It was a master plan. Take a prime piece of real estate known for its abundant natural resources and beauty, add a string of residential villages, a town center of mixed-use commercial property and a very large office park -- and you get Lakewood Ranch, recipient of the prestigious Best in American Living Award for best master-planned community in America and the coveted Grand Aurora Award for the Best Planned Community in the Southeast.

Strategically located in the center of Florida' dynamic southwest coast on the Sarasota-Manatee county line, Lakewood Ranch covers 5,500 acres of the 28,000-acre Schroeder-Manatee Ranch. The land was originally assembled by John Schroeder of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the early 1900s, and was acquired by the Uihlein family, founders of Schlitz Brewing Company, in 1922. The Uihleins continued to expand the agricultural operations started by Schroeder, and the area is still well known for such businesses as cattle ranching, vegetable and citrus farming, timber, turf and shell mining.

In 1994, Lakewood Ranch was added to the mix. With everything from residences and entertainment to offices and schools, Lakewood Ranch is the quintessential live, work, learn and play community. "The nice part about the community is that it' self-contained," says Jon Swart, vice president of commercial sales for Schroeder-Manatee Ranch. "It tends to work out very nicely and efficiently for both families and corporate employees."

The Residential Plan

Lakewood Ranch is designed to create a hometown lifestyle in tune with the natural environment. The master plan has been designed to protect the valuable natural features of the land. Lakes, rivers, streams and wetlands are carefully integrated to both preserve their uniqueness and enhance the quality of life for the residents.

The Ranch includes five residential villages offering a variety of price ranges and styles. It features "Florida ranch" style architecture and modern services and conveniences. Homeowners have access to top quality services and amenities, including schools, medical services, two championship golf clubs, nature trails, hotels and shopping centers.

"We have a variety of ages and lifestyles in our villages," says Swart. "The neighborhoods are clustered around lakes or wetlands with 30 to 50 homes, so it' a large development, but it' a small neighborhood also."

The villages will consist of 7,000 to 8,000 homes, half of which have been built. "We' doing between 600 and 700 homes a year at this point, which is about a 15 to 16 percent market share of the two-county area," notes Swart.

The Business Plan

On the commercial side, the Ranch is currently about 25 percent built out, according to Swart. "We' end up with about seven and a half million square feet of commercial space over the next 15 years," he says.

The Lakewood Ranch business environment includes Class A office, retail, professional services and tech-flex buildings. The master plan calls for standards that ensure the infrastructure, telecommunications, architecture and landscaping will be of the highest quality. The Ranch offers cutting edge technology and telephony through its Verizon Smart Park affiliation and Time Warner broadband cable systems.

Some of the companies that have joined the Lakewood Ranch community include FCCI Insurance Group, Florida' largest worker' compensation company; Selective HR Solutions, a nationally recognized professional employer organization (PEO); Teleflex, makers of instrumentation for the marine, construction, agriculture and truck manufacturing industries; and WilsonMiller, an international engineering and land planning company.

The Corporate Park is a 1,273-acre, campus-style business park adjacent to a 400-acre conservation area and several large lakes; it has become a major employment center along the Interstate 75 corridor. Also in the business hub is the Town Center, which includes Office Park, Market Square, Financial Park, Medical Campus and Ranch Station. Retail, professional executives, hospitality and other high-end offices are represented with excellent highway frontage and proximity to all thoroughfares.

Current tenants within Town Center include Publix, General Nutrition Center, SunTrust, First Union and Mail Boxes, Etc. Restaurants, insurance companies, attorneys, dentists, video training and conference specialists are also included. A hospital, conference center and more hotels are planned, along with an upscale boutique shopping area.

On the northern-most border of the Schroeder-Manatee Ranch is Commerce Park. This 900-acre site is designed in a campus-like setting and includes 700 buildable acres with the remaining land left as protected wetlands and open spaces. A mixed-use designation provides opportunities for office, retail, commercial and tech-flex buildings. Small or large land sites, build-to-suit space or a leased facility are available. As in the other business parks, Commerce Park offers fiber optic communication lines, natural gas service, a non-potable reuse water irrigation system and the latest in technological advances. A second Lakewood Ranch Publix store is already under construction and includes adjoining shops, similar to those found at Market Square in the Town Center.

The Convenience Plan

With easy access to I-75, Lakewood Ranch is convenient to all of Manatee and Sarasota, as well as north to Tampa Bay and all points south along Florida' gulf coast. Airports are accessible in Sarasota/Bradenton, Tampa, St. Petersburg/Clearwater and Ft. Myers; and seaport proximity includes Port Manatee or Tampa Bay.

Lakewood Ranch residents and employees are not only attracted by the location, historic presence and dedication to the land, but by the convenience that the live, work, learn and play environment affords. "You can drop off your kids at daycare on the way to work, and then pick them up, along with dinner and your dry cleaning, on the way home," says Swart. "So it' very efficient in that way and saves a lot of productivity time for employees."

And it seems the self-contained plan for Lakewood Ranch is already paying off, according to Swart. "When we first designed the plan, we were thinking in terms of a 20-year build-out. But now it looks like we' probably be built out in 12 to 15 years. It' been one of the fastest selling communities in the state of Florida for the last 3 or 4 years."

©2001 France Publications, Inc. Duplication or reproduction of this article not permitted without authorization from France Publications, Inc. For information on reprints of this article contact Barbara Sherer at (630) 554-6054.