The project is being built at an average per-unit hard cost of $84,559 on Curry Ford Road about a half mile west of Alafaya Trail. Summit Contractors of Jacksonville is the general contractor for the one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments which will start pre-leasing activity in the spring, says Gus Sankers, president of 20-year-old Group IV which has a portfolio of 2,000 operating apartment units in northeast Florida.

Sankers calls Woodland Lakes "an ideal location" to launch his company's first rental property project outside the northeast Florida perimeter. He sees the project's east Orlando site as "an outstanding growth area with tremendous potential to expand our presence" in Central Florida.

Group IV purchased the 22.7-acre parcel for Heritage Estate from Orlando Central Park Inc. in spring 2002 for about $2.2 million, or $98,454 per acre. Orlando Central Park is developing and marketing Woodland Lakes.