The 48-year-old founder-developer-coach of the bands Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync plans to move his 600-person headquarters staff at Trans Continental Entertainment Group from tourist-oriented International Drive to the 136,000-sf, three-story Church Street Exchange. The former festival-themed shopping site is located within the Church Street Station complex at Garland Avenue and Pine Street.

Pearlman announced at a news conference he is negotiating with the city for a $1.5 million loan to help with the planned renovations. Orlando Mayor Glenda Hood and her council members are considering giving Pearlman economic incentives if he follows through on his new construction plans.

Pearlman says he plans to invest $9 million on a facelift at the Church Street Exchange and another $3 million on the rest of Church Street Station, which includes the 80,000-sf Presidential Ballroom building, a Downtown landmark of sorts.

Pearlman's rent structure for the Church Street Exchange building hasn't been disclosed. He is a 50% partner with Robert L. Kling, president, F.F. South & Co. in the ownership of Church Street Station. Pearlman also is a franchisee of the NYPD Pizza shop Downtown and has equity interests in other Orlando retail ventures.

All eyes will be on the Pearlman venture at Church Street Station to see if he can duplicate the magnetism that Orlando developer Bob Snow created when he built the complex in 1974. Church Street Station attracted 1.7 million visitors a year in the 1980s. But after Snow sold the property in 1988 to Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. for $61 million, the area around it began declining and the customer base there followed suit.

Baltimore Gas wrote off a major portion of the property in 1999 when it sold Church Street Station for $11.5 million to billionaire Orlando financier Joseph Lewis and his associates at London-based Enic PLC.

Kling and his investor group bought Church Street Station on May 5, 2000 for $15.85 million from the Lewis group. Area land brokers dealing in Downtown dirt tell GlobeSt.com that based on the 7.3 acres alone, the $15.85 million price equates to $2.17 million per acre or about $49.84 per sf, a bargain at the time for prime acreage fronting Interstate 4.

Instant Insights /

Backstreet Boys Founder Plans $12M Renovation

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