1,227 Acres at Welaunee, 5 Acres Downtown, and a Buc-ee’s — Every Major Development in the Pipeline, in One Table
TallahasseeBusinessNews.com | By Brian French | Published September 15, 2026 | Reflects DRC agendas through August 24, 2026
This is the first edition of the Tallahassee Project Tracker, a Florida Authority Network series that maintains a single running ledger of major private and public development projects in Tallahassee and Leon County — what is proposed, where it stands in review, who is behind it, and what it would add. Updated after each City of Tallahassee and Leon County Development Review Committee meeting.
Quick Answer
What major developments are being proposed in Tallahassee right now? The largest is Welaunee Arch Phase 1, a 1,227-acre Planned Unit Development north of Interstate 10 and east of Centerville Road that went before the City’s Development Review Committee on August 10, 2026 — the first PUD concept plan under a Welaunee Arch master plan covering roughly 1,900 acres, with neighbors asking for a delay and the landowner’s attorney saying there is no buyer yet. Downtown, the City sold 5.09 acres (the “Chevron” and “Johns” blocks) to 908 Group for $11 million on March 11, 2026, for a 239-unit apartment building and a 144-room hotel with restaurant, and 908 Group has a separate 73-unit project, 908 Cigar Factory, in review in the All Saints district. Northwest of town, the Buc-ee’s travel center on Capital Circle Northwest cleared a Leon County review on August 19 and is headed to the County DRC for final approval before year-end, with roughly 200 full-time jobs promised and a land purchase exceeding $10 million. In total, projects on the August 2026 review agendas would add at least 342 residential units and 26 dormitory rooms inside the city, plus a school, a coffee shop, and the single largest land-use decision Tallahassee has faced in a generation.
The Project Ledger
| Project | Location | Developer / Agent | Scope | Status (as of Sept. 3, 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Welaunee Arch Phase 1 PUD (TRZ260004) | North of I-10, east of Centerville Rd | Landowner represented by Holtzman Vogel (Gary Hunter) | 1,227-acre PUD concept plan; two mixed-use centers on future Welaunee Blvd, neighborhood/residential districts, primary open space district | City DRC review Aug. 10, 2026; neighbors requested delay; land-use amendment pending |
| Downtown Chevron & Johns blocks | 2.41-acre Chevron block, 2.68-acre Johns block, downtown | 908 Group | 239-unit apartments (possibly student-marketed), 144-room hotel with restaurant | City sold 5.09 acres for $11M, approved 3/11/2026; site plan not yet on DRC agenda |
| 908 Cigar Factory (TSP260037) | 449 Saint Francis St., All Saints district | 908 Group / Moore Bass Consulting | 73-unit multifamily with parking garage on 1.62 acres; setback deviations requested | City DRC review Aug. 10, 2026 |
| The Saint (TSP250064) | All Saints district (ASN-A) | Urban Catalyst Consultants | Two-story mixed-use, 4 residential units + coffee shop, 4,300 sq ft on 0.33 acres | City DRC review Aug. 10, 2026 |
| V.O.W N.O.W Academy (PSP260001) | 1160–1230 Apalachee Pkwy | LJA Engineering | Convert 28,476 sq ft office building to K-12 school, ~150–200 students, on 4.53 acres | City DRC review Aug. 10, 2026 |
| Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority House (TSP260040) | 514 W. College Ave., Central Core | Moore Bass Consulting | 3-story, 26 dormitory rooms (7 dwelling units) on 0.57 acres; parking deviation requested | City DRC review Aug. 24, 2026 |
| Arbor Crossing Phase II (TSP260026) | 3713 Mahan Dr. | Moore Bass Consulting | 30-unit apartment complex on 2.68 acres; rear-setback deviation requested | City DRC review June 22, 2026 |
| Buc-ee’s Tallahassee | Capital Circle Northwest | Buc-ee’s | Travel center; ~200 full-time jobs; 131 acres preserved; new turn lanes and signal; land purchase >$10M | County pre-review passed Aug. 19; County DRC final review expected before end of 2026 |
| Northwood Centre redevelopment | MLK Jr. Blvd. at Tharpe St. | City of Tallahassee; Sheridan Center for the Arts Foundation | 30+ acre master plan anchored by new Tallahassee Police Department HQ; proposed $9M performing arts venue on 5 donated acres | Commission authorized master planning and negotiations with foundation |
| Bannerman Road utility upgrade | Bannerman Rd. corridor | City of Tallahassee | ~$9.5M utility infrastructure | Under City consideration, Aug. 2026 |
DRC review numbers in parentheses are City of Tallahassee case numbers. “Review” means the item appeared on the agenda; approval, conditional approval, or denial is recorded in DRC minutes and will be reflected in the next edition.
