One of Leesburg’s biggest future neighborhoods is officially headed to the virtual auction block. The Whispering Hills property, a roughly 1,472-acre tract along U.S. 27, is set for a live Zoom auction on July 1, with opening bids already in the tens of millions. Developers and investors who have watched the site’s on-again, off-again sale drama are now circling the court-ordered sale calendar.
Auction details and timeline
According to the offering materials prepared by Colliers and Fisher Auction Company, the live Zoom auction will kick off at 11:00 a.m. ET on Wednesday, July 1, 2026. To even get in the room, qualified-bidder packages and deposits must land by 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday, June 29. A sale hearing in front of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court is on the books for July 7.
The seller is Bellaviva at Whispering Hills, LLC, operating as a debtor-in-possession in Chapter 11. Court-approved terms put a stalking-horse bid at $45,000,000, with bidding to start at $45,700,000 plus a buyer’s premium equal to 3% of the winning bid, per TotalCommercial.
Who’s involved — and the backstory
The land is controlled by Bellaviva at Whispering Hills, LLC, a single-asset entity that filed for Chapter 11 last year. Earlier this year, local and industry coverage noted that Oviedo-based Sun Terra Communities had been in due diligence on a potential sale in the low-$60 million range, and GrowthSpotter reported that a roughly $62 million purchase concept gave way as the case moved toward a court-supervised auction instead.
What the land is entitled for
Offering documents describe the site as 1,472.24± acres. The City of Leesburg has granted PUD zoning that clears the way for up to 2,942 residential units on approximately 1,088 upland acres, plus about 44 acres of commercial development totaling around 451,000 square feet. The marketing pitch frames Whispering Hills as a large, fully entitled master-planned community with highway frontage and regional access, according to TotalCommercial.
Local impact and community concerns
Whispering Hills has already been a lightning rod at City Hall. Years of negotiation with local officials produced a proportionate-share mitigation deal that requires more than $4.1 million to offset school impacts tied to various phases of the project, as chronicled by Leesburg-News. The familiar Leesburg arguments over traffic, classroom crowding, and utility capacity are now colliding with bankruptcy timelines and the possibility of a new owner stepping in.
To qualify as a bidder, parties must submit signed bid documents plus a $250,000 deposit by June 29. Whoever wins on July 1 will have to increase that deposit so it equals at least 5% of the final purchase price, and the sale will still need sign-off from the bankruptcy court…