Upcoming Events
Osceola County is seeing a wave of new retail construction along its growth corridors despite high interest rates and rising construction costs.
Poinciana Lakes Plaza is the largest new build underway right now.
TCII Capital, which broke ground earlier this year on the 34-acre Poinciana Lakes Plaza in Solivita Marketplace, just closed a $46.23 million construction loan from Longline Financial.
TCII acquired the shopping center site for $6.6 million in 2022 from Taylor Morrison, which is actively developing the Stepping Stone community nearby.
The power center will have a 47,000-square-foot grocery anchor. Named tenants include Ross, TJ Maxx, Burlington, Petco, Ulta, Rack Room Shoes, Kiddie Academy, Five Below, America’s Best and Crunch Fitness, which is building a 35,000-square-foot gym. Several others have signed on for outparcels, including TD Bank, MD Now, Outback Steakhouse, Panda Express and Bojangles.
More retail centers are under construction in St. Cloud and along the Narcoossee Corridor. More stores and restaurants, including First Watch and Pollo Campero, are under construction in St. Cloud Commons.
In February, RRB Partners broke ground on the 10-acre St. Cloud Marketplace at U.S. 192 and Narcoossee Road. The neighborhood center is slated for 30,000 square feet of retail and commercial space. Tenants include a new HCA Florida free standing emergency room, as well as a 10,000-square-foot Learning Experience daycare center, a sit-down restaurant, a quick-service restaurant, a drive-thru coffee concept and a multi-tenant retail building. Marco’s Pizza and Jeremiah’s Italian Ice have already signed leases for the multi-tenant building.
The Narcoossee Commons shopping center added 30,500 square feet of new retail to the intersection of Narcoossee and Rummell roads. The strip center was built over 2021 and 2022 and is now almost leased up with tenants such as Cake Cottage, Papasan’s Vietnamese cuisine and Edward Jones Financial. St. Cloud builder/developer Lazaro Rodriguez of SPC Homes started planning the project in 2017 after selling the office building next door to focus on the new commercial center.
BluRock Commercial is also close to wrapping up construction on a 6,000-square-foot strip center at 2631 E Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy. that will also have a new standalone La Brasa Grill restaurant.
Source: GrowthSpotter
In an unprecedented move, 38,848 acres are being preserved to protect Florida’s ecosystem, with 12 landowners behind the effort. These landowners are selling conservation easements to the State of Florida, which will place restrictions on future development.
Under these transactions, landowners retain ownership and agricultural use of land in exchange for selling the property’s development rights. This will ensure the land, wildlife and agriculture are protected forever. The State agreed to buy the conservation easements for more than $97 million.
Dean Saunders, the founder of SVN | Saunders Ralston Dantzler, brokered half of the conservation easements that were approved by the Board of Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund during the Governor & Cabinet meeting. Of the 38,848 acres sold to the State of Florida, Mr. Saunders brokered 18,427 acres totaling approximately $45 million.
“Florida is currently seeing a mass migration with over 1,100 people moving to the state each day. The state is facing pressures to balance the conservation of its natural and working agricultural land and the much-needed development to accommodate the newcomers,” said Saunders. “Conservation easements have proven to be a great tool to protect land from development and preserve critical habitats, wetlands and wildlife. I’m honored that my expertise has helped a number of landowners preserve Florida’s land for future generations.”
Saunders has been a leading force behind Florida’s conservation efforts. As a former state legislator in the 1990s, he introduced legislation that has now become known as the conservation easement program. For the last 25 years, he has been representing ranchers to secure conservation easements from the State on their land. Conservation easements allow the landowner to sell the developmental rights of their property to a qualified agency and keep the property in natural or working agricultural conditions while maintaining ownership of the land. The conservation easement guides the property’s use and protects it in perpetuity. Conservation easements are cost-effective for taxpayers because it costs less money to buy rights than the property and the state doesn’t have to pay to manage the land.
WS Development and PGIM Real Estate have acquired The Avenue Viera, a 550,000-square-foot, open-air retail center located directly off I-95 in Viera.
