Dream Finders Homes Now Selling in DeBary’s Rivington Community with Pre-Model Pricing

 DEBARY – Dream Finders Homes has made a half-a-dozen sales at pre-model pricing and started construction in Rivington, a traditional 296-acre master-planned community along the St. Johns River in DeBary.

The Jacksonville-based national homebuilder is building 42 single-family homes from its Signature Series at Rivington on 50-foot lots, according to Gerry Boeneman, President of Dream Finders Homes’ Central Florida division.

“Our six innovative one- and two-story plans at Rivington – with three and four-bedrooms and up to three-and-a-half baths – will give homebuyers between 1,856 and 2,843 square feet of living space,” he said.

Dream Finders Homes at Rivington are priced from the high $200s, Boeneman said, adding that the Anna Maria with Bonus model should be finished, decorated and open for viewing by early January.

Rivington – which features a resort-style pool, cabana, playground, clubhouse and numerous green spaces – sits along Konomac Lake and is adjacent to the St. Johns River just west of U.S. Highway 17-92. It offers easy access to Lake Mary and Sanford employment centers and is only one-quarter mile from the DeBary SunRail station.

For leisure activities, Rivington is a quick drive to Gemini Springs State Park, River City Nature Park and the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens.

“I believe many prospective buyers will find both our homes and this community the answers to their home buying needs,” he said. “With the numerous designer upgrades in our Signature Series and the floor plan variety, as well as the beautiful location of Rivington, this should be the perfect place for many dream homes.”

For more information about homes at Rivington, please call 888-214-1164.

Central Florida Developer Receives U.S. Secretary of Defense Medal

LAKE MARY – After serving two three-year terms as state chairman of the United States Department of Defense’s Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve [ESGR], James E. Dicks Jr. – a Marine and founder of DIX Developments – has been awarded the Secretary of Defense Award.

Dicks received the award for his service to the guard and reserve, defense personnel and their families, according to Maj. Gen. James O. Eifert, Adjutant General of Florida’s National Guard.

Established in 1972 and supported by a network of more than 3,600 volunteers throughout the U.S., the ESGR promotes cooperation between reserve service members and their civilian employers by assisting in the resolution of conflicts arising from an employee's military commitment.

Dicks’ award cites his performance and initiative as the “driving force behind significant improvements” to essential ESGR programs, stating that he committed “substantial personal time” and “routinely went above and beyond his requirements to support the program’s mission” as an ombudsman for employers and their employees who serve in the United States Armed Forces Guard and Reserve.

“We’ve been extremely fortunate having James represent Florida’s ESGR for the past six years,” Eifert said. “His steadfast representation and advocacy will be sorely missed throughout Florida, and we wish him well.”

As he leaves one post, Dicks will take on a new one as chair emeritus, and will remain on the Florida State Committee as the boss lift director, he said. He will be succeeded as state chairman by recently appointed retired Major General Rita Broadway, who has served ESGR in various capacities for more than 35 years.

For the past 14 years, Dicks has been successful at raising capital and developing prime Florida real estate, going from landowner to a full service, multi-use real estate development, construction and management firm. As a best-selling author, he’s published nine books on financial topics, been quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, USA Today and Forbes magazine, and has appeared on CNBC, NBC, ABC, FOX and CBS.

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Dream Finders Homes’ Holly Forest Amenity Center to Open Early Next Year at Silverleaf Master-Planned Community

ST JOHNS – Holly Forest – a Dream Finders Homes’ neighborhood within a larger development – soon will have its own amenity center at the master-planned community of Silverleaf, off County Road 210.

Division President Brad Muston said when the Holly Forest amenities center is completed in early 2021 it will offer a lap pool with a zero-entry, a fenced playground with a shaded sitting area, a large event lawn, and a cabana-style clubhouse.

“Those features are in addition to others at Silverleaf, including tennis and pickleball courts, dog parks, and numerous pools and water parks designed for adults, families and kids,” he said.

The 8,500-acre development that comprises Silverleaf has more than 3,500 acres of conservation and offers quick access to Interstate 95 for a 25-minute drive to historic St. Augustine or downtown Jacksonville, he added.

