Downtown Dirt Goes for $1.9 Mil Per Acre

Sentinel paid Martin Anderson-Gracia Anderson Foundation Inc. $1.9 million per acre or $43.67 per sf. Martin Anderson is the late publisher of the Orlando Sentinel daily newspaper.

The purchase includes the Central Florida News 13 television headquarters building and a surface parking lot. Sentinel had leased the 4.3 acres for the last 20 years.

The acquisition gives Sentinel control of the entire block bounded by Concord and Amelia Streets on the north and south, and by Magnolia and Orange Avenues on the east and west.

The estimated size of Sentinel's Downtown holdings is 20 acres, according to a preliminary check of Property Appraiser public records. Sentinel Communications is Downtown's largest property taxpayer.

The purchase price compares with the $1.3 million per-acre price ($30 per sf) paid by Columbus, OH developer Ronald A. Pizzuti 10 years ago for 11 nearby acres across from the $200 million Orange County Courthouse Complex. Property appraiser reports show Downtown dirt has been assessed at about $35 per sf for the past five years.

Paul Hoffman, a broker in the Winter Park, FL office of Arvida Realty Services Commercial Division, tells GlobeSt.com an estimated five-acre Downtown parcel formerly owned by Braun Cadillac sold for about $15 per sf three years ago. That site, however, was heavily fuel-contaminated and required an undetermined amount of cleanup services.