Massachusetts-based WS Development will assume management of the center and will share ownership with CP VENTURE FIVE – AV LLC, an entity managed by PGIM, which has owned Avenue Viera since 2006, when it purchased the retail asset from Cousins Properties, Inc. for $87.6 million.
The sales price was not disclosed.
The Avenue Viera marks WS’s third investment in the state of Florida, joining The Royal Poinciana Plaza in Palm Beach and Hyde Park Village in Tampa.
WS Development and PGIM plan to remerchandise the center, as well as host events and install public art.
Source: RE Business
National Association of Realtors® Chief Economist Lawrence Yun presented an overview of U.S. commercial real estate Tuesday as part of the 2023 REALTORS® Legislative Meetings(link is external).
Yun emphasized challenges facing the commercial real estate market brought on by tightening lending policies among many small and regional banks, which have been a key source of commercial loans. Still, due to continuing U.S. job gains, net absorption has been mostly positive nationwide, Yun said, with the apartment, industrial and retail sectors helping to keep the industry relatively stable.
"The performance of commercial real estate markets will vary across the country," Yun projected during Tuesday's Commercial Economic Issues and Trends Forum(link is external). "Markets with strong job gains will naturally hold on much better, while those with weaker job conditions will struggle to raise net occupancy."
Yun said America's apartment sector recorded 116,000 net positive absorptions in the past year, while the industrial and retail sectors added 361 million square feet and 64 million square feet, respectively, over the last 12 months. Office markets, however, saw a reduction in net absorption by 29 million square feet over the same period.
"The national office market will continue to see rises in vacancy rates due to falling demand," Yun added. "The apartment sector will record a modest uptick in vacancy due to robust new supply."
With the impact of mortgage interest rates on the housing market in focus throughout the week at NAR's conference in D.C., Yun addressed the implications of Fed decisions on nationwide commercial markets.
"The Federal Reserve's aggressive rate hikes have damaged balance sheets for regional and local banks, an important source of commercial real estate loans," he said.
Yun estimated that continual rises in rates will in part cause commercial real estate transaction volume to decline by 27% overall in 2023.
"The lack of capital, higher costs of financing and refinancing, and the weakening economy will contribute to a lower overall valuation of commercial real estate prices," Yun said. "Weaker prices will mean opportunities for those with deeper pockets to get deals done in the months and years ahead."
Yun added that appraisal values have fallen by an average of 15% from peaks in early 2022.
The National Association of Realtors® is America's largest trade association, representing more than 1.5 million members involved in all aspects of the residential and commercial real estate industries. The term Realtor® is a registered collective membership mark that identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of Realtors® and subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.
Source: NAR
Amy Calandrino, CCIM, owner and founder of Beyond Commercial, has earned the coveted SIOR Office Designation awarded by the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors® (SIOR).
Calandrino is one of just a few women in the Orlando market with this prestigious achievement. Only the industry’s top professionals qualify for the SIOR designation.
The stringent requirements required Calandrino to complete at least five years of creditable experience in her highly specialized field of office real estate. In accordance with SIOR’s strict professional code, she demonstrated professional ability, competency, personal integrity and completed a rigorous ethics course. All this was accomplished with two toddlers underfoot while running her independent boutique brokerage.
“Delivering value to my clients is of utmost importance to me,” said Calandrino. “Earning the SIOR designation affords me significantly more resources than my peers, which translates to creating more opportunities for my clients. I can’t wait to see what my SIOR journey holds for me.”
Of the hundreds of thousands in the field worldwide, only 3,600 have qualified for the prestigious SIOR designation.
Founded in 2010 by Amy Calandrino, Beyond Commercial’s team of expert commercial real estate advisors serves business owners and investors. Their one-size-fits-one approach emphasizes earning and keeping client trust. The team handles purchase and sale transactions and leasing matters in a broad range of industries. Asset classes include office, retail, multi-family, and industrial.
Award entries will be accepted until May 24th and and the new application GREATLY SIMPLIFIES the process and can be completed ONLINE!
It’s as easy as 1-2-3!
The ONE PAGE online application asks you to…
THAT’S IT!
