While some Winter Springs residents are ready to welcome a new senior-living condominium complex near Winter Springs High School, others fear the area is already too crowded, and a new development will just make things worse.

  • "The Gatherings at Winter Springs" to be built in Winter Springs Town Center
  • New complex would have over 100 units
  • City leaders must approve zoning exception for project to move forward

At 77, Winter Springs resident Juanita Blumberg says she’s lucky she can still take care of her garden.

“It’s such fun and it’s so gorgeous – everywhere you look is color,” said Blumberg.

But not all seniors are so lucky, and Blumberg believes their only options in Winter Springs are retirement homes or apartments. 

“You pay a great deal up front that you don’t get back when you pass on, so you have built no equity and you’ve spent a lot of money,” said Blumberg.

So Blumberg is selling a six-acre section of her land that sits in the back of the city’s town center so a developer can build senior-living condos.

“There are no senior condominium complexes anywhere near here,” said Blumberg.

When city leaders discussed the plans for the complex at a public hearing in June, some residents raised concerns.

One of those residents was Dalton Richardson, who lives near the city’s town center.  

“It’s just too crowded, way too crowded,” said Richardson.

Richardson believes the senior-living center will only make it more difficult to get around.

“I moved out of my previous place where I lived before because there were too many people, and it’s just going to boom again and that’s going to make traffic even worse,” said Richardson.

The development, which would be called “The Gatherings at Winter Springs,” would include four four-story-tall residential buildings containing more than 100 units.  City leaders must approve a zoning exception to allow the project to move forward. 

In addition, the property backs up to Winter Springs High School, and that’s something some residents worry could cause conflicts.  

Blumberg said that doesn't concern her, however. Her home is next to where the condo complex would be built, and she says in more than two decades living next to the high school she’s never had a problem.

“I’m 77 and it doesn’t bother me one bit,” said Blumberg.