America’s Seaplane City Welcomes Osprey Lodge Assisted Living Facility Prepares for Construction

 

 

Media Contact:           Joyce Ross, Public Communications Director

Phone:                       352-742-6264

 

 

Tavares, FL (July 25, 2011) - The City of Tavares is very pleased to announce that a building permit has been issued to Osprey Lodge, a 125,000 sq. ft. Senior Assisted Living and Dementia/Alzheimer’s Care Home. The first phase of the project will feature 76 units (five stories) of Assisted Living and 48 units (single story) for Dementia/Alzheimer’s. Once fully operational, this new facility is expected to bring between 60 and 80 new jobs to Tavares, as well as create several hundred construction related jobs over the next year.

 

Located on Lake Frances, just south of Florida Hospital Waterman, Osprey Lodge will be an anchor tenant in Tavares’ Medical Village, a component of the City’s economic development master plan. The developers of the project were able to take advantage of two of the City’s economic incentives, waiver of impact fees and conduit financing. The City’s impact fee waiver program assisted the development by waiving a one-time payment of $346,575 which will be offset by Osprey Lodge’s payment of new property taxes and utility revenues in the future. The City received over $140,000 in permitting fees.

 

Bill Neron, Economic Development Director for the City of Tavares said, “the Osprey Lodge facility is a perfect fit for the Tavares ‘Medical Village’ across from Waterman Hospital and will hopefully attract other support type facilities to the area.”

 

The $30 million construction project is funded by $23 million in Florida Revenue Bonds. The City of Tavares, as provided by Florida Statutes, is authorized to issue and sell these bonds to aid in financing private sector construction projects that create jobs and boost the state and local economy. As defined by law, the City acts as a conduit for the flow of funds between the buyer of the bonds and the developer. The City has no responsibility in any fashion for the payment of the bonds. However, the process does allow the City to assist builders and developers in accessing funding for economic development.