Wyld Oaks® Names Taylor Edwards Chief Operating Officer

Veteran of the Project Since 2022 Steps into Expanded Leadership Role as Development Transitions from Infrastructure into Vertical Activation

APOPKA, Fla., July 14, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Wyld Oaks, the transformative 215-acre master-planned mixed-use destination strategically positioned with thousands of linear feet of frontage along W. Kelly Park Road and the interchange off the newly completed 429 Beltway in northwest Orlando, today announced the appointment of Taylor Edwards as Chief Operating Officer. The hire formalizes an expanded leadership role for Edwards, who has been on the ground shaping the project since summer of 2022. It also signals that Wyld Oaks is ready to execute the next phase of its vision with the operational depth to match its ambition.

Edwards is a multi-generational Floridian who has long resided in Naples, Florida. His roots began in Vero Beach where he graduated from the Saint Edward's School, a prestigious college preparatory school. He went on to earn a Bachelor's degree in Finance and Real Estate from Villanova University before beginning a 7-year real estate career at Barron Colliers Companies as a citrus analyst and financial analyst prior to joining the Wyld Oaks development team.

"Taylor joined the firm just weeks after we signed a contract for the first 200-acre centerpiece of the assemblage that today is Wyld Oaks," said Joseph Beninati, visionary founder of Wyld Oaks. "During the nearly 5 years since he has earned the COO title with results-oriented accomplishments. Taylor has grown from what began as a financial role at the outset to an executive who is now trusted by all our subject-matter experts including legal, financial, design, civil engineering, construction, leasing, and sales. Taylor's appointment as COO reflects the fundamentals we have built from day one: a clear vision, a disciplined infrastructure foundation, and the right, most ethical people to carry it forward. As we move into vertical activation and welcome more world-class co-creators like Advent, Hathaway, and Clarion, having Taylor in the COO role assures the market that Wyld Oaks is ready, investable, and positioned to become the center of gravity for northwest Orlando's next chapter of growth."

Edwards has been embedded in the day-to-day work of bringing Wyld Oaks to life since before the project broke ground in 2024. He has been working alongside founder Joseph Beninati and the project's engineers, lawyers, master planners, brokers, contractors, and the City of Apopka to translate a bold vision into permits, schedules, and underground infrastructure. That work is now visible: over one mile of internal roadways built below budget, all utilities completed including WyldTech smart city fiber infrastructure, and parcels across the site pad-ready for vertical development. The COO appointment reflects where Wyld Oaks stands today: moving decisively from planning and entitlement into a new phase defined by vertical construction, activated co-creator partnerships with AdventHealth, Hathaway Development backed by the Carlyle Group, Wyld Provisions and the buildout of a vibrant town center for northwest Orlando.

"The COO title formalizes a role I've effectively been growing into, and it reflects where Wyld Oaks is in its life cycle," said Edwards. "We're moving from planning and entitlement into vertical activation through our co-developer partners, and that transition demands a tighter operational structure. My job is to be the person who owns that operational layer so Joe can stay focused on building strategy and driving revenues."

A Community in Motion

The momentum behind Wyld Oaks is real and accelerating. Co-creators including AdventHealth, set to open a full-service emergency room and expand a health village throughout the property; multifamily developer Hathaway backed by the Carlyle Group; and, a convenience and fuel brand Wyld Provisions have already committed to the project. The pipeline of prospects across retail, food and beverage, hospitality, health care, professional services, fitness, wellness and entertainment continues to grow.

For Edwards, the opportunity ahead is about more than buildings. "What we're building isn't a subdivision or a shopping center – it's a place," Edwards said. "Thousands of residences, a vibrant town center, medical facilities, trails, the oak canopy, all of it knit together so that someone can genuinely live, work, and unwind without leaving. That kind of integrated, walkable, mixed-use community is rare in Florida, and northwest Orlando is exactly the right place for it. The 429 is complete, the rooftops are coming, and Apopka has the history and the momentum to support something distinctive. We're early enough that the decisions we make over the next few years will define the character of this place for generations."

Built to Execute

As COO, Edwards' immediate priorities are clear: tightening operational coordination across Wyld Oaks' growing network of engineers, contractors, attorneys, and vertical development partners; keeping the infrastructure backbone on schedule so everything that follows has the foundation it needs; and, building the internal organizational capacity to meet the distinct demands of the retail, restaurant, multifamily, hotel, office, and medical components coming to life across the site.

"The most valuable thing I can do is take the day-to-day operational weight off Joe's shoulders so he can keep doing what he does best: shaping the vision, cultivating the partnerships, and making the long-term calls that determine where Wyld Oaks goes next," Edwards said.

"Wyld Oaks is not a collection of disconnected parcels," Beninati added. "It is an intentionally curated ecosystem where each partner elevates the others. Residents will support restaurants and retail; health care will strengthen wellness offerings; technology will enable modern living; hospitality will extend the visitor economy; and public spaces will give the community its soul. Taylor's role is to make sure that ecosystem operates with the discipline and coordination it deserves as we enter this next phase."

