In 2012, the property that now houses the development called Cypress Ranch was slated for almost 1,600 multi-family homes with some commercial. Fast forward to 2018 when Vice President of Development Services, Ryan Plate, had the vision and commitment to create the right balance of residential and retail for county planners who were looking for something better suited for the 164-acre site.

With the neighboring Hillsborough County nearly built out, Ferber recognized the need to keep up with the number of people moving to the area as well as the expanding job market. Officials approved Ferber’s plan including 330 multi-family units, 134 townhomes, and 132 single-family homes behind the commercial site which includes an Aldi, Chick-Fil-A, EoS Fitness, Burger King, Circle K, Honest-1, and Woodies Wash Shack. With initial site work beginning in the Fall of 2020, the last tenant is slated to open in the first quarter of 2024.

This is a story of collaboration and resiliency. “We had to work with our property owner and land brokers, the county, consultants, homebuilder, apartment developer, and a multitude of retail tenants,” states Ryan Plate, Ferber’s Vice President of Development Services for Southwest Florida. “We were thrown curveballs at every stage of the development process, including a COVID lockdown starting two months before our projected closing date, but we persevered thanks to the hard work of our Ferber team, the commitment, and support of our partners, leaders Paul, and Shields Ferber, as well as the trust put in us by our clients.”

Plate shares that nothing was easy about this project. “The comp Plan amendment and re-zoning was one of our many challenges as well as drainage design, rebuilding a traffic signal, neighborhood outreach and coordination, and the many nuances of the leases and contracts. However, our biggest challenge was closing a large land transaction during a time of great uncertainty with COVID lockdowns, a potential market crash, and a concerned lending environment. We succeeded.”