A master-planned development inside the City of Orlando’s south-eastern arm, governed by a planned development district covering roughly 9,044 acres — and layered with community development districts whose assessments are the single most overlooked cost of buying here.
Medical City anchors the northern side with hospitals and research institutions, the USTA National Campus brings a hundred tennis courts open to the public, and Lake Nona Town Center and Boxi Park supply the dining and gathering side.
Location Context
South-east Orlando, north of the Osceola County line, south of Dowden Road, east of Boggy Creek Road and west of Narcoossee Road — inside the same detached arm of the city that contains Orlando International Airport, with SR 417 running through.
Housing Overview
Effectively all of it is new. Lake Nona has been built out neighbourhood by neighbourhood under a City of Orlando planned development ordinance that authorises up to 20,817 residential units alongside millions of square feet of office, commercial and airport-support space. Districts differ sharply in age, density and design rules, so “Lake Nona” describes a plan area rather than a single housing market.
New single-family homes
Townhomes
Apartments and build-to-rent
Condominiums near Town Center
Custom homes on the golf course
Where Lake Nona sits
A planned development inside the City of Orlando's south-eastern arm, governed by a PD ordinance rather than a municipal boundary. SR 417 runs through it and Orlando International Airport is immediately north-west.
ExpresswayLakesLakes and roads: US Census Bureau TIGER. Marker positions are approximate.
The most consequential thing a Lake Nona buyer can get wrong is assuming the HOA fee is the whole picture. A Community Development District is a separate special-purpose unit of local government created under Chapter 190 of the Florida Statutes. It builds and maintains infrastructure — roads, drainage, utilities, parks — and it levies its own assessments, which arrive on the property tax bill as non-ad valorem line items, entirely separate from HOA dues and from ordinary property tax.
Lake Nona is not one district. It is a patchwork. The Narcoossee Community Development District covers a set of neighbourhoods including Lake Nona Preserve, and publishes its adopted budgets and audited financials. The Storey Park district operates nearby. In March 2026 the Orlando City Commission approved a new Dowden Central Community Development District covering nearly 380 acres in south-east Lake Nona, petitioned by the developer, empowered to fund roads, drainage, utilities and parks through assessments on developers and future homeowners.
Because it is a patchwork, no page can tell you whether a specific address carries a CDD assessment, and any page that claims to is guessing. We looked for a definitive district-by-district roster and could not assemble one from primary sources. What we can tell you is exactly how to find out, which is more useful: pull the parcel’s current tax bill from the Orange County Tax Collector and look for a non-ad valorem CDD line, check the Property Appraiser record, and ask the seller for any Chapter 190 disclosure. Florida law requires that disclosure in bold immediately above the buyer’s signature on an initial sale within a district — but on a resale you may have to go and get it yourself.
Treat the answer as part of the monthly payment, not as paperwork. On a district carrying construction debt, the assessment can be a meaningful line.
What is actually built, and what is still coming
Medical City is real and largely operating. The UCF College of Medicine enrolled its first class in 2009. Nemours Children’s Hospital opened in 2012 and expanded in late 2019. The Orlando VA Medical Center began seeing patients in February 2015 and was dedicated that May, a facility of roughly 1.2 million square feet. The UF Research and Academic Center opened in November 2012. UCF Lake Nona Hospital opened to the public on 1 March 2021 as a joint venture with HCA, designed to expand well beyond its current bed count. One institution changed hands: the research building originally built for Sanford Burnham transferred to the University of Central Florida in 2018 and now operates as the UCF Lake Nona Cancer Center.
The USTA National Campus opened on 2 January 2017 — 64 acres and about 100 courts — and, contrary to a common assumption, it is open to the public, with hourly court bookings and no membership requirement.
Still in progress: Lake Nona West, a 54-acre retail district on Lake Nona Boulevard, was announced for a 2026 debut. The Dowden Central area approved in March 2026 has its zoning but no vertical construction, and its approval carries a requirement that at least ten percent of new housing there be designated affordable. A regional Osceola Parkway extension serving this area remains in study, not construction. Tavistock continues filing new residential phases inside the plan area.
One number worth flagging: the development is widely marketed as seventeen square miles, while the City of Orlando planned development ordinance governs 9,044 acres, which is closer to fourteen. The likely explanation is adjacent land outside the planned development boundary, but we could not confirm that from a primary source, so we cite the ordinance figure.
Buyer Considerations
—Ask whether the parcel sits in a Community Development District and what the annual assessment is — this is a separate unit of local government from the HOA, and it appears on the tax bill as a non-ad valorem line item
—Florida law requires a bold disclosure above the buyer’s signature on an initial CDD sale, but resale buyers do not automatically get one — pull the parcel’s actual tax bill instead of relying on being told
—Expect two or three layers of governance: City of Orlando permitting, a neighbourhood or master HOA with design review, and where applicable a CDD
—Large areas remain under construction; confirm what is approved next to a specific lot rather than what exists today
Seller Considerations
—Buyers increasingly ask for the CDD assessment figure up front — having the current tax bill and the district’s adopted budget ready removes the biggest source of late renegotiation
—Because so much stock is similar in age and design, condition, upgrades and lot position do most of the pricing work
—New inventory from the developer competes directly with resale; pricing needs to account for what incentives are being offered nearby
Nearby Amenities
✓USTA National Campus
✓Lake Nona Town Center and Boxi Park
✓Lake Nona Performance Club
✓Medical City institutions
✓Lake Nona Golf & Country Club
Transportation
✓SR 417 Central Florida GreeneWay
✓Narcoossee Road
✓Boggy Creek Road
✓Orlando International Airport nearby
✓Autonomous shuttle service within the community
Market information is provided for general education, may change without notice, and should be independently verified before making real estate decisions.
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