East Orlando Development Plans: 322-Unit Multifamily Community Proposed in the East Colonial Corridor

Real Estate & Growth

An Orange County filing would change commercial and low-density residential land near Bloomfield Drive to medium-high density residential and rezone it for a planned development of up to 322 homes — the East Colonial Multifamily PD, cases 2026-1-A-4-1 and LUP-25-10-261, now in county review in District 4.

The next apartment community proposed for the East Colonial corridor is on paper at Orange County. A future land use amendment and a concurrent rezoning — filed together as amendment 2026-1-A-4-1 and rezoning LUP-25-10-261 — would clear the way for the East Colonial Multifamily PD, a multi-family community of up to 322 dwelling units with associated amenities and surface parking, according to Orange County’s published community-meeting notice for the cases.

What the filing asks for

Two changes have to happen before anything can be built. First, the property’s designation on the county’s Future Land Use Map would move from Commercial (C) and Low-Medium Density Residential (LMDR) to Medium-High Density Residential (MHDR). Second, the zoning would change from C-2 (General Commercial District) and R-2 (Residential District) to PD (Planned Development District), the district the county uses for projects it reviews as a single plan. The site sits in County Commission District 4, in the East Orlando corridor the Citizen’s East Orlando, Explained traces from downtown to the university edge — the same corridor where Union Park residents already measure growth in Colonial Drive traffic.

Where the case stands

The county has noticed a community meeting on the proposal at Lawton Chiles Elementary School’s media center, 11001 Bloomfield Drive, at 6 p.m. County planners Jennifer DuBois (on the land-use amendment) and Jason Cheberenchick (on the rezoning) are the listed contacts on the county notice, and the county’s Development Review Committee calendar separately lists a noticed meeting to discuss the requested waivers for the East Colonial Multifamily Land Use Plan — a sign the plan’s details, not just its existence, are under active staff review. No approval has been granted: a land-use change of this size still has to pass the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Board of County Commissioners in public hearings before the PD can proceed.

Why it matters on the east side

Three hundred and twenty-two homes is a mid-sized community by east Orange County standards, but the land-use change is the story: converting land designated for commercial and low-density residential use to medium-high density residential adds permanent rooftops to a corridor the county has historically lined with retail. What residents will test at the hearings is the ordinary list — traffic on East Colonial, school capacity at Lawton Chiles and its feeders, and whether surface parking is the final site plan or a placeholder.

More from this desk: the Real Estate & Growth archive and the Citizen’s beat reporters index.

Sources & notes: Orange County Government county calendar — community-meeting notice for cases 2026-1-A-4-1 & LUP-25-10-261 (East Colonial Multifamily PD/LUP) and Development Review Committee noticed-meeting listing for the East Colonial Multifamily Land Use Plan waivers, both read November 15, 2026. Unit count is the applicant’s requested maximum (“up to 322 dwelling units”), not an approved figure.

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