Lake Nona sets stage for world's top builder show Plans for the New American Remodelled House (Phil Kean Design Group) By Mary Shanklin Orlando Sentinel Lake Nona to be site for New American Home of 2017 International Builder Show Phil Kean again tabbed for New American Home and New American Remodeled Home Work is about to start on Orlando's next belle of the new-home ball: The New American Home is being built in Lake Nona by Winter Park custom builder Phil Kean for the world's largest home construction show. A sort of candy bowl of new building products and design ideas rolled into one high-profile demonstration house, the show home is to be completed next year. The New American Home is a centerpiece of the annual International Builder Show, which rotates between Orlando and Las Vegas every few years. When it returns to Florida in January 2017, the show will also feature the first-ever New American Remodeled Home also to be built by Kean in Lake Nona.
Phil Kean Design Group's New American Home is expected to be a departure from a long line of vertical show homes at the global gathering for home builders. In addition, it is planned to showcase accessibility, "net-zero" energy usage and the flexibility to expand or close off space. A house in Lake Nona Golf and Country Club is to become the New American Remodelled Home "Our goal for the New American Home is that it will all be on one level and this one will be totally accessible and feature Universal Design with large hallways and an apartment," Kean said. With more than 50,000 attendees, the remains one of the largest conventions in Orlando show; even so, it has about half the attendance it did at the peak of the market almost a decade ago. An estimated 7,500 conference attendees tour the show's New American Home. As the backdrop for the show homes, Lake Nona will also be on display. Developers say they expect to have a new USTA training facility, with more than 100 tennis courts, completed there by show time. And as home sites near selling out at Lake Nona Golf and Country Club, plans call for a southward expansion of several hundred single-family lots, said Andy Odenbach, president of the country club development. Odenbach said he added Kean to the builder list because the architect brought a more modernistic style to a landscape where builders had been doing the same thing for years. Kean became known in the Orlando market more than a decade ago when he began bringing houses with sharp lines to Winter Park streets that had been dominated by Mediterranean
mansions. He built the 2012 New American Home, a sleek white-brick house reflective of midcentury modern design. Just a block from Rollins College, it's now his own home. Tucker Bernard, director of the New American Home program for the National Association of Home Builders, said Kean was selected for the two New American Homes and also the remodeling showcase because of his talent, experience and willingness to take on the project. These seven contemporaries listed for sale on Zillow in Central Florida are everything but your traditional Florida home. With decadent outdoor living spaces, indoor entertainment areas and spacious bathrooms and kitchens, the homes pricetags reflect their amenities. (Sandy Csizmar / Orlando Sentinel) "He's done great architecture and is a great designer and he has a good command of the Orlando marketplace," Bernard said. Also, he added, Kean is willing to take the financial risk of building the house at a time when lenders have backed off from financing the speculative show homes. Both houses are to be completed in 15 months, which would allow time for photo shoots and marketing aimed at enticing more home-construction professionals to attend the conference. New American As a "net-zero" house, Orlando's next New American Home is planned to use no more energy than it creates through solar power. The technology began to emerge at show homes for the International Builder Show about five years ago. The house is also expected to demonstrate "pod living," with unused rooms closed off. Designed in the International architectural style, the one-story house also differs from earlier New American Homes that were often built with multiple stories to make the most of home sites. Kean said the 8,000-square-foot house leverages lake and golf-course views. With ample use of glass for windows and doors, the house will include indoor/outdoor space and a design to accommodate homeowners of various ages and abilities.
The upcoming New American Home will also be featured as part of the America Institute of Architects national conference in Orlando in June 2017. It's expected to be priced from $4 million, according to Kean's office. The home is in the permitting process. New American Remodeled Home The only time the nation's leading home builder association undertook a remodeled show home was by accident in 2007, a downtown Orlando historic district board prohibited the razing of a house so it had to be reclaimed instead, said Tucker, who oversees the New American Home project. For the first time, the industry group is intentionally undertaking a remodeled show house in 2017. The New American Home to be built for the 2017 International Builder Show will be in Lake Nona. (Phil Kean Design Group) "Remodelers got on board and wanted the NAHB to highlight the remodeling industry," Tucker said. "It's always been kind of like a second child but it's a major part of the industry." Demolition work has started on that project, which will be a renovation of a Lake Nona Country Club house Kean purchased for $725,000 in February, records show. The remake of the waterfront house, which has four bedrooms and about 3,800 square feet, will be priced from $1.5 million when it's completed. The makeover is expected to transform the 1980s architecture into a Bahamian-styled show house packed with new energy efficiencies. Past challenges A few earlier Orlando versions of the New American Home have run into some challenges. For the 2008 builders' show in Orlando, Charlie Robertson of Robertson Homes built a 6,700- square-foot New American Home in Lake Nona. Appraised for $4.7 million, the house was under contract until the IRS froze the prospective buyer's assets. First Commercial Bank foreclosed on the property.
And for the 2007 show in Orlando, Carmen Dominguez, former president of the Home Builders Association of Metro Orlando, built a 4,200-square-foot New American Home in downtown Orlando. Despite its energy efficient features, it took more than two years to sell and finally went for $900,000 less than one-third its original price. Kean, though, said his earlier New American Home has been both a professional springboard and a comfortable personal residence. In 2013, he became the national association's top custom builder for the year. His firm, he added, now has about 100 projects underway in several states. Unlike the last New American Home, he said he's not likely to trade his location: "It's in walking distance of Winter Park's Park Avenue," the architect said. "Who wouldn't want that?" mshanklin@tribune.com or 407-420-5538 International Builder Show Future locations and dates: 2017: Orlando, Jan. 10-12 2018: Orlando, Jan. 9-10 2019: Las Vegas, Feb. 19-21 2020: Las Vegas, Jan. 21-23 2021: Orlando, Feb. 9-11 2022: Orlando, Jan. 11-13 Copyright 2015, Orlando Sentinel