The Case for Winter Garden

Winter Garden is a higher-end bedroom community, socio-economically, with an emerging commercial footprint that cuts across many business sectors. This City of 50,000+ is also, however, grounded and values its roots, never forgetting its heritage but having a healthy and balanced appreciation for culture and progress. Winter Garden’s historic charm, its vibrant downtown living room, the 22-mile long West Orange Bike Trail running through the heart of downtown Plant Street (over 1M users annually), its multicultural special events, its nationally renowned and famous Farmers Market (3-5k patrons each Saturday) coupled with a diverse cross-section of people demographically, help to forge the soul of this community that has seen its population expand by over 30-40% in 15 short years to where it is considered one of the most desired cities to live, work and play in the Central Florida Region. 

Quality of life satisfaction ratings by residents is a key indicator of the community’s overall success as it brings together the demand for services and amenities along with the effective delivery of these services and amenities to the residents that make everyday consumer decisions for their households. This truly fosters a sense of community pride among our residents who have sophisticated needs and palates while finding most, if not all, of their passions met through the broad offering of desirable recreational amenities and through a robust ecosystem of goods/services. After all, we are the city with a juicy past, where GOOD THINGS GROW. With that, we highly encourage you to invest and grow with us – consider these facts: 

Why Winter Garden?

Search for Available Properties to Buy or Lease

Are you looking to open a business in Winter Garden?  A special website has been designed to provide a listing of real estate opportunities which can be found at Looplink. The website has been designed to answer queries regarding real estate availability for both purchase and lease. Winter Garden is open and ready to welcome your company.  If you were unable to find what your were looking for, please call 407.656.4111 ext. 2306 for additional assistance.

Business Assistance

The department is focused on meeting the needs of the local business community. Please call 407.656.4111 ext. 2306 if your business needs assistance.   

Whether you are starting a new business or you are an existing business we are here for you.

Here is a listing of helpful resources that are available to assist you. Please learn more by visiting:

• Florida Revenue New Business Start-Up Kit
• West Orange Chamber of Commerce  
• National Entrepreneur Center 
• BizLink Orange  
• Smal Business Development Center  
• GrowFl  
• Florida Virtual Entrepreneur Center 

Film Permitting

Winter Garden is camera ready! The historic streets of our downtown resonate small town charm that is hard to find anywhere else, making it a popular location for filming. The City welcomes the film industry and works closely with the Orlando Film Office. 

Alongside our partnership with the Orlando Film Commission, we help to make sure productions are successful. For a film permit in Winter Garden, please visit Orlando Film Commission or call 407.422.7159 for permitting assistance, location needs help, local production directory, and other resources.

Once the Orlando Film Commission notifies us about your production, City staff are happy to assist you as only a local can. For City of Winter Garden film-related questions, call or email Eric Fischer at 407.656.4111 ext. 2266 or efischer@cwgdn.com.

The City does not charge a film permit and reviews and approves permits within 48 hours. Film incentives through the State of Florida can be found here. 

Shop Local Program

Winter Garden is a community comprised of a majority of small businesses, which are the backbone of both the national and local economy. The City has implemented a shop local program that builds awareness and support for local businesses. All new businesses are given a shop local sticker to display and a shop local marketing campaign is managed by the Economic Development Department and the City also sponsors and promotes a number of yearly merchant-centric special events such as Shop Small Business Saturday; Holiday Night Market; Shop, Dine & Stroll; and Summer Sidewalk Sale.  

Community Redevelopment Agency

The Winter Garden Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) is a public agency that was created by the City Commission in June of 1992 in accordance with the provisions of the Florida Statutes. The CRA is charged with undertaking redevelopment functions in the specified community redevelopment district. 

The CRA boundary encompasses the Downtown Historic District, Historic East Winter Garden Neighborhood, and the East Plant Street corridor terminating at the SR 429.  

To learn more, please visit our CRA website.

Quality of Life 

Learn more about all that Winter Garden has to offer by visiting Downtown Winter Garden and Things to Do.