Royal Palm Wins Final Approval for a 360-Unit Mixed-Use Community in Sanford
Sanford’s State Road 46 corridor is getting its next big addition. City commissioners have granted final approval to Royal Palm at Crosswood, a 360-unit luxury apartment community with 41,600 square feet of shops and dining, complete with a resort-style pool, a padel court and one amenity you don’t see every day: a full flight simulator, a nod to the nearby Sanford airport.
A rendering of Royal Palm at Crosswood, the newly approved 360-unit mixed-use community along State Road 46 in Sanford. Conceptual rendering only; final designs may change.
Image: Royal Palm Companies
What to Know
The Royal Palm at Crosswood plan in brief
A unanimous city approval clears the way for Royal Palm Companies’ second Sanford community, pairing luxury apartments with neighborhood retail on the SR 46 corridor.
360 luxury apartments. Six four-story buildings of 60 units each on roughly 22 acres at Crosswood Loop, rezoned to Planned Development by a unanimous commission vote.
41,600 sq ft of retail. Three commercial outparcels along State Road 46, aimed at neighborhood-serving uses like coffee and dining, with CBRE handling the marketing.
A proven local developer. This is Royal Palm’s second Sanford community, following the 420-unit Northhaven, which delivered earlier in 2026.
Royal Palm Companies is doubling down on Sanford. According to GrowthSpotter reporting, the Sanford City Commission has granted final, unanimous approval to Royal Palm at Crosswood, rezoning about 22 acres at Crosswood Loop to Planned Development and clearing the way for a 360-unit luxury community with a substantial retail component along State Road 46.
The vote closes the approval chapter for a project that blends apartments, shops and some unusually thoughtful site planning, from stormwater upgrades to a protected bald eagle nest on the property’s edge.
What’s approved
The residential program calls for six four-story buildings of 60 units each, wrapped around a central amenity core. The 9,000-square-foot clubhouse anchors a resort-style pool, and the amenity list leans distinctive: a padel court for the fast-growing racquet sport, and a full flight simulator, a fitting touch for a community minutes from Orlando Sanford International Airport and its aviation community.
The retail piece: 41,600 square feet on SR 46
Three commercial outparcels front State Road 46 with a combined 41,600 square feet of space. The developer’s stated aim is neighborhood-serving retail, the coffee shops, restaurants and everyday services that make an apartment community feel like a place rather than a complex, and CBRE has been tapped to market the space to tenants.
Crosswood by the numbers
The figures matter because they mark a developer committing to Sanford twice in two years, with retail and infrastructure built into the plan rather than promised later.
The eagle, the ditch and the stormwater
Two site details earned the project goodwill through the approval process. First, the plan maintains a 330-foot construction buffer around an active bald eagle nest, coordinated with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service guidelines. Second, the developer committed more than $250,000 to cleaning out and improving a long-neglected drainage ditch, alongside enlarged stormwater facilities serving the Lake Monroe basin, infrastructure work that benefits neighbors well beyond the property line.
Why Royal Palm keeps choosing Sanford
The clearest signal in this story is repetition. Developers rarely return to a submarket that disappointed them, and Royal Palm is coming back to Sanford barely a year after delivering the 420-unit Northhaven. That is a bet on the SR 46 corridor’s trajectory: airport-adjacent employment, the SunRail and I-4 connections, and a downtown Sanford that keeps converting first-time visitors into residents.
A light real estate read on Crosswood
For nearby homeowners, a mixed-use project of this shape is generally a favorable neighbor: the retail brings daily conveniences to a corridor that has lacked them, and luxury rental stock tends to support, rather than compete with, the surrounding for-sale market by deepening the area’s renter-to-buyer pipeline.
The micro-location nuance is SR 46 itself. Homes that gain walkable or short-drive access to the new coffee and dining options benefit most; parcels directly on the corridor should watch construction-phase traffic patterns once sitework begins. And for move-up buyers, watch what those three outparcels sign, because tenant quality on the retail pads will say a lot about how this stretch of Sanford is being valued.
The Takeaway
Royal Palm at Crosswood adds 360 apartments and 41,600 square feet of retail to a Sanford corridor that is clearly earning developer confidence, with a unanimous approval, real infrastructure commitments and a protected eagle nest as the site’s best-known resident.
The next milestones to watch: retail tenant announcements from CBRE and the construction start. We will keep following both.
FAQ
What is Royal Palm at Crosswood?
A newly approved mixed-use community in Sanford with 360 luxury apartments in six four-story buildings, a 9,000-square-foot clubhouse, resort-style pool, padel court, flight simulator and 41,600 square feet of retail along State Road 46.
Where is it located?
On roughly 22 acres at Crosswood Loop along the State Road 46 corridor in Sanford, in Seminole County, minutes from Orlando Sanford International Airport.
Who is the developer?
Royal Palm Companies. Crosswood is the firm’s second Sanford community, following the 420-unit Northhaven, which was delivered earlier in 2026.
What retail is coming?
Three outparcels totaling 41,600 square feet front State Road 46, targeted at neighborhood-serving uses such as coffee and dining. CBRE is marketing the space, and tenants have not yet been announced.
What about the bald eagle nest?
An active bald eagle nest on the property is protected by a 330-foot construction buffer in line with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service guidelines, one of several site commitments alongside a $250,000+ drainage ditch cleanup and enlarged stormwater facilities serving the Lake Monroe basin.
External Links & Related Reading
For readers who want to follow the project and the reporting behind it, these are the key references.
Watching Sanford’s next chapter?
Approvals like Crosswood reshape what daily life looks like along a corridor, and what nearby homes are worth over time. When a move is on your radar, local context matters.