Take a moment to apply TODAY atcan https://form.jotform.com/230874332819158
Event sponsorships are also available at a variety of levels.
Get the latest industry news and information delivered right to your email inbox!
Just click HERE to subscribe!
EML Realty Partners, based in Jupiter, announced the acquisition of two industrial buildings located at 721 Industrial Drive in Wildwood.
The main building is an SRS Distribution Center, with the smaller building leased by Patio Inspirations. The more than 65,000 square foot property sits on about 6 acres and was purchased for $5.7 million.
“EML Realty Partners remains extremely bullish on expanding into different areas of Florida to do bigger industrial deals,” said Eric M. Levitt, founder of EML Realty Partners. “We are excited about the purchase of this property in an up-and-coming area of Central Florida with a great credit tenant. The purchase was well below replacement cost and well below market rent, too. ”
EML Realty Partners specializes in the acquisition of opportunistic commercial real estate investments, with a diverse portfolio of industrial, flex, office, retail, and entertainment properties. Founded by Eric M. Levitt, EML Realty Partners specializes in creating value on these properties after they are acquired. Prior to moving to Florida, EML Realty Partners was a very active and well-respected real estate firm in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Avison Young’s Florida Capital Markets Group has been exclusively tapped to spearhead the court-ordered sale of Monarch Ranch, a unique ±3,400-acre industrial development opportunity in Sumter County.
One of the largest vacant land sites positioned within one hour from each of the Orlando and Tampa Central Business Districts, two of the fastest-growing metro areas in the United States, the property is ideal for distribution use. The buyer will have the opportunity to construct millions of square feet of industrial space – provided the zoning and development order is approved for such use – at the convergence point of Interstate 75 and Florida’s Turnpike, which sees more than 60% of all state highway truck traffic.
Avison Young Principals Jay Ziv, John K. Crotty, Michael T. Fay, David Duckworth, and Brian de la Fé will lead the marketing and sale of the property.
“By acquiring a footprint of Monarch Ranch’s scale and connectivity at the midpoint of Florida’s fastest-growing cities, a developer will be able to create an industrial node that defines distribution and warehousing activity for the state’s central corridor and Gulf Coast as it continues its massive wave of growth,” said Ziv.
Due to its unique combination of major roadway accessibility and multimodal systems, making it an ideal distribution hub for businesses, Sumter County has earned its title of Florida’s Center of Commerce. Monarch Ranch is located between two cities – Wildwood and Coleman – and the existing future land use map designation encourages industrial use. In addition to immediate access to Interstate 75, Florida’s Turnpike, and State Road 44, the property also directly borders CSX’s main eastern seaboard freight line, allowing for potential on-site connectivity to a ±20,000-mile rail network serving 23 states.
“Florida’s industrial market continues to boom,” said Crotty. “Investor-developer and tenant demand for industrial space with connectivity to population centers has increased significantly in the past three years as the trend of southward migration to the Sunbelt accelerated with no signs of slowing down.”
Florida attracted the most significant influx of residents compared to any other U.S. state in 2022, gaining an average of 1,217 new residents daily. As a result, demand has driven rents for industrial space across virtually all Florida markets to record highs. For example, rental rates within Monarch Ranch’s immediate vicinity rose 11.1% year over year as of first-quarter 2023.
CBRE has arranged the sale of a three-building industrial portfolio totaling 241,124 square feet in Orlando.
GID Industrial purchased the property from Boston-based institutional investor TA Realty LLC.
José Lobón, Trey Barry, Frank Fallon, Royce Rose, and Alain Bonvecchio of CBRE Capital Markets represented the seller in the transaction. The Capital Markets team was assisted by David Murphy and Monica Wonus with CBRE Industrial & Logistics.
The portfolio was fully occupied by 14 tenants, including anchor tenant USPS, at the time of sale.
The 130,400-square-foot building at 10425 S. Orange Avenue is located directly adjacent to Orlando International Airport. This fully fenced property features clearance heights ranging from 22 to 27 feet, 20 front-load dock doors, one drive-in door, a brand-new roof, a guard house, 58 car parking spaces and 20 trailer parking spaces.
