As home sales in Babcock Ranch increase, so do the number of services, merchants and retail locations and amenities in the master-planned community straddling southern Charlotte County and northern Lee County.
It recently surpassed its 4,000th home sale and began a partnership with Tampa General Hospital, which will bring an urgent care facility to the community.
“From the first sale in 2017 to the 4,000th in 2024, we continue to be honored by the trust every resident has placed in the town and us as a developer,” said Syd Kitson, chairman and CEO of Babcock Ranch developer Kitson & Partners.
Syd Kitson
The community has 6 million square feet of commercial space throughout the town’s sprawling 18,000 acres.
Across from the community’s first shopping center, the Publix-anchored Crescent B Commons, a second shopping center—The Shoppes at Yellow Pine—has already courted retailers and services, including Ace Hardware, The Aesthetics Lounge and Spa, Carvel Ice Cream, Five Below, Five Guys, Fountain Pools, Marshalls, Oar & Iron Raw Bar & Grill, Papa Johns, Seymour Smiles Orthodontics, Tipsy Nail Bar, Verizon and Yummy Express.
Babcock Ranch, touted as the nation’s first solar-powered town and the seventh fastest-selling master-planned community in the U.S. in 2023, is constantly expanding. When built-out, there are expected to be 19,500 homes.
Kitson said he credits the exodus to Babcock Ranch to homebuyers “looking for the better way of life Babcock Ranch has become known for in just seven years.”
One of the allures of Babcock Ranch is in its design, as neighborhoods are clustered around parks, pavilions and playgrounds.
The community introduced new neighborhoods, trails and parks, including The Pkwy, a series of six interconnecting linear parks in the MidTown section. MidTown has pavilions, playgrounds, multipurpose fields, a lagoon and an observation tower overlooking preserves, lakes and wetlands.
Three of the new parks are expected to be completed this year, along with a 23-acre sports complex, offering softball and baseball diamonds, multipurpose fields, a skate park, running track and game night field with a concession stand.
Kitson & Partners’ community design interlinks large lakes and wetlands for stormwater control, wildlife restoration and scenic views from Babcock Ranch’s homes and community gathering spaces.
The town was designed to appeal to a variety of buyers, from millennials and families of all sizes to seasonal residents, empty nesters and retirees.
There are new construction homes in WestTown and MidTown, where eight neighborhoods feature single-family homes, low-maintenance villas, as well as private amenities and Babcock Ranch’s first neighborhood for active adults 55 and older. MidTown also will offer a future live-work-play town center and village green.
There are more than a dozen neighborhoods in the community with villas, townhomes, waterfront coach homes and single-family residences. Home prices range from the upper $200,000s to $4 million.
In addition, there are two rental communities, The Flatwoods, offering three- to five-bedroom single-family homes, and Canopy at Babcock Ranch with studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.
Canopy rents range from $1,592 per month for a studio and $2,877 for a three- bedroom apartment. The Flatwoods’ rental homes range in price from $2,600 per month for a three-bedroom to $3,390 for a five-bedrooms.
