The Grove at Stuart Crossing is a new single-family home community built by Meritage Homes in Bartow, Florida, the Polk County seat (Meritage Homes community pages, 2026). Listing and builder guides describe single-family homes delivered in multiple series, with reported plan sizes spanning roughly the high 1,200s to the high 3,000s of square feet across the lineup; confirm the exact series, size, and bedroom count for any specific home.
The community sits inside Stuart Crossing, a roughly 700-acre planned development inside the Bartow city limits whose plan has been reported to include hundreds of homes plus apartments, shops, and restaurants, with a large share of land set aside for recreation and conservation (regional reporting on Stuart Crossing, 2024). The development is anchored by Ernest M. Smith Boulevard, a four-lane road that connects U.S. 17 and U.S. 98 and opens the north side of Bartow toward Lakeland.
Because this is an active production-builder community, the money is made or lost on the contract and the home, not on the address alone. The drivers are the series and floor plan, the included versus optioned finishes, the lot and any premium, the phase you buy in, and the HOA, all of which should be read from the current builder documents and the specific listing.
The pitch is new construction in a growing master plan with a full amenity package: builder and community guides cite a resort-style pool, a clubhouse, a fitness center, pickleball and basketball courts, a playground, a dog park, and trails, with quick access to U.S. 17, U.S. 98, and commutes toward Lakeland, Tampa, and Orlando. The work is the diligence: read the contract, confirm the HOA and any CDD, and choose the lot and phase before you buy the model-home feeling.