The 62,210-square-foot building at 523 W. Grant Street features 18-foot clearance heights, 13 front-load dock doors, one drive-in door, a brand-new roof, and 52 car parking spaces.
The 48,514-square-foot building at 444 27th Street features 18-foot clearance heights, seven front-load dock doors, four drive-in doors, a brand-new roof, and 46 car parking spaces.
The buildings at 523 W. Grant Street and 444 27th Street are located minutes from Downtown Orlando and have frontage long Interstate 4.
“Each of these infill buildings sit in Orlando’s highly desirable Southeast Orange County submarket, providing distribution users with excellent transportation linkages to South Florida via the Florida Turnpike, to Tampa and Jacksonville via Interstate 4, and the east coast of Florida using the Beachline Expressway (SR 528). The buyer will be able to capitalize on the high tenant demand and rapid rent growth we are seeing in Southeast Orlando,” said CBRE Vice Chairman José Lobón.
SVN | Saunders Ralston Dantzler announced the addition of two accomplished Certified Commercial Investment Members (CCIMs) to its team of Senior Advisors.
Rick Gonzalez, ALC, CCIM and Liz Menéndez, CCIM bring a wealth of knowledge, experience, and dedication to the company, further solidifying SVN | Saunders Ralston Dantzler's commitment to providing unparalleled service in the land and commercial real estate market. With the addition of Gonzalez and Menéndez, there are now 16 advisors who hold the CCIM designation at the firm.
"We are excited to welcome Liz Menéndez and Rick Gonzalez to our team," said Gary Ralston, Partner and Managing Director of SVN | Saunders Ralston Dantzler. "CCIM’s dedication to client service, vast knowledge, and extensive experience in the commercial real estate industry makes these two professionals valuable assets to the firm and our clients."
Rick Gonzalez, ALC, CCIM, is an 8th-generation Floridian and US Army Veteran who brings a unique combination of education and expertise to the firm. With a Master of Science in Environmental Engineering Sciences and a Bachelor of Science in Soils from the University of Florida, Rick is well-equipped to address a wide range of land and commercial real estate needs. As a CCIM and an Accredited Land Consultant (ALC), Rick is dedicated to providing top-notch services to his clients. Rick is also highly engaged in professional community organizations within Lake County, and he currently serves as the 2023 Chapter President of the Florida CCIM Chapter.
“Joining SVN | Saunders Ralston Dantzler is an incredible opportunity for me to continue growing professionally alongside some of my fellow CCIMs,” said Rick. “I am eager to contribute to the company's ongoing accomplishments and to serve our clients with the highest level of professionalism and commitment."
Liz Menéndez, CCIM, is a distinguished REALTOR® with extensive experience in both residential and commercial sales and leasing. As the 2023 President-Elect of the CCIM Florida Chapter, Liz's commitment to providing superior service and building lasting relationships with clients is truly at the heart of her career. Prior to working in real estate, Liz spent 17 years in the banking industry while developing skills in administration, commercial and consumer lending, business banking, and financial consulting. She even graduated from the University of South Florida with her BA in Finance. As a lifetime resident of South Tampa, Liz's deep understanding of the local market will be invaluable to SVN | Saunders Ralston Dantzler and its clients.
"I am thrilled to be joining Gary Ralston and the rest of the Saunders Ralston Dantzler team,” said Liz. “Combined with my CCIM connections, I cannot wait to represent the brokerage in Tampa Bay!"
Senior Advisors Rick Gonzalez and Liz Menéndez perfectly resemble the company's commitment to delivering exceptional land and commercial real estate services. As leaders within the CCIM Florida Chapter, their valuable experience and dedication to the industry will further enhance the firm's capabilities in providing tailored solutions to clients throughout Florida, Georgia, and Alabama.
CFCAR Platinum Sponsors
CFCAR Gold Sponsors
CFCAR Silver Sponsors
WHO WE ARE
About Us
Code of Ethics
Committees
WHAT WE DO
Property Listings
Education
Advocacy
MEMBERSHIP
Join CFCAR
Member Benefits
Member Directory