What the Pipeline Shows
Welaunee Arch: the decision that sets Tallahassee’s growth boundary for 30 years
The Welaunee property in northeast Tallahassee has been discussed for more than two decades; the Welaunee Arch Master Plan was adopted in 2020 after amendments first presented in September 2019. The August 10 DRC item is the first PUD concept plan to implement it, covering the West Arch and North Arch districts across 1,227 acres.
The master plan’s own phasing rules give a sense of scale: Phase 2 cannot begin until 1,500 dwelling units and 150,000 square feet of non-residential space are built in Phase 1, and Phase 3 cannot begin until 500 units are built across 70% of Phase 2. No less than 40% of the gross area must remain open space. PUD concept plans must demonstrate transportation concurrency on Welaunee Boulevard and the Northeast Gateway.
Attorney Gary Hunter of Holtzman Vogel, representing the landowner, told the Tallahassee Democrat in July that there are no buyers or current interest and that planning the tract as a whole is preferable to piecemeal PUDs. Neighbors led by resident Lynne Takacs have asked for a postponement, saying they were told in June there was no plan and were surprised to see it moving toward rezoning. Grow Tallahassee, a pro-development group, counters that the process has followed the Comprehensive Plan.
For the tracker, Welaunee is the largest single entitlement decision in the county’s pipeline: 1,227 acres in Phase 1 alone is roughly six times the size of Innovation Park.
Downtown: 908 Group is the dominant private developer
908 Group, already responsible for The Nine and StateHouse Woodard, won the City’s open-market solicitation for the Chevron and Johns blocks — 5.09 acres the Commission voted in November 2025 to market and sold in March 2026 for $11 million. The plan: 239 apartments and a 144-room hotel with a restaurant. One speaker at the Commission meeting objected that the project duplicates what surrounds it and that the area keeps losing cultural institutions.
908’s separate All Saints project — 73 units with a parking garage on 1.62 acres at 449 St. Francis Street, branded “908 Cigar Factory” — reached DRC on August 10. Combined, 908 Group has 312 downtown-area units and a hotel in motion. Downtown’s hotel count matters directly to the session economy covered in this series’ Legislative Session Economy Index: a 144-room downtown hotel is the first major new lodging supply near the Capitol in years.
All Saints and the Central Core are absorbing small infill
Alongside 908 Cigar Factory, The Saint (four units over a coffee shop) and the Zeta Tau Alpha house (26 dorm rooms on West College Avenue) illustrate the pattern south and west of the Capitol: small-lot, deviation-heavy infill in the Multi-Modal Transportation District, where parking and setback rules are routinely relaxed.
Buc-ee’s: the northwest’s largest commercial project moves to final review
The Buc-ee’s travel center on Capital Circle Northwest cleared a Leon County staff review on August 19 and now goes to the County DRC for final approval, expected at a public meeting before year-end. The site plan includes 131 acres of permanent conservation, more than 1,000 trees, dark-sky lighting, more than a thousand feet of new turn lanes, and a traffic signal. The land purchase topped $10 million, and the project promises roughly 200 full-time jobs. Neighbors have raised morning and evening congestion concerns on Capital Circle. The County does not vote on DRC approval; staff confirm compliance and inspect during construction.
