Kim House and her husband opened Riverhouse Pottery and Artisan Gift Gallery in 2005. [Photo: Gregg Matthews]

With a flurry of redevelopment under way in its historic downtown, Sanford is carving out a niche as an artists colony. The once-sleepy streets along Lake Monroe are now filled with galleries, boutiques, restaurants and visitors.

Artists are moving in from Winter Park, Naples and Key West, and their businesses are attracting visitors from upscale communities such as Longwood and Lake Mary. Around the city’s core, high-income residents are buying and renovating early 1900s houses.

“What’s so cool about Sanford is it isn’t a Winter Park; it isn’t a Mount Dora,” says Kim House, a former resident of New Hampshire and Key West who opened Riverhouse Pottery and Artisan Gift Gallery with her husband in 2005. “I like the Bohemian lifestyle. Sanford has a very eclectic group of residents. It’s really a cool town.”

» "Anybody who hasn’t been to Sanford in the past two years has no idea what’s happening here." -- Bob Tunis, Sanford’s economic development director

House and other volunteers have opened a downtown information center and have revived a monthly after-hours street fair, growing it from 130 attendees to 4,000. They operate a Saturday morning farmers market and are considering a twice-annual community play.

Developer John Guiliani expects to break ground this summer on a cluster of two-story, 800-sq.-ft. loft rowhomes along Sanford Avenue. Guiliani’s company, Landmark Building & Construction, has invested more than $3 million in downtown property and is preserving historic features, such as antique billboards on the sides of buildings.

Other projects include a long-awaited marina condominium project that city leaders will consider again this summer; renovations to the auto-train station; a proposed new commuter rail stop; a maintenance facility for the commuter rail operation that will stretch from Volusia south to Osceola counties; and extension of downtown streetscaping to U.S. 17-92.