The Villages announced yesterday they are going to build a new town, Middleton, Florida. This is much needed and the first for the developer, all their efforts in the past has been building out the 55 and over community which currently has a population of over 130,000 people and plans to build another 50,000 homes, that’s correct 50,000! Middleton will be a family friendly community with schools, shopping designed for walking distance to everything.
With the population already over 130,000 and at a recent meeting the developer announced plans to double the size of The Villages, that’s great BUT the people moving here are not looking for work plus many tasks normally done by homeowners are not done by the retirement community residents. That means “Help Wanted” and a bunch of it! It’s unknown how many people actually work in supporting The Villages in construction, medical, service industry and so forth I have heard between 20,000 and 30,000 people. When you double that the community needs over 50,000 people to work supporting The Villages. That means plenty of housing is needed to support the families due to The Villages only allowing residents over 19 can live here full time!
In the past I have worked with families moving here due to accepting employment within The Villages and that is not an easy task! There is very limited housing surrounding The Villages plus The Villages is so large it matters where you work in The Villages. The distance from the northern most area of The Villages to the southern end is over 15 miles, and there are no beltways or bypasses to reduce travel time! I often ask workers where they live and many are as far away as an hour’s drive. We are creeping closer to Disney, maybe someday I could get there by golf cart!
Dick Betts, REALTOR®
The Betts Team
Touchstone Real Estate
717-860-3107 cell
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