After purchasing land for its Stonehill community in Howey-in-the-Hills earlier this year, Pulte has begun development at the site and recently filed plans for the second phase of the project.
Located along the east side of State Road 19, south of Revels Road, Phase 2 of Stonehill is planned for 84 single-family lots set to rise on 52.84 acres.
Pulte acquired Stonehill from developer Revels Road Investors LLC — an affiliate of JTD Land and operated by Kissimmee-based Jr. Davis Construction Company — in March for $16 million.
Formerly known as the Watermark PUD, initial project plans approved by Howey Town Council in 2022 called for 225 single-family homes with 70-foot and 80-foot lots on approximately 100 acres. At least 50% of the lots were required to be the larger 80-foot size.
A subsequent PUD amendment approved by Howey Town Council in February 2025 added 65 units and 33 acres for a proposed total of 290 units spread across 133 acres.
In order to meet existing requirements, lots within Stonehill will be split evenly between 113 70-foot lots and 113 80-foot lots. The other 64 lots will rise as quarter-acre lots.
The neighborhood’s first phase consists of 118 lots on the west side of the property, located at the southeast corner of the SR 19 and Revels Road intersection.
Pulte filed construction plans for Stonehill Phase 2 with the St. Johns River Water Management District last month, showing 84 lots set to rise in the northeast section of the property. There will be 69 70-foot lots, 32 80-foot lots and 17 quarter-acre lots.
The final 88 lots will be in Phase 3, at the southern end of the property. Plans indicate there will be 19 70-foot lots, 40 80-foot lots and 29 quarter-acre lots.
According to Pulte Director of Land Planning and Entitlements Aaron Struckmeyer, Phase 1 development is underway, and sales are expected to start early next year.
Nearby, just north of Howey, Pulte is operating as the exclusive homebuilder within Falls at Drake Point, a planned 521-home boating community on Lake Harris.
The nation’s third-largest homebuilder is under contract for the 293-acre gated community from owner/developer GPK Holdings, which secured the preliminary plat approval in 2023 for up to 535 homes. Falls at Drake Point will have two access points from CR 48 between Yalaha and Howey-in-the-Hills.
Pulte has redesigned the community to replace a large public marina with a private boat ramp and to remove the canal along the southern boundary of the community. All of the internal lots will be 65 feet wide, large enough to accommodate the builder’s larger footprint homes with three-car garages or boat garages.
Just west of Howey, the proposed Cedar Creek rural conservation subdivision was denied a density bonus by the Lake County Board of County Commissioners.
Located north of Number Two Road and west of the Mission Inn Resort, Orlando-based developer PIB Land is planning to develop the Cedar Creek subdivision on 119.4 acres in the unincorporated Yalaha area.
Developers are allowed up to 86 units based on the acreage of the project, according to Lake County Planning Director Mike Fitzgerald. Project applicant Alex Stringfellow of Stringfellow Planning & Design requested a density bonus of 11 units to bring the allowed units up to 97, broken down into 91 65-foot lots and seven 75-foot lots.
After an initial two-week delay to to give the developer and applicant time to adjust their plans, commissioners agreed to deny the density bonus during their May 5 meeting.
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