The $12.62 per-sf price is the highest in the park's existence and one of the steepest ever recorded for a comparable piece of dirt in Central Florida, according to J. Gary Castle of Castle Commercial Realty Inc. who negotiated for the park.

Buying the 6.55-acre parcel is Fort Lauderdale, FL-based TT Sand Lake Inc. headed by Terry Taylor. His Automotive Management Services Inc. company operates 18 car dealerships in Florida, Tennessee and North Carolina.

Taylor plans to build a 40,000-sf sales, service, parts and administrative facility on the site. He is still negotiating with an unidentified franchised dealer to lease the space on a long-term lease. The 12-month construction job is expected to start by June and be completed by first the quarter of 2002.

The fact that the dirt is directly across from Planet Hollywood International's headquarters at the southwest quadrant of Sand Lake Road and John Young Parkway in south Orlando didn't hurt the soaring sale price either, brokers note.

"Supply and demand," Carter & Associates-ONCOR vice president Tom Cook tells GlobeSt.com. "It never fails." Another factor: dwindling industrial space. Metro Orlando's 92.1 million sf of industrial inventory is down to 8.9% or 8.1 million sf of vacant space in existing structures, according to Grubb & Ellis Co.

That's the lowest since the first quarter of last year. "Industrial is having a good year," Grubb & Ellis vice president/managing principal Jeffrey S. Sweeney tells GlobeSt.com.

John Lacy, Automotive Management Services' general manager, calls the location "absolutely super for a car dealership because of its great visibility, easy access and a daily traffic count of 60,000 cars a day." Another plus: a new 600,000-sf shopping center and several under-construction office buildings totaling three million sf.

Taylor's dealership site will be the second auto-oriented business in the SouthPark portion of Orlando Central Park where 20 million sf of built-out space is occupied by a roster of blue-ribbon corporate tenants. Fields Motorcars of Florida opened a BMW satellite service center nearby last January.

Lockheed Martin Corp. owns Orlando Central Park where 370 national and international firms employ 25,000 workers. The park's largest deal, based on acreage and total price but not on a per-sf basis, was the 1998 sale of 90 acres for $16.9 million ($4.31 per sf) to Flagler Development Co., the real estate division of the Florida East Coast Railway. Flagler plans to construct 1.4 million sf of office on the site. The largest contiguous tract remaining at Orlando Central Park is 21 acres.

Instant Insights /

Industrial Dirt for Car Dealership Across From Planet Hollywood HQ Goes for $12.62 per SF

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