Dream Finders Homes currently has a total of 76 homesites [18 43-foot lots and 58 53-foot lots] available in Holly Forest, where prices start in the low $300,000s for plans ranging from 1,622 to 3,518 square feet of living area. The one- and two-story floor homes can be built from 17 different floor plans that offer three to six bedrooms and two to three baths.

For more information visit www.dreamfindershomes.com or call 888-214-1164. 

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Downtown Church Restoration Project Recycles 92% of Demo Debris

Contractors Say Less Than 8% of the Milk District’s H2O Church Renovation Project Went to Landfill

ORLANDO – Renovation usually involves demolition. And, demolition almost always involves dumpsters overflowing with debris destined for the nearest landfill. But, that’s not the case with the restoration project underway at the future H2O Church building in downtown Orlando.

The $600,000 project – to renovate the former First United Methodist Church building and demolish two education buildings at 2113 E. South St. – takes recycling to a higher level by seeing the salvaging of a whopping 92 percent of the elements removed from the structure, according to Tony Baumert, principal and project manager of Construction Development Inc. (CDI) 

“Most demolition projects are considered excellent if they recycle 50% of the debris,” Baumert said. “This project is way above a normal good percentage with only 7.83% going to the landfill and more than 92 percent of the debris tonnage either recycled or salvaged.  It is groundbreaking!”

Baumert said a total of 7,655 tons of materials (6,966 tons of concrete, 648 tons of asphalt, 11 tons of metal, and 30 tons of trusses and plywood) were sold, recycled or salvaged, while only 600 tons went to a landfill.   In comparison,  a recent (2019) CDI project involving the gutting of an office building and the construction of the new Delaney Hotel and Tavern on So. Orange Avenue had 30% of the materials recycled.  

Javier Omana who heads the engineering team at CPH, the project’s civil engineers, said he was literally astonished by the care that was taken and the amount of materials preserved.  His firm has agreed that they will submit this project for a state conservation award to Florida Planning and Zoning Assn. and the Florida chapters of both American Planning Assn. and American Society of Landscape Architects.  “CDI did an impeccable job. We’ve been around a long time and have never seen recycling to this extent.” Omana said.

The reclaimed materials from the church property will either be used elsewhere by the church, by non-profits or a few church members, according to the Rev. Jim Poorman, H2O pastor.

 “More than 200  4- by 8-foot sheets of plywood were preserved,” Poorman said. “We are planning on incorporating a number of the demo items into the new design.”  CDI is planning to donate most of the plywood and trusses to local charities.

During the renovation, Baumert said the original architectural drawing of the church was found. The drawing was done in the 1950s by James Gamble Rogers; one of the area’s defining architects. He said his firm is having the rendering and blueprint restored and framed to present to the congregation to show how much of the original church has been preserved.

Built in the mid-1950s, the Spanish/Mediterranean-style structure on nearly an acre was deteriorating when purchased in 2019 by 2113 E. South Street, LLC headed by Marisol Santiago Soderstrom, Roger Soderstrom, Jr. and John Kurtz, CCIM as part of an almost five-acre parcel acquisition. The owners are selling a 3.87-acre section to Surrey Homes USA and gifted the remaining church and land to H2O Church.

Poorman said H2O church – which has rented space in Orlando for nearly 20 years – is proud to be able to use a lot of the demoed materials in their new church.  Included are wooden roof planks refinished and installed on a wall and in the ceiling of the community meeting area, stained glass windows that were removed by a former owner restored and reinstalled, and the stump of an oak tree taken down on the property is being cut into slices to make tables for the church’s meeting center.

The renovation –  which Poorman said should be completed in early 2021 – includes a new roof, painting, stuccoing the exterior, new acid stained floors, new interior lighting, a sound system and the addition of a lobby with a coffee shop that can double as a meeting place for the neighborhood.

“We’re shooting to have everything restored, installed and completed early in 2021 along with having much of it finished in preparation for our Christmas Eve service.”  

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