Quick answer: In an established neighbourhood, what is next door is a building. In a master-planned community it is an entitlement, and an entitlement is a permission that can be applied to change.
That is not a criticism of any developer. It is the structural difference between buying into a finished place and buying into a planned one.
The firm, in outline
| Type | South Florida development firm |
| Associated with | Armando Codina |
| Best known for | Master-planning and developing Downtown Doral |
| Location | City of Doral, Miami-Dade County |
| Model | Mixed-use master-planned district |
| Typical build-out period for such districts | 10 to 20 years |
| What that means for a 5 year hold | Only the phases inside those 5 years matter |
| What it means for a 20 year hold | The whole remaining plan is in scope |
What you are actually buying next door
The difference between an established neighbourhood and a master-planned one is what governs the land around you.
| Established neighbourhood | Master-planned community | |
|---|---|---|
| What is next door | Existing buildings | Approved but unbuilt entitlements |
| Who controls change | Many separate owners | Frequently one master developer |
| Speed of change | Slow, parcel by parcel | Faster, by phase |
| How change happens | Individual redevelopment | Plan amendment and phase delivery |
| Predictability | High, from what exists | High, from what is approved, if you read it |
The final row contains both the risk and the answer. A master plan is a public document. Reading it is more informative than any assurance from a sales office, and it takes an afternoon at the local government’s planning department or its online records.
The amendment mechanism
Approved plans are not permanent. In Florida, as elsewhere, land use approvals can be amended by application to the local government, subject to public hearing.
A master developer holding the remaining land in a district has both the standing and the commercial reason to apply when market conditions change. Densities get increased, use mixes get adjusted, phasing gets rearranged, and a parcel shown on a site plan as open space or low-rise can become something else through an entirely lawful public process.
Residents may object, and their objections are heard. They do not control the outcome, and their leverage is political rather than contractual unless a recorded restriction says otherwise.
That last clause is the whole practical point. A recorded restrictive covenant on a specific parcel is enforceable. A site plan in a brochure is not. Our Strategic Property Partners profile makes the same distinction for a district that changed hands mid-build, and our Swire Properties profile for one where the master developer retains the commercial components permanently.
What to read before buying
- The approved master plan for the district, from the local government rather than the sales office.
- The zoning and future land use designation on the specific parcels surrounding your home.
- The amendment history. How many times has the plan already been amended, and in which direction? A district amended 4 or 5 times in 10 years, each time upward in density, will probably continue in that direction; one amended once in 15 years will probably not.
- Any recorded covenants or restrictions on nearby parcels, which are the only enforceable protection.
- The remaining land holding. How much of the district does the master developer still own, and therefore how much is still to be determined?
The third and fifth items together give the best available forecast. A district almost entirely built out, by an owner with little land left, is close to settled. One only half built, with the master developer holding the rest, is still being decided.
Put a number on your own horizon before you start. If you expect to hold for 5 years, what matters is the phases scheduled inside that window. If you expect to hold for 20 years, the whole remaining plan is in scope, and a district with a third of its land still undetermined is a materially different proposition from one with a twentieth. Districts of this kind commonly take 10 to 20 years to complete, which is longer than most ownership periods and long enough for market conditions to change the plan more than once.
The master developer is not the only party who can change things
Buyers who grasp the amendment point usually stop there, and there are two other sources of change worth checking at the same time, because the research is the same visit.
The first is the local government itself. Cities and counties periodically revise their comprehensive plans and land development regulations, and those revisions apply to everything within their boundaries including a private master-planned district. A change in permitted heights, parking requirements or use categories arrives from a direction no developer controls.
The second is what sits outside the district’s boundary. A master plan governs the land inside it and nothing beyond. The parcels across the road are subject to whatever their own zoning permits, and a well-planned district can find an entirely unrelated use appear immediately outside its edge. That is the most commonly missed check of all, because buyers examine the community they are joining and not the land facing it.
| Source of change | What governs it | Who controls it |
|---|---|---|
| Phases inside the district | The approved master plan | The master developer, by amendment |
| The district’s own rules | Governing documents | The association, once transferred |
| Local regulation | Comprehensive plan and land development code | The city or county |
| Land outside the boundary | Its own zoning | Its own owners |
Checking all four takes one session with the same planning records. Checking only the first is the common practice and it covers about a quarter of the question.
The offsetting case
Master-planned districts exist because they work, and the advantages are real.
- Coherence. Streets, utilities, landscaping and public realm are designed together rather than accumulated.
- Amenity delivery. Parks, schools and retail are planned and funded rather than hoped for.
- Predictable governance. The community association structure is established from the outset, with the caveats we set out in our Lennar profile about the builder-controlled period.
- A committed party. Someone has a commercial interest in the district being good, which is not true of an ordinary neighbourhood.
The trade is control. You get a better-designed environment, planned by a party whose plan you cannot bind.
What should stop you
- A marketing site plan relied on as though it were an entitlement.
- No knowledge of what the surrounding parcels are zoned for.
- An amendment history nobody has checked.
- Assurances about future uses that appear in no recorded document.
- A district where the master developer holds most of the remaining land and will not discuss its intentions.
Our reading: master-planned communities are frequently excellent places to own and the thing you are buying next door is a permission rather than a building. Read the plan, check the amendment record, and treat marketing site plans as illustrations. Our HOA restrictions guide covers what governs your own home, and our due diligence guide where the public records sit.
Frequently Asked Questions
A South Florida development firm associated with Armando Codina, best known for master-planning and developing Downtown Doral, a mixed-use district in the City of Doral in Miami-Dade County.
That in a master-planned community, what surrounds your home is defined by an approved plan rather than by existing buildings, and approved plans can be amended by application to the local government.
Usually the master developer, because it controls the remaining land. Individual homeowners can object but do not control the outcome.
No. Amendments frequently improve a district, adding amenities or better uses. The point is that the surroundings you bought are a plan rather than a fact, and plans move.
Read the approved master plan and zoning for the parcels around you, not the marketing site plan, and look at the local government's record of amendments already granted.
Sources: the firm’s South Florida base, its association with Armando Codina and its master-planning and development of Downtown Doral in Miami-Dade County, from the firm’s published material and contemporaneous development reporting. The description of how land use approvals are amended is a general account of Florida planning practice; the plan, zoning and amendment history for any specific district are public records held by the relevant local government. No claim is made about this firm’s intentions for any parcel.
Read the plan, not the site plan
Send a Florida master-planned community. We pull the approved plan, the surrounding zoning and the amendment history.