Long before the first Latitude Margaritaville community welcomed its initial homeowners, Jimmy Buffett encouraged listeners to “change your latitude, change your attitude.” What began as one of his most recognizable lyrics would eventually inspire a community concept built around connection, fun, and a fresh approach to active adult living.
Today, Minto Communities’ Latitude Margaritaville portfolio spans Florida and South Carolina, with Texas and additional markets on the horizon. Nearly a decade after partnering with Margaritaville Holdings, the company has grown the brand to encompass nearly 20,000 homes and future lots, a milestone that coincides with its recognition as Future Place’s Master Plan of the Year for 2026.
But the story of Latitude Margaritaville didn’t begin with a master plan. It began with an unlikely meeting between two executives, and years of lessons learned about what active adult buyers truly want.
Courtesy Minto Communities
A Chance Partnership
Before Margaritaville entered the picture, Minto was quietly building its expertise in active adult housing.
After joining Minto in 2009, president William Bullock saw something many builders overlooked during the Great Recession. While much of the housing market stalled, active adult communities remained remarkably resilient.
“Retirees are retiring,” Bullock says. “They may postpone it a couple years, but they can’t postpone it multiple years. There was always a steady supply of buyers, especially in Florida.”
One of Minto’s first strategic moves was acquiring Sun City Center near Tampa from WCI Communities, says Bullock. The community gave Minto the opportunity to study how active adult lifestyles had evolved.
Future Place
September 28-30, 2026
The Ritz-Carlton, Dallas Las Colinas
Latitude Margaritaville will be honored at Future Place, the premier gathering of the nation’s largest landowners, builders, and capital leaders. Discover the forces driving growth, value, and vision in master-planned communities at the event.
Fast forward a few years, the Minto team was in search of a new location for an active adult development. Rather than pursuing smaller age-qualified neighborhoods, the company was targeting a community of at least 3,000 homes to support expansive amenities, lower HOA fees, and a robust lifestyle program.
After an extensive search, Minto found its opportunity in Daytona Beach, where it planned to launch an active adult community called Oasis. During the development’s initial stages, however, an unexpected introduction changed the project’s trajectory.
Margaritaville Holdings CEO John Cohlan learned Minto had acquired a large Daytona site for an active adult community. A meeting between Cohlan and Bullock quickly evolved into something much bigger.
“We were quite a way down the road in our development, but hadn’t started building houses yet,” recalls Bullock. “In about 90 days we had drafted an agreement with Margarita Holdings to have Minto be the exclusive builder developer for active adult, age-targeted and -restricted housing in the U.S.”
The timing couldn’t have been better. Minto had already embraced a coastal-inspired architectural style that naturally complemented the Margaritaville brand, making the transition from Oasis to Latitude Margaritaville feel seamless.
Courtesy Minto Communities
More Than a Brand
When Latitude Margaritaville Daytona Beach opened in 2018, demand immediately exceeded expectations.
More than 200 prospective buyers camped overnight for the opportunity to purchase one of the first homes. Some arrived as strangers but reorganized themselves in line after forming friendships overnight so they could purchase neighboring lots together.
“What our customers tell us is they’ve never had more friends than they have in Latitudes,” he says. “That’s a pretty important concept and why these communities are successful. It really is about relationships, lifestyle, like-minded people coming together to want to have a fun time, escaping their retirement. That’s what we really try to encapsulate in the Latitude brand.”
The early sales numbers surprised nearly everyone. Industry analysts projected annual absorption around 300 homes, but Latitude Daytona sold roughly double that prediction at 600 homes annually.
While Buffett’s loyal fan base helped generate initial awareness, the communities quickly attracted buyers who knew little about the musician. Instead, they were drawn to the broader lifestyle.
“There were people who thought only Jimmy Buffett fans would buy here,” Bullock says. “But people come for the lifestyle.”
Referral business has reinforced that momentum. Roughly one-third of Minto’s sales come from existing homeowners encouraging friends to purchase in another Minto community, creating an organic growth engine built on resident satisfaction.
Courtesy Minto Communities
Amenity Advantage
If the Margaritaville brand draws buyers through the front gate, the lifestyle keeps them there.
Latitude Margaritaville’s amenities are intentionally designed to encourage interaction rather than simply provide recreation. Restaurants, fitness centers, clubs, sports courts, entertainment venues, and gathering spaces work together to create what Bullock calls a lifestyle centered on “food, fun, music, escapism, and friendship.”
The communities feature resort-style restaurants—complete with the expected Cheeseburger in Paradise—but each location also incorporates regional flavors, from Lowcountry seafood in South Carolina to barbecue-inspired offerings planned for Texas. Rather than replicating the same experience across every market, Minto tailors menus and programming to each region while maintaining the overall Margaritaville identity.
Pickleball has become another cornerstone of community life, but Bullock says the courts are only part of the equation. Today’s active adult buyer wants exercise to double as a social activity.
“They want to socialize with their exercise at the same time,” he says. Whether it’s pickleball, group fitness, or organized games, residents increasingly seek experiences that combine movement with conversation, music, food, and opportunities to connect.
The same philosophy extends indoors. Commercial-grade fitness centers rival private gyms, while arts studios, woodworking shops, pottery rooms, and dozens of resident-led clubs give homeowners ownership over their community. In many cases, retirees bring professional expertise into those spaces, turning former careers into new passions.
“We put the infrastructure in place,” Bullock says. “But the residents really take it over because it is their community.”
When expanding existing communities, the company forms resident advisory committees to help prioritize future amenity investments. Working within established budgets, homeowners influence everything from additional dining options to gathering spaces and new recreational offerings.
“It’s because we’re listening to our residents,” Bullock says. “If you listen to them and execute on what they ask, it’s almost impossible not to have some amount of success.”
Courtesy Minto Communities
The Latitude Look
While Latitude Margaritaville is often defined by its amenities, Minto has continued refining its homes based on homeowner feedback.
The portfolio ranges from approximately 1,100 to more than 2,500 square feet, offering enough variety to serve different lifestyles while maintaining a consistent architectural identity.
Instead of introducing radically different products, Minto focuses on incremental improvements.
Dedicated golf cart garages have become increasingly popular, prompting the builder to incorporate them into additional floor plans. Consumer research also continues shaping future communities. Before entering Texas, for example, Minto tested whether buyers preferred traditional brick homes or the coastal architecture established in Daytona Beach.
Consumers overwhelmingly preferred the signature Latitude aesthetic, seeing it as a refreshing alternative to typical Texas housing.
That willingness to adapt while protecting the brand has become a recurring theme.
“The brand has to conform to the location,” Bullock says, noting that while coastal architecture fits naturally near Galveston, other markets may require different interpretations of the Latitude identity.
Courtesy Minto Communities
Selling the Lifestyle
For Minto, the sales center is more than a place to choose a floor plan, it’s the first opportunity to immerse prospective buyers in the Latitude lifestyle.
The company invests more than $5 million into purpose-built sales centers that introduce visitors to Minto, explain why each location was selected, tell Jimmy Buffett’s story, and showcase the community’s vision through interactive exhibits.
“We believe selling the vision and really knocking someone’s socks off when they cross the door. First impressions are everything,” states Bullock. “It also speaks to the commitment. If we’re willing to commit that kind of money and effort into a sales center, it’s going to show through in what we’re willing to commit in the way we build our homes and the way we build and manage our amenities.”
Visitors begin in what Minto calls the “neighbor’s room,” where exhibits blend storytelling with entertainment. The immersive presentation explains everything from site selection and community planning to Buffett’s philosophy of escapism and connection. Only after buyers understand the lifestyle does the conversation shift to homes and floor plans.
“The home is important, it’s what you live in every day,” he explains. “But the real hook here is the lifestyle, the friendship, that common bond that these residents experience, and it all starts with a sales center.”
Courtesy Minto Communities
The Next Chapter
As Latitude Margaritaville approaches its 10-year anniversary, Minto shows little sign of slowing down.
The company has expanded beyond Daytona Beach into Hilton Head, South Carolina, the Florida Panhandle through a joint venture with The St. Joe Co., and an upcoming Naples community. Texas is next, with a Galveston-area development expected to launch soon and additional opportunities under evaluation in Houston and Dallas.
Even with more than 250,000 people expressing interest in the brand, Bullock says Minto remains disciplined about where it builds. The company continues to insist on large-scale sites with strong transportation access, healthcare, nearby services, and enough homes to support the lifestyle residents expect.
“We’re very selective about where we put these communities,” he says. “We don’t want to oversaturate the market and make it become a commodity.”
That measured approach reflects the philosophy that has guided Latitude Margaritaville since its earliest days. The homes continue to evolve. Amenities continue to expand. But the foundation remains remarkably simple.
Minto has discovered that the most valuable amenity isn’t a restaurant, pickleball court, or fitness center. It’s creating an environment where neighbors quickly become friends, and where changing your latitude really can change your attitude.