Public projects: Northwood and Bannerman
The City is master-planning the 30-plus-acre Northwood Centre site around a new Tallahassee Police Department headquarters, and commissioners authorized negotiations with the Michael H. and Judy W. Sheridan Center for the Arts Foundation, which has asked for five acres at MLK Jr. Boulevard and Tharpe Street for a $9 million performance venue. Separately, the City is weighing a $9.5 million utility upgrade along the Bannerman Road corridor, the infrastructure precursor to further northeast growth.
Pipeline Totals (City DRC, June–August 2026)
| Category | Count |
|---|---|
| Multifamily / apartment units in review | 342 (239 downtown + 73 Cigar Factory + 30 Arbor Crossing) |
| Mixed-use residential units | 4 (The Saint) |
| Dormitory rooms | 26 (Zeta Tau Alpha) |
| Hotel rooms | 144 (downtown, 908 Group) |
| New non-residential | Coffee shop (The Saint); K-12 school conversion (28,476 sq ft) |
| Acres under PUD concept review | 1,227 (Welaunee Arch Phase 1) |
| Public land sold for private development | 5.09 acres, $11M |
Florida Authority Network tally from DRC agendas and Commission records. Excludes Buc-ee’s (County jurisdiction) and single-lot partitions.
What It Means for Tallahassee Business
Builders and trades: 342 apartment units plus a 144-room hotel is a two-to-three-year construction pipeline inside the city, concentrated in the hands of one developer. Subcontractors should be talking to 908 Group now.
Hospitality: A 144-room downtown hotel with restaurant changes the competitive map for session lodging and could absorb a meaningful share of the record bed-tax growth reported this year.
Retail and services: Buc-ee’s is a regional draw and a traffic generator on Capital Circle Northwest; adjacent land values and out-parcel demand will move before the store opens.
Landowners in the northeast: Welaunee Arch entitlements — whether approved, delayed, or modified — reset the value of every parcel between Centerville Road and the Bannerman corridor.
Brian’s Take
Tallahassee’s growth story for the next decade is being decided at 9 a.m. on Monday mornings in a first-floor conference room at 435 North Macomb Street, and almost nobody is watching. The August 10 DRC agenda alone carried 1,227 acres at Welaunee, 73 units downtown, and a school conversion — and it got one local TV story, about the neighbors. Two things stand out. First, 908 Group is becoming the downtown landlord of record: two blocks bought from the City, a hotel, 312 units, and prior projects on both sides of the Capitol. That concentration is not a criticism; it’s a fact that any competing developer, lender, or tenant needs to price. Second, the Welaunee owner says there is no buyer. Entitling 1,227 acres without a buyer is how land gets valued for sale, which is a perfectly legitimate strategy and also the reason neighbors are right to want the plan in daylight before it’s approved. The tracker will carry every one of these projects from agenda to certificate of occupancy. If it isn’t on this table, it isn’t in the pipeline.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Welaunee Arch development in Tallahassee? A 1,227-acre Planned Unit Development concept plan north of I-10 and east of Centerville Road, the first phase of a roughly 1,900-acre master-planned area adopted in 2020. It proposes two mixed-use centers along a future Welaunee Boulevard, residential districts, and at least 40% open space. It was reviewed by the City DRC on August 10, 2026.
Who bought the downtown Tallahassee Chevron and Johns blocks? 908 Group, for $11 million, approved by the City Commission on March 11, 2026. The developer plans a 239-unit apartment building and a 144-room hotel with a restaurant on the combined 5.09 acres.
When will Buc-ee’s open in Tallahassee? No opening date has been announced. The project passed a Leon County staff review on August 19, 2026, and is expected to receive final Development Review Committee consideration before the end of 2026, after which construction inspections would begin.
What is the Tallahassee Development Review Committee? A committee of City staff that meets at the Renaissance Center, 435 N. Macomb St., to approve, conditionally approve, or deny Type B site plans, limited partitions, PUDs, abandonments, and preliminary plats. Leon County operates a separate DRC for unincorporated areas. Public comment is taken but no formal testimony.
