The 60-Second Overview
Mirada is the biggest swing in Metro Development Group’s lagoon portfolio: a ~2,000-acre master plan in San Antonio, Pasco County, built around a 15-acre MetroLagoon, the largest man-made lagoon in the United States. First homes delivered in 2019; the plan runs toward roughly 5,000 residences across townhomes, villas, family single-family, Homes by WestBay’s premium plans, and Medley at Mirada, a gated 55+ enclave with its own club.
Four builders, D.R. Horton, Lennar, Maronda, and WestBay, keep new construction flowing, which makes this a builder-led market: third-party data puts the community’s average around $362,661, with WestBay listings reaching $836,833 and Medley villas starting near $270K. ULTRAFi internet and solar streetlights come standard with the Metro package.
Mirada gives you twice Epperson’s lagoon at a lower average price, and asks the same discipline in return: price the HOA, the lagoon fee, and the CDD before you fall for the beach.
The fee stack follows the Metro blueprint: a section HOA (published at ~$83/month in DRH sections, ~$425-$475/month in maintenance-included Medley), a separately billed lagoon fee (~$38/month published, plus initiation), and a CDD whose published range ran $2,113-$3,672 a year by lot. Three layers, three bills, and the listing usually shows you one.
The Fee Stack: HOA, Lagoon, and CDD
Here is the math the listing remarks will not do for you:
1) The HOA, by section. Published figures show about $83/month in the D.R. Horton sections, while Medley at Mirada runs roughly $425-$475/month, the difference being Medley’s gated club, maintenance-included package, and 55+ programming. Same master plan, very different HOA products, never compare the two numbers without comparing what they buy.
2) The lagoon fee: separate and on top. The lagoon is operated by MetroLagoons, not your HOA and not the CDD. Published household fees ran about $38/month (2024) plus a one-time initiation at closing. Base membership covers access; cabanas and some events cost more.
3) The CDD: on the tax bill, by lot. Published figures in the DRH sections ranged $2,113-$3,672 per year, while one district’s FY2026 budget shows a $1,543.99 single-family assessment, evidence that the number varies meaningfully by district, product, and lot. The parcel’s tax bill is the only number that counts, and these are young districts still carrying bond debt.
The 15-Acre MetroLagoon
When Mirada’s lagoon opened, Crystal Lagoons billed it as the largest man-made lagoon in the United States: 15 acres of filtered, swimmable blue with beach entries, slides, kayak and paddle rentals, swim zones, cabanas, and a programmed calendar of festivals, concerts, and movie nights. It functions as a regional destination, MetroLagoons has offered limited public day passes, which keeps the operation funded and the energy high on weekends.
For owners, the practical read is the same as Epperson’s: the lagoon is a club you fund monthly, not a pool you inherit, and its brand value accrues to every address in the plan. Families who will use it weekly are buying one of Florida’s best amenity values; buyers who will not should still budget the fee as a fixed cost and let the resale-demand halo do its work.
Homes, Builders, and Medley
Mirada’s product range is its underrated strength. D.R. Horton covers villas and family single-family; Lennar builds in the main plan and owns the Medley at Mirada 55+ enclave; Maronda adds value single-family; and Homes by WestBay delivers the premium tier, listings $556,807-$836,833, on the best lots. That spread, $270K to $837K in one master plan, lets households trade up or down without leaving the lagoon.
Medley deserves its own paragraph: a gated, age-restricted village with its own clubhouse, resort pool, fitness, pickleball, and tennis, plus full lagoon access, at villa pricing from roughly $270K. Its $425-$475/month HOA buys the maintenance-included, programmed lifestyle, structurally a mini Del Webb inside a multigenerational plan, and one of the cheapest gated 55+ entries in the Tampa region.
Schools
The honest headline: zoning here is a moving target. Listings commonly reference San Antonio Elementary with secondary assignments split between the Pasco High and Cypress Creek tracks, and Pasco County has adjusted boundaries repeatedly through 2024-2026 as the Connected City corridor grows. A new school site inside or near the plan would not surprise anyone watching the county’s capital plans.
What that means practically: verify the current assignment for the exact address with Pasco County Schools before you offer, re-confirm before closing, and if a specific school is the reason you are buying, treat that as a contingency, not an assumption. Medley buyers can skip this section entirely, age-restricted living makes zoning irrelevant inside the gates.
More on Living in Mirada
The depth without the wall of text. Open what matters to you.
Location and commute
The Connected City corridor
Medley life
Construction era
5 Mistakes Buyers Make in Mirada
The same five mistakes, all avoidable with the right read before you tour.
Comparing Medley’s HOA to the family sections’
~$450/month versus ~$83/month is not an overcharge, it is a different product: gated club, maintenance included, 55+ programming. Compare what each fee buys, never the raw numbers.
Forgetting the lagoon is a separate bill
~$38/month plus initiation, billed by MetroLagoons outside the HOA and CDD. It belongs in your offer math, and extras like cabanas cost beyond it.
Trusting one CDD number
Published figures span $1,544 to $3,672 a year across districts and lots. Pull the exact parcel’s tax-bill line and the district’s bond status, nothing else is reliable.
Buying for a school that may rezone
This corridor’s boundaries have moved repeatedly. Verify the assignment today, re-verify before closing, and never pay a school premium on an assumption.
Walking into a builder office unrepresented
Four builders compete here, which is leverage, if someone is negotiating for you. The site agent works for the builder; their incentives usually require their lender and title. We price the real cost of the deal.
