Braden River Investments developing Marshall Key

Maryland-based Braden River Investments has begun construction on its first venture in Florida, a residential development called Marshall Key.

Formerly known as Marshall's Landing, the site is just east of Natalie Way and the Harborage development on State Road 70. The project will feature 37 home sites, all with a boat slips for access to the Braden River.

“It's one of the prettiest pieces I've ever seen,” says Carl Wagner, who is developing the project with business partners John McLoud, Sam Brown and George Brown of Maryland. “[The property] is unique even for this area. I thought it would be fun to develop.”

The developer purchased the site, after the former owner's death in 2004, for more than $4 million. It installed infrastructure and cleaned up the site, a former fishing camp, about four years ago, but held off on home construction when the real estate market started to decline.

Braden River Investments is now proposing more moderately priced homes than its predecessor envisioned — with homes ranging from the mid-$500,000s to $800,000s rather than several million dollars.

Builders selected for the project are Vision Group LLC and Arthur Rutenberg Homes, and both currently are constructing model homes on site that are expected to open in December.

The project is being named in honor of Steve Marshall, the site's original owner, who already has reserved a home site in the new community.

— reporting by Pam Eubanks, correspondent