MetroWest

MetroWest is a master-planned community in southwest Orlando with a history that dates to the mid-1980s, when the Arvida Corporation — the same developer behind Boca West in South Florida and other large-scale planned communities — began acquiring and planning the roughly 1,800-acre site west of the Florida Turnpike. Arvida's vision was an urban village concept with a golf course at its center, mixed residential densities, and a commercial component to serve residents without requiring every errand to become a highway trip. Development began in earnest in the late 1980s and continued through the 1990s as the community filled in with single-family homes, townhomes, condominiums, and apartments.

The community's development coincided with and benefited from the massive expansion of the tourism and hospitality industry on the I-4 corridor. MetroWest's location — roughly equidistant between Universal Studios and downtown Orlando — made it attractive if you work in the theme parks or hospitality industry, or need quick access to both corridors without paying the premium of closer-in neighborhoods. The Metrowest Golf Club, an 18-hole Joe Lee-designed course, opened as the community's centerpiece and remains one of the better public-access courses in the city.

By the 2000s, MetroWest was essentially built out, and it has since matured into an established neighborhood with a mix of owner-occupants and investors, and a real estate market that reflects both the appeal and the complexity of that mix.