Which Lots & Views Hold Value Best
In a build-out market, buy what the next phase cannot mint
Specs will keep coming for years. What stays scarce: lagoon-walkable streets, water and conservation frontage, and Medley’s gated supply, the enclave is finite even as the master plan grows.
The mistake is paying a premium for a standard lot in a brand-new phase. We map the durable positions before clients tour.
What to Check Before You Offer
Run this list on any Mirada home. Missing one is how buyers overpay or inherit a surprise.
- The three-line fee total in writing: section HOA, lagoon membership + initiation, and the parcel’s exact CDD
- Which CDD district serves the lot and how much of the assessment is bond debt
- True closed comps for the section and product, not the community-wide average
- Builder incentive terms if buying new: lender, title, and what the credit actually costs
- School assignment verified today, and a plan for if it moves
- Medley’s governing documents if 55+: age rules, occupancy, leasing limits
- Flood zone and insurance quote for the parcel, water-adjacent lots especially
- What is platted behind the lot, future phases change views
Mirada is the value play in the lagoon portfolio: twice Epperson’s lagoon, a lower average price, a true 55+ enclave, and four builders competing for your contract. The discount exists for knowable reasons, the longer commute, the school churn, the construction years, and every one of those reasons is either priced in correctly or it is not. Our job is to make sure you collect the discount where it is real and refuse the premium where it is not: a lagoon-walkable lot earns its markup; a standard interior lot in a brand-new phase does not.
Cross-shop it honestly: Epperson for the closer-in lagoon life, Del Webb Bexley against Medley for the 55+ decision, and Starkey Ranch if schools outrank the beach. We represent you, not the seller, and the fee math comes first.
Mirada vs. Comparable Communities
The honest way to place Mirada is against the other master plans a Tampa-corridor buyer is realistically weighing.
| Community | How it compares to Mirada |
|---|---|
| Epperson (Wesley Chapel) | The original lagoon community: half the lagoon, better commute, more established resale market, higher median ($402.5K). Same fee architecture, choose on commute versus lagoon scale and price. |
| Connerton (Land O’ Lakes) | The preserve-and-club alternative at a $440K median: trails and nature instead of beaches, two fee layers instead of three, and Redfin’s #1 hottest badge. Different lifestyle, similar money. |
| Del Webb Bexley (55+) | The dedicated 55+ flagship versus Medley’s enclave-inside-a-master-plan: deeper amenity bench and staffed programming at Del Webb, lagoon access and multigenerational energy at Medley, at a lower entry. |
| Starkey Ranch (Odessa) | The schools-and-parks benchmark at a $664,807 median, nearly double Mirada’s average. If the K-8 matters more than the lagoon, the west side wins; if value and beach life matter more, Mirada does. |
| Two Rivers (Zephyrhills/Wesley Chapel) | The club-culture alternative between the two lagoons: Pulte and WestBay around The Landings social club, $506K-$958K published. No lagoon, newer premium product. |
Mirada’s case: the country’s biggest lagoon, the widest product range, Medley’s 55+ option, and corridor pricing a tier below Wesley Chapel. The case against: the commute, the school churn, and the construction years still ahead.
The Honest Trade-offs
Pros
- The largest man-made lagoon in the U.S., 15 swimmable acres.
- Product from $270K villas to $837K WestBay premium in one plan.
- Medley: one of Tampa Bay’s cheapest gated 55+ entries, with lagoon access.
- Four active builders = real incentive leverage in 2026.
- ULTRAFi internet and smart infrastructure standard.
- Corridor pricing a tier below Wesley Chapel peers.
Cons
- Three fee layers: HOA + lagoon + CDD on every product.
- CDD published up to ~$3,672/yr; young districts carry bond debt.
- School zoning has shifted repeatedly on this corridor.
- 40-55 minutes to Tampa and the airport.
- Years of construction and spec competition ahead.
- Peak-weekend lagoon crowds, it is a destination, not a private pool.
The Mirada Playbook
How we run a Mirada purchase, in order:
- Pick the product first: villa, family single-family, WestBay premium, or Medley 55+, four different markets, four different fee loads
- Stack the three fee layers for the exact section and parcel before touring
- Play the builders against each other, and against resales, the same week; four competitors is your leverage
- Verify schools twice if they matter: at offer and before closing
- Buy durable position: lagoon-walkable, water, conservation, or Medley’s finite gated supply
Questions We Ask Before You Offer
These are the questions we put to the associations, the district, the lagoon operator, and the builders before a client signs anything:
- What is this section’s current HOA, and exactly what does it include?
- What is the parcel’s CDD assessment, and how much is bond debt versus operations?
- What are the lagoon membership terms today, fee, initiation, and what costs extra?
- What is the verified school assignment, and is rezoning under discussion?
- What did comparable product close for, resale and spec, in the last 90 days?
- What is the builder’s incentive really worth after their lender and title requirements?
Is Mirada For You?
No community fits everyone. The honest sort:
Consider elsewhere if you want
- A short Tampa commute, Starkey Ranch and Bexley win that math
- One simple fee, the three-layer stack is structural here
- Settled streets with no construction, this is an early-cycle plan
- Top-rated, stable school zoning, the corridor is still sorting itself
- A private, quiet pool, the lagoon is a destination with crowds
- Golf, Lake Jovita and Tampa Bay G&CC carry the area’s golf
Mirada fits if you want
- The biggest lagoon in America as your weekend default
- The widest product range in one Pasco master plan
- A gated 55+ entry (Medley) from ~$270K with beach access
- Builder competition working for your contract
- Smart-community infrastructure already built in
- Corridor pricing with documented upside as Connected City fills in