In the largest industrial transaction of its kind this year in Central Florida, Grosse Pointe Development Co. of Fort Myers, FL and Bouwfonds Property Finance of the Netherlands paid Dallas-based Oakridge Investments Inc. $41.5 million for property located on the Beeline Expressway and the Alafaya Trail extension near the University of Central Florida. The park is 12 miles south of Downtown Orlando.

Area land brokers intimate with the park's history tell GlobeSt.com the biggest winner in the deal so far appears to be the seller, Orlando Business Park LLC. This entity is an investment partnership led by Oakridge Investments principals George Allen, Milton Schaeffer and David Roan, and Price Legacy Corp., a San Diego-based REIT.

Allen calls the deal "a substantial win" for the sellers who bought the property in 2000 for $16.5 million. That price equates to $6,875 per acre or 16 cents per sf. Allen's group sold the dirt to the new owners for $17,291 per acre or 40 cents per sf. The Texas partners planned for the disposition for four years.

"We saw ICP as the last large fully entitled undeveloped tract of land within one of the fastest-growing counties (Orange County) in the nation," says Allen, president of Oakridge Investments. "ICP was simply the 'hole in the donut.' A combination of vision, patience and active planning finally allowed growth to reach the property and create the value that ICP represents today in this sale."

Allen tells GlobeSt.com, "We are certain we could have reaped substantially more profits by developing vertically ourselves, but at the end of the day, we thought it was best to sell to a local Florida developer that was highly motivated to acquire and develop the property."

Local developer Beat Kahli, who master planned the Avalon Park mixed-use community in east Orange County, also saw the near-future value in International Corporate Park. Kahli contracted to buy the park last year from a Swiss bank for $32 million, or $13,333 per acre (31 cents per sf), but withdrew his offer after concluding there weren't enough completed roads and other infrastructure in place for an immediate development.

Now, however, there is, says Oakridge's Allen. "In 2001, the investment partnership reached a preliminary agreement with Orange County and the Orlando Utilities Commission for the extension of Alafaya Trail as a four-lane, raised median highway from its current terminus north of the Stanton Energy Center to the Beeline Expressway." Allen adds, "For the first time in its history, ICP had a direct link to southeast Orange County's growth and burgeoning residential developments."

Grosse Pointe Development and Maitland, FL-based NAI Realvest Partners will manage the park, says Grosse Pointe principal and development partner Robert D. Hensley. Steven C. Ruoff and Sam Evans of Realvest will continue to handle the site's sales and marketing. The park's recorded owner is International Corporate Park LLC.

Bouwfonds Property Finance is a subsidiary of ABN Amro and Rapenburch, a developer of commercial, industrial and residential properties in the Netherlands.