What is 908 Group? A Tallahassee developer responsible for The Nine and StateHouse Woodard, the downtown Chevron/Johns hotel-apartment project, and the 73-unit 908 Cigar Factory in the All Saints district.
What is planned for Northwood Centre? A City master plan for the 30-plus-acre site anchored by a new Tallahassee Police Department headquarters, with negotiations underway on a proposed $9 million performing arts venue on five acres sought by the Sheridan Center for the Arts Foundation.
Methodology
The Tallahassee Project Tracker assembles City of Tallahassee Development Review Committee agendas (published at talgov.com), Leon County DRC and staff review notices, City Commission agenda items and votes, Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency records, and contemporaneous reporting by WCTV, WTXL, and the Tallahassee Democrat. Project scope figures (units, square footage, acreage) are as stated in the agenda descriptions or Commission agenda items and reflect proposals at the time of review, not final approvals; DRC decisions are recorded in meeting minutes and will be updated in the next edition. Pipeline totals are Florida Authority Network sums of agenda-stated figures and exclude projects outside City jurisdiction unless noted. Status dates for Northwood Centre reflect Commission actions reported by the Tallahassee Democrat; the tracker will add the specific meeting date from City records.
Sources and Resources
- City of Tallahassee, Development Review Committee Agenda, August 10, 2026 — https://www.talgov.com/Resource.ashx?sn=DRC81026Agenda
- City of Tallahassee, Development Review Committee Agenda, August 24, 2026 — https://www.talgov.com/Resource.ashx?sn=DRC8-24-2026
- City of Tallahassee, Development Review Committee Agenda, June 22, 2026 — https://www.talgov.com/Resource.ashx?sn=DRC06-22-2026
- City of Tallahassee Growth Management, Project Review Meetings — https://www.talgov.com/growth/gm_meetings
- City of Tallahassee Growth Management, Current Projects map — https://www.talgov.com/growth/gm_projects
- WCTV, “Tallahassee commission votes to sell 5 acres of downtown property to build hotel, apartments in $11M deal,” March 11, 2026 — https://www.wctv.tv/2026/03/11/tallahassee-commission-votes-sell-5-acres-downtown-property-build-hotel-apartments-11m-deal/
- WCTV, “Buc-ee’s Tallahassee on the horizon as project moves forward for final approval,” August 20, 2026 — https://www.wctv.tv/2026/08/20/buc-ees-tallahassee-horizon-project-moves-forward-final-approval/
- WTXL, “Neighbors ask for delay on Welaunee Arch land use change as 1,227-acre development plan comes to light,” August 2026 — https://www.wtxl.com/northeast-tallahassee/neighbors-ask-for-delay-on-welaunee-arch-land-use-change-as-1-227-acre-development-plan-comes-to-light
- Tallahassee Democrat (syndicated), “Last big piece of Welaunee coming into focus for development,” July 14, 2026 — https://bluewaterhealthyliving.com/news/national-news/florida/last-big-piece-of-welaunee-coming-into-focus-for-development/
- City of Tallahassee, Welaunee Arch Master Plan (BoardDocs attachment) — https://go.boarddocs.com/fla/talgov/Board.nsf/files/BV8LW4563832/$file/Attachment%203%20-%20Welaunee%20Arch%20Master%20Plan%20changes%20since%20joint%20workshop.pdf
- Grow Tallahassee, Welaunee — https://www.growtallahassee.com/welaunee
- Tallahassee Democrat (via Yahoo), “Tallahassee city commissioners approve moving forward with Northwood Centre plans” — https://news.yahoo.com/tallahassee-city-commissioners-approve-moving-110137390.html
- Tallahassee Reports, Business section — https://tallahasseereports.com/category/business/
- Tallahassee-Leon County Active Permit Maps — https://storymaps.arcgis.com/collections/906810b105034f86b4c879b10aa0a433
Related coverage across the Florida Authority Network: FloridaRealEstateNews (statewide development pipelines), FloridaHomeServicesNews (construction trades), TampaBayBusinessNews and JacksonvilleBusinessNews project tracker
About the Author
