Sun City Center home to new developer — Minto Communities

SUN CITY CENTER — There's a new developer in town, along with revamped landscaping, an updated community sign and the promise about 1,000 new homes for sale in the next few years.

In June, the Canada-based Minto Communities bought out the properties of developer WCI Communities Inc., which operated out of Sun City Center for more than 20 years. According to the deed, Minto paid $9.9 million.

"It's a vibrant community with a rich history," Minto executive vice president Michael Belmont said. "We feel it's one of the better, if not the best, active adult communities — certainly in Florida, if not the country."

Belmont said about half of the yet-to-be-built properties will be single-family homes from $180,000 to about $300,000 in the Renaissance Golf Club section. The other half will be duplex-like villas in the Kings Point gated community from $150,000 to $190,000.

Eight model homes — four in the Renaissance section and four in Kings Point — are already under construction. It could be six to seven years before all the properties are built out, Belmont said.

The company plans to open its office in mid-October, at the old WCI location, and be ready for sales in November. A grand opening ceremony will likely be scheduled in November, Belmont said.

In the meantime, Minto workers will spruce up landscaping along medians and at the entrance to Kings Point. The sign welcoming people to Sun City Center now boasts Minto's logo.

WCI spokeswoman Connie Boyd said the decision to move from the area came after the company pulled itself out of bankruptcy a year ago.

"We used to sell homes from low 100s up to 10 million dollars," Boyd said. "Now we're more focused on the middle."

She said the Sun City Center holdings were on the lower end of the price spectrum and didn't meet the company's new mission.

"None of these decisions are easy, but it just made sense," Boyd said.

Kim Wilmath can be reached at (813) 661-2442 or kwilmath@sptimes.com.