Esplanade at Highland Ranch

Esplanade at Highland Ranch is a gated 55+ community in Clermont, built by Taylor Morrison off Highway 50 West and Blackstill Lake Road as part of the larger Highland Ranch development. The neighborhood holds roughly 475 single-family homes across about 579 acres, with construction wrapping up around 2022; new homes have since sold out, so resale is now the way in. What sets it apart is the land itself — it sits up in Clermont's rolling hills, a real elevation change you won't find across most of flat Central Florida, with paved trail connections running toward both downtown Clermont and Winter Garden.

The center of the community is its clubhouse, built around a large pool with a spa, a separate resistance pool, and cabanas, plus a fitness center, movement studio, billiards and card rooms, and a demonstration kitchen. Outside, residents have tennis, pickleball, and bocce courts, an outdoor kitchen, a fire pit, and walking and biking trails, with a full-time lifestyle director running the clubs, classes, and events. Just past the gates you're minutes from Bella Collina's golf course, South Lake Hospital, Publix, and Costco, with downtown Clermont's lakefront and Winter Garden's Plant Street Market both an easy drive — or, given the trail access, a bike ride.

Homes are single-story, single-family designs, most with two to three bedrooms, two to three baths, and two- to three-car garages, carrying Taylor Morrison's Italian-named Esplanade floor plans like the Lazio, Farnese, and Santini. Square footage runs from roughly 1,600 to over 3,100, though sources differ on the exact bounds. Two features worth calling out: the homes run on natural gas, which is unusual for residential Florida, and the HOA folds in lawn care and exterior upkeep alongside the amenities and gated security, so the upkeep leans low-maintenance by design.