Hot-Selling Viera Rises Into Nations Top 10 Master-Planned Communities
The world is now more aware of what every Viera resident already knew: Their community is tops.
In rankings recently released by both John Burns Real Estate Consulting and RCLCO Real Estate Advisors, Viera — long on the list of the top 25 planned master communities in the nation — leaped to top-10 rankings for sales performance in 2022. The previous year, the community was ranked 15th with John Burns Real Estate Consulting and 13th with RCLCO.
RCLCO’s Top-Selling Master Planned Communities Report is released twice a year to track the top performing communities in the country and to identify best practices from top-ranking master planned communities.
“Viera is a strong example of the success that a development can achieve when community and thoughtful place-making are the primary focuses, both of which the Viera Company has consistently prioritized,” said Karl Pischke, vice president of RCLCO Real Estate Consultants.
“Viera’s first appearance within the top-10 ranks builds on years of increasingly impressive performances.”
Viera’s achievement is even more significant when considering the challenges the building industry has faced in the last few years. While supply chain issues, increased materials costs, labor shortages, all together with rising mortgage rates made for a double-digit percentage decline in home sales last year for Viera’s peer group communities, Viera forged ahead.
The community attracts homebuyers with its winning combination of A-rated schools, thoughtfully planned neighborhoods that embrace a robust outdoor lifestyle, abundant shopping and dining opportunities, convenient healthcare facilities, wide range of housing options and sustained employment growth.
“Viera is centrally coastal and conveniently master-planned in the heart of the booming Space Coast,” said Todd Pokrywa, president of The Viera Company. “Viera continues to demonstrate that its highly sought-after location is more insulated to the real estate headwinds experienced nationally.”
Viera posted 772 net new home sales from builders that include Joyal homes, Lifestyle Homes, Stanley Homes, AMEK, Christopher Burton Luxury Homes, AR Homes, Elan Builders, Pulte/Del Webb and, of course, Viera Builders.
Growth is nowhere near done, as Viera forges ahead with the mixed-use hubs of Borrows West, Viera Town Center and the Pineda Interchange District.
“They will continue to attract a wide range of uses, including restaurants, retail and hospitality-related developments that bolster the attractiveness of the master planned community to prospective residential buyers,” Pokrywa said.
Urban Prime, slated for opening in spring of 2023 across from The Avenue Viera, is a case in point. The gourmet restaurant and market is the vision of former Green Turtle executive chef and co-owner Ercan Ekinci.
“Chef Ekinci has a demonstrated track record in creating quality food and experiences,” Pokrywa said.
The 5,000-square-foot facility will feature locally grown produce and wild seafood, a grocery with deli and bakery, prepared grab-and-go meals and a large wine selection, along with curbside pickup and local delivery.
The adjoining 8,000-square-foot restaurant will offer a gourmet menu of seafood, steak, pasta and salads.
Also joining the Viera food scene are Ford’s Garage and Tiki Docks Bar and Grill, located at Borrows West, one of Viera’s fastest growing neighborhoods. A celebration of vintage Fords, Ford’s Garage replicates a 1920s service station, complete with gas pumps and fixtures, along with classic Fords.
Equally as fanciful, Tiki Docks Bar and Grill mimics a South Pacific tropical paradise.
Restaurants aren’t the only building happening in Viera. In August 2024, Viera will have a new middle school just north of Viera High School.
Residents 55-plus will be interested in Auterra, Viera’s newest senior community, expected to open late this year with 11 duplex cottages and 166 units in four-story apartment buildings. The resort-style, luxury community near the intersection of Pineda Boulevard and Stadium Parkway will boast a pool, fitness center, community kitchen, clubhouse, green courtyard, dog spa, postage center, maker’s space, golf cart garages, and more.
General Hotels Corporation, in partnership with Weathervane Capital Partners, has begun site preparation for its future Homewood Suites in Borrows West. The 131-room property has an anticipated opening in early 2024.
Another Borrows West hotel in the making is the 208-room Hilton Garden Inn, expected to open in the summer of 2024. Crowning the hotel will be a rooftop bar.
Despite all the building, there remains plenty of elbow room for continued growth in years to come.
“Based on the pace of the last few years, we expect the master plan to be substantially built out in the next 20-plus years,” added Pokrywa.
History of Viera
As recently as the 1980s, drivers along Interstate 95 and Wickham Road could still catch glimpses of cowboys and cattle roaming land that seemed to go on forever. However, on Aug. 4, 1989, the rural nature of the area was destined to change forever as A. Duda and Sons, which owned the land known as Cocoa Ranch, broke ground for the new community named Viera.
Andrew Duda and his three sons, John, Andrew Jr. and Ferdinand, were farmers who produced their first cash crop of celery in 1926. By the 1940s, the sons, nicknamed the “three seniors,” diversified operations and purchased 43,000 acres of Brevard County land, later to be known as Viera.
They named it in honor of their father, who left Slovakia for the United States in 1909 to pursue the American dream of owning land, practicing his faith and creating a better life for his family. Viera translates to “faith” in Slovak.
The third generation of Dudas continued the efforts, establishing The Viera Company — the master developer for Viera and a subsidiary of A. Duda & Sons.
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