Fields Motorcars in suburban Winter Park, FL, one of the largest BMW dealerships in Florida, paid Orlando Central Park Inc. $827,540 or $413,770 per acre for the tract at John Young Parkway and Futures Drive in south Orlando. The price equates to $9.49 per sf, two dollars less than the $11.48 per-sf ($500,000) Fields paid for one acre in OCP's SouthPark section three years ago.

Area brokers tell GlobeSt.com the deal is an indication of where land prices are going in metro Orlando. "This was a great opportunity for us to buy and bank land for the future," Mantione says.

The two-parcel purchase comprises one acre north and south of the dealership which opened a $2 million, 9,000-sf satellite service center in 2000. The center, the first of its kind in Florida, functions primarily as a preventative maintenance center for existing BMW owners. Fields' Winter Park location handles new and pre-owned BMW sales and major auto service and repairs.

J. Gary Castle of Castle Commercial Realty represented Orlando Central Park. Ted Eidson of Eidson Realty of Orlando negotiated for Fields.

SouthPark is the newest of three business parks comprising Orlando Central Park, a 4,500-acre mixed-use business park that houses 400 national and international companies employing 30,000 workers. The two other segments of OCP are the main Orlando Central Park and Orlando Central Park south, both near buildout, Castle says.