Medical office approved on corner of Aloma and Lakemont

The project led by a group of physicians will bring development to the long vacant lot

July 2, 2024

By Beth Kassab

A new medical office building will stand at the empty corner at Lakemont and Aloma avenues after the City Commission unanimously approved the project with conditions late last month.

Residents objected to the height of the building and raised questions about traffic, particularly left-hand turns, but commissioners settled on conditions that they said would alleviate many of the concerns.

The nearly 18,000-square-foot proposal for the two-story building came after Verax Investments purchased the land from Fifth Third Bank earlier this year for about  $2.7 million, according to property records. Verax is a real estate development group led by a group of local physicians including Dr. Ravi Gandhi, a well-known brain surgeon with Orlando Neurosurgery.

The development will herald a major change for the last wooded parcel of the intersection.

“We all know that SR 426 is broken,” said resident Beth Hall. “Please don’t let this be the commission that breaks Lakemont.”

The developers agreed to preserve two live oak trees on the property.

They also agreed to build a 6-foot high wall on the edge of the property that backs up to residential lawns and the wall must be constructed before the building is started.

Among other conditions, the developers will also post signs prohibiting left-hand turns out of the property and give over a strip of the land to the city to eventually widen Lakemont. .

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