ORLANDO—There's plenty of action in Orlando right now. Every sector is growing and important infrastructure projects like the I-4 Ultimate and the Sunrail moving ahead. With Downtown Orlando's metamorphosis well underway, the Central Florida city is poised to attract more foreign investors in the years ahead.
GlobeSt.com caught up with Paul Ellis, group president for CNL Commercial Real Estate, to talk about what he's seeing in the Orlando and the surrounding markets in part one of this exclusive interview. Be sure to look for Ellis at RealShare Central Florida on June 11. He's on the Development and Redevelopment Across Central Florida panel.
GlobeSt.com: What do you see as the most important developments or redevelopments across Central Florida right now and why?
Ellis: Anything that's happening downtown is important right now. If Orlando will continue to be a leading edge city, it has to embrace, and is embracing, the urbanization of our country. We think this is a great thing.
GlobeSt.com: Orlando and Tampa get most of the attention in Central Florida. Can you point to some other interesting projects in markets like Daytona Beach or Sarasota?
Ellis: Looking at the new business activity going on around the I-95 area is exciting. Consolidated Tomoka's project in Daytona just won the new Trader Joe's distribution center in that region and there is a lot of activity in that area right now.
GlobeSt.com: The I-4 Ultimate and the SunRail expansion are making big headlines. How could these projects impact commercial real estate?
Ellis: Any investment that makes markets more accessible benefits commercial real estate. I think the real question is: How will the community react and respond during the seven year reconstruction of I-4?
It will not be easy to transit on I-4, so what happens to markets when they are less accessible? Do more people use Sunrail during that season, because they don't want to get on I-4? How employees, pedestrians and tenants change their patterns to adapt to the construction will be interesting to observe.
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