The developer also plans to erect 15 single-user industrial buildings totaling 150,000 sf near Monroe Road in Sanford, FL, 25 miles north of Downtown Orlando. Three multifamily projects by other area developers, with an estimated aggregate construction value of $20 million, are either under way or also planning May and June construction starts.

"Central Florida commercial real estate investment and development is not receding," Realvest president Michael Heidrich tells GlobeSt.com. "It's growing slower than the previous 18 months but will likely grow faster than most areas of the country."

Heidrich, who comes from a long line of family developers, says Central Florida "has its own growth engine that insulates us somewhat from national economic trends. We haven't seen much of a slowdown so far, and we're seeing a lot of pending activity that's about to break ground." Heidrich adds, "We're very bullish at this point. We're looking at significant growth this year."

In other development activity, Essex Builders Group of Winter Park, FL, is looking at a late spring 2002 completion of Arbor Lakes, a 282-unit, $17-million apartment community comprising 27 two-story buildings and a 7,000-sf clubhouse. The site is on State Road 46A on the east side of Interstate 4, off Rinehart Road in Sanford, FL. Altman Development Corp. of Boca Raton, FL is the developer.

In the Daytona Beach Shores area, 50 miles northeast of Downtown Orlando, developer Jim Mack plans to break ground in May on The Antigua, a 24-residence condo community in Ponce Inlet, FL. Units of 2,600 sf are priced from $430,000 to $550,000. The estimated hard construction cost is $8 million.

In Daytona Beach Shores, Mack has a June ground-breaking scheduled for St. Croix Condominium, a 12-story, 59-unit condo off Dunlawton Road. Presales prices are from the high $200s to the low $400s. Units will range from 2,200 sf to 2,400 sf.

At the Poinciana Industrial Park in Osceola County, 30 miles south of Downtown Orlando, Nursery Supplies Inc. of Chambersburg, Pa., which bills itself as the world's largest manufacturer of plastic nursery supplies, plans a $4.2 million, 105,000-sf expansion on a 25-acre site that will house 140 additional workers.

And in Seminole County, GlobeNet Technologies, an online Tempe, AZ-based financial services company, plans an $8.2 million, 42,000-sf expansion, adding 122 new jobs.