking ahead, PulteGroup is in the planning stages for another large, multi-phase project tentatively named Ridge Top, which will include a mix of single-family homes, townhomes, villas and apartments on 161 acres at the southwest corner of 77th Street and Old Dixie Highway. The property adjoins the county’s Sandridge Golf Course.
Currently in the middle of the county approval process, Ridge Top will be a PD, or planned development, that encompass 811 residences when complete.
The expansive L-shaped parcel where several thousand people will live in coming years is empty scrub land now.
It once was part of the massive Hobart Ridge land holding, which was sold to Windsor developer Torwest for $27 million in 1990.
Windsor sold the subdivision parcel to Redstick Golf Club in 1999 for $2,087,300. Five years later, Redstick flipped the dirt for $4.7 million, selling to land investment company and current owner RSG of Vero Beach.
When the time was ripe for development, RSG entered into an agreement with Toll Brothers, a publicly traded homebuilder active in 20 states, and Toll Brothers is listed as the project applicant on a 2021 pre-application form submitted to the county.
There was a shift at some point, however, and PulteGroup now has a contract to purchase the project once it is fully approved, according to Baker and Nikolaus Schroth, a commercial real estate broker with NAI Southcoast, which is brokering the land transaction.
DiVosta typically makes deals with landowners who employ agents to get property approved and entitled and only closes on its project sites when that process is complete.
Back to Emerson Oaks, the former Sexton land where homes will be going up this year, Indian River County Historian Ruth Stanbridge provided some interesting background related to the subdivision name.
The Emerson name is common in and around the county, with The Emerson Center, Emerson Avenue and other residential developments employing the moniker.
“The name originated way back before Vero was incorporated,” Stanbridge said. “There was a potato farmer named Emerson with land south of highway 60, which was just a dirt farm road then that went out to what is now 43rd Avenue.
“What is now 27th Avenue was called Emerson Road because it led to his farm.”
The road’s name eventually was changed to 27th Avenue in Vero but it is still Emerson Ave. south of the county line, extending 8.5 miles to Indrio Road.
The Emerson Center, on 27th Avenue picked up its name from the road – although it is appropriate in another way as well for a Unitarian Universalist Church facility that hosts an impressive lecture series, evoking Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of the founding fathers of American literature.
A writer, philosopher and Unitarian minister who led the American Transcendentalist movement, Emerson lectured widely in the 1830, sometimes spending six months of the year on the lecture circuit, according to the University of Georgia Press.
The lectures Emerson gave nearly 200 years ago in New England churches and town halls illuminated by whale oil lamps, employing his “utterly memorable manner of speaking,” became the basis of his famous essays, upon which his reputation chiefly rests.
Baker said local PulteGroup employees research appropriate names for the company’s subdivision. Thanks to those employees, residents of Emerson Oaks will enjoy at least a faint connection to Vero Beach history and one of America’s greatest literary figures.
Baker expects Divosta’s success to continue in Vero with the two upcoming subdivisions, which will push the company’s home count in the county well over 2,000.
“We have been active here for over 20 years, so the community knows our commitment to high quality and building great communities,” he said. “We are confident our reputation and great locations will lead to more success.
“Overall, we are optimistic for a strong 2025 in the Indian River market due to low supply, favorable demographic trends, and the great quality of life that the Vero Beach area offers.”
