GlobeSt.com UPDATE: Big Players Taking Strong Land Positions

Prices are expected to rise as major retail ventures such as the Taubman-Forbes' 1.3 million-sf, 450-acre Mall at Millenia debuts at Interstate 4 and Conroy Road in south Orlando Oct. 28 and the 1.6 million-sf Florida Mall (Simon Property Co.) completes its expansion program by year end to bring it to 1.8 million sf.

Big development players already are taking strong land positions. For example, Palm Coast, FL-based Ginn Co., headed by Robert "Bobby" Ginn, has tied up 4,669 acres on three major mixed-use projects at Magnolia Creek in Osceola County, Orlando International Airport and Pine Island in Lake County.

National retailers, too, are staking out new sites 30 miles north of Downtown Orlando near the hot County Road 46 corridor.

"The Lake Mary/Sanford retail market is set for a boom as Wal-Mart, Sam's and Lowe's are all taking land positions along the Rinehart Road corridor near (Simon Property Co.'s 1.1 million-sf, 450-acre) Seminole Towne Center Mall," Steve Flanagan, vice president, industrial advisory services group, Grubb & Ellis, tells GlobeSt.com. "This should spur land sales for retail development feeding off these demand generators."

Developable land for office and industrial ventures is available in Central Florida for at least the next 10 years. "This may result in downward pressure on land prices and more lenient contract terms for landowners wishing to sell additional acreage," Flanagan says. He adds, "Conversely, developers will need to recognize that land sellers require some assurance that their land is actually going to be sold."

Office and industrial land sale opportunities in 2002 "will be offset by the existing large land positions currently held by major players in the development community," the broker says. Nearby Lake and Polk counties "continue to emerge as viable secondary industrial options," Flanagan says.

Their proximity to Interstate 4 and Florida's Turnpike will attract large warehouse users. "Choice locations still exist at various intown industrial parks, although land costs are considerably higher, compared to those in secondary markets," the Grubb & Ellis executive says.

Ginn, for example, purchased 1,473 acres from Herman Heidrich & Sons Partnership for $25.7 million or $17,447 per acre (40 cents per sf) for his Magnolia Creek project. He bought 2,006 acres from James F. Lawson for $12 million or $5,982 per acre (14 cents per sf) for the Orlando International Airport ventures. And he paid Tampa, FL-based Lykes Brothers Inc./Hyponex Corp $10.6 million or $8,908 per acre (20 cents per sf) for the 1,190-acre Pine Island undertaking in Lake County.

On the retail side, Millenia Collection LLC paid Orlando Southwest Partners $8.1 million or $265,574 per acre ($6.10 per sf) for 30.5 acres across the street from Mall at Millenia. A multi-housing project planned by MetroWest 11 LP, Alexander/TCR paid Spring Tr LLC $6.4 million or $193,353 per acre ($4.44 per sf) for 33.1 acres.

A key office land transaction in 2001 involved Duke Millenia LLC paying Orlando Southwest Partners $3.6 million or $288,000 per acre ($6.61 per sf) for 12.5 acres. In an industrial transaction, Lentek International paid Crownpointe Commerce Park Ltd. $1 million or $138,889 per acre ($3.19 per sf) for 7.2 acres at the park.

Multi-housing land sale opportunities "will be limited by the excess inventory of purchased and entitled land already in the development pipeline," Flanagan says. He expects most multi-housing land sale activity to be focused near employment centers along the I-4 corridor from the Mall at Millenia to suburban Altamonte Springs, FL and in east Orlando.

Residential land sales will continue at a healthy pace, the broker says, "although the de factor re-zoning moratorium in Orange County will push new development further out from the center of the metropolitan area," Flanagan says.

He sees southeast Orlando and the Horizons West area of Orange County continuing to be strong sales hubs "as land developers obtain their entitlements and sell lots