A Center of Gravity for Apopka's Growth

The context that surrounds Wyld Oaks makes the stakes plain. The immediate market is experiencing $1.3 billion in new home construction, with thousands of housing units planned or under construction in northwest Orlando and the regional population growing rapidly. A retail opportunity gap of nearly $400 million exists within five miles of the development. National homebuilders including Toll Brothers, Lennar, DR Horton, and Ryan Homes have broken ground on some of their largest single-family projects in the country in the surrounding area.

Edwards sees Wyld Oaks as the answer to a question the region can no longer defer. "There's no question that the growth in northwest Orlando is happening right now. That growth is underscoring the expansive retail opportunity gap that exists today. Residents drive out of the area for most of their dining, shopping, health care, and entertainment, which means tax dollars and daily life happen elsewhere. Wyld Oaks is designed to bridge that gap and create satisfying lifestyle experiences. It will be a center of gravity: a place where the rooftops going up around us catalyze restaurants, grocers, medical care, jobs, and gathering spaces that stay in Apopka. We believe that Wyld Oaks will position Apopka as a magnetic destination for future generations.

Building for the Long Term — and for Responsible Growth in Apopka

Central to the Wyld Oaks vision is a commitment to responsible, community-centered development grounded in the public plan specifically designed to shape how this part of Apopka grows. The Wekiva Parkway Interchange Vision Plan and the Kelly Park Interchange Form-Based Code exist to concentrate density within a one-mile radius of the interchange, protecting the ecologically sensitive Wekiva Basin that surrounds it. Wyld Oaks is the only project in the Kelly Park Interchange area actively executing on that vision by building up, not out, in service of both community and conservation.

"A walkable town center that houses thousands of people in a concentrated footprint protects far more land than that same population spread thinly across the landscape ever could," Edwards said. "Density gets framed as the problem, when it's actually one of the most effective conservation tools we have."

The soul of the project, Edwards emphasizes, must come from the community it calls home. National co-creators bring traffic and stability, but Wyld Oaks is intentionally creating space for the local operators, including restaurants, coffee shops, boutiques, and entrepreneurs that give a place its personality. "A town center that only features national chains is something anyone could build anywhere," Edwards said. "The food, the coffee, the experiences that give a town its character almost always come from local operators. The soul of Wyld Oaks must come from Florida, and that means being intentional about creating those opportunities from the beginning."

As for the legacy Edwards hopes to help build alongside Beninati: "Fifty years from now, when the oaks we're protecting are bigger, local businesses that started here have grown into something larger, and a thriving town center feels like it's always belonged, we'll know our vision has become a reality. The legacy we're after isn't square footage or unit count. It's whether Wyld Oaks becomes part of what makes Apopka the most desirable place to plant roots and raise future generations."

Wyld Oaks Remains Open for Additional Co-Creators

For operators evaluating Central Florida, Wyld Oaks offers a rare combination of growth, access and adjacency: residential density, SR 429 visibility, a major health care presence, a planned Main Street environment, daily-needs traffic drivers and a quantified demand gap across retail and service categories.

The development plan calls for approximately 300,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, resort hotel sites, Class A professional medical office and approximately 4,000 residential units. Additional co-creator opportunities remain across food and beverage, fitness and wellness, specialty retail, entertainment, hospitality, professional services and more.

Beyond commercial activation, Wyld Oaks will include Wyld Green, an outdoor entertainment venue and town center with capacity for up to 3,000 people; BARK, a destination dog park concept; pocket parks and public art; and, nature trails throughout the 215-acre footprint. Ground-floor retail will frame shaded, walkable streets, creating a live + work + heal + play environment designed to generate foot traffic, dwell time and cross-category spending.

"The window for leading operators to shape a category at Wyld Oaks is open now," Beninati said. "As more co-creators come aboard, the value of that early position only becomes clearer."

About Wyld Oaks^®

Wyld Oaks^® is a transformative 215-acre master-planned mixed-use destination and one of the largest of its kind in Florida. Strategically positioned with thousands of linear feet of frontage along W. Kelly Park Road and the interchange off the newly completed 429 Beltway in northwest Orlando, Wyld Oaks occupies one of Central Florida's fastest-growing submarkets and is nestled within the region's celebrated freshwater springs and natural landscapes. The community combines exceptional regional visibility and connectivity with a distinctive topographical setting, situated at more than 125 feet above sea level among the highest elevations in the state.

With over one mile of roads, sidewalks, and street lighting now complete and vertical construction underway, Wyld Oaks offers one of Florida's most advanced and infrastructure-complete platforms for growth. Through its collaborative co-creator model, Wyld Oaks is partnering with best-in-class operators and developers across healthcare, technology, residential, retail, food & beverage, hospitality and services to create a vibrant, walkable community where shaded people-first streets, pocket parks, nature trails, and inviting green spaces foster a rich quality of life – enabling residents, visitors, and businesses to live, work, play, heal, shop, dine, and stay.

Media Contact:

Heather Wilson

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SOURCE Wyld Oaks