Laureate Park: Lake Nona's Flagship New Urbanist Neighborhood

When people ask me what Lake Nona is trying to be, I point them to Laureate Park. It is the most fully realized version of what Tavistock — the master developer behind all of Lake Nona — set out to build: a walkable, connected, intentionally designed residential community where the infrastructure is genuinely 21st century. It is also the community that generates the most questions from buyers who are excited by the vision but uncertain about the financial structure. Let me give you the full picture.

What Laureate Park Is

Laureate Park is a Tavistock Development Company community within the broader Lake Nona master plan, located adjacent to Medical City in southeast Orlando. It was conceived as a new urbanist neighborhood — meaning walkable street grid, mixed uses, front porches, alleys behind homes, and civic spaces designed to encourage spontaneous interaction rather than car-dependent isolation.

The community has a variety of housing types: single-family detached homes, attached townhomes, and some multi-family residential along the more urban edges. Total planned build-out is several thousand homes.

The technology infrastructure is what separates Laureate Park from virtually every other residential community in Orlando. The community is built with a fiber optic backbone delivering true gigabit internet to homes. This is not a marketing claim about what speeds are theoretically available — it is infrastructure that is physically built into the community. For remote workers, tech professionals, and anyone who has dealt with the cable monopoly's unreliability, this is a meaningful practical asset.

Solar and Green Building

Rooftop solar is available on new construction homes in Laureate Park through programs that Tavistock has facilitated with solar installers. Not all homes have solar — it is an option, not a standard — but the combination of Florida's sunshine, net metering rules, and the availability of purchase or lease programs makes it a financially defensible choice here.

The broader community is designed to LEED-ND standards (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development), which shapes things like tree canopy, stormwater management, and bicycle infrastructure.

The Amenities

LP Fit is the community fitness facility — a well-equipped gym that functions as something between a neighborhood rec center and a boutique fitness club. Access is included in the CDD fee structure. It's genuinely used; the community population is young and active enough that the facility isn't just a brochure feature.

The community also has:

• A community garden (plots available to residents)
• Multiple parks and green spaces woven through the neighborhood
• A pool
• Trails connecting to the broader Lake Nona path network
• Proximity to Lake Nona Town Center for retail and dining

The Homes and Price Range

Laureate Park has attracted a number of production builders — Ashton Woods, David Weekley, and others — plus some custom inventory. The housing mix is more diverse than most planned communities:

Home Type	Size Range	Price Range
Townhome / attached	1,600–2,200 sq ft	$450K–$600K
Smaller single-family	2,000–3,000 sq ft	$550K–$750K
Standard single-family	3,000–4,200 sq ft	$700K–$950K
Larger custom or premium lot	4,000–5,500 sq ft	$950K–$1.2M+

Understanding the CDD

This is the most important thing to understand before you buy in Laureate Park, and I see buyers miss it regularly.

Lake Nona communities — including Laureate Park — carry Community Development District (CDD) charges. A CDD is a special purpose government district that issues bonds to fund infrastructure: roads, water management, amenities, parks. Homeowners repay those bonds through an annual CDD assessment on their property tax bill.

In Laureate Park, CDD assessments typically run $2,000–$4,500 per year depending on the specific lot and phase of development. This is not included in the advertised HOA fee — it is a separate line on your tax bill.

When you are comparing a $750,000 home in Laureate Park to a $750,000 home in a non-CDD community, you need to factor this in. Over a 10-year ownership, a $3,000/year CDD assessment adds $30,000 to your cost of ownership. This is not a reason to avoid Laureate Park — the infrastructure it funded is real and valuable — but it is a number you need to understand before making an offer.

The CDD balance also decreases over time as the bonds pay down. Homes in older phases of Laureate Park have lower remaining CDD balances than newer-phase homes, which affects how you think about long-term ownership cost.

Proximity to Medical City

This is Laureate Park's clearest locational advantage for a specific buyer type. Lake Nona Medical City — home to UCF College of Medicine, Nemours Children's Hospital, the VA Medical Center, and several other healthcare institutions and life sciences companies — is within walking or biking distance for many Laureate Park residents.

For physicians, researchers, nurses, and healthcare executives who work in Medical City, living in Laureate Park eliminates a commute. That practical benefit drives significant demand from this buyer group and is part of why Laureate Park has held its value as well as it has.

What Residents Actually Say

I've sold to and bought from Laureate Park residents for years. The consistent praise is for the walkability, the internet speed, and the sense of community cohesion — residents actually know their neighbors, attend block events, and use the shared spaces. For buyers coming from conventional suburban neighborhoods, this is sometimes surprising.

The consistent frustrations: CDD sticker shock for buyers who didn't research it in advance, and the feeling that some commercial amenities in Lake Nona Town Center are still developing. Lake Nona is a built-out master plan in the residential sense but still maturing on the retail and dining side compared to, say, Restaurant Row.

My Honest Assessment

Laureate Park is the best-executed new urbanist community in Orlando and one of the better ones in Florida. For Medical City employees, remote workers who value gigabit internet and walkability, and buyers who want a community that feels like it was designed rather than sprawled — it is genuinely excellent.

The CDD fee is real and must be understood. The retail environment is still developing. If those are dealbreakers, look elsewhere. If you can price the CDD correctly and you value what Laureate Park actually offers, it is a strong buy in a submarket that has consistently appreciated.

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Ryan Solberg is a luxury real estate agent with MaxLife Realty specializing in Lake Nona, Medical City residential, and Orlando master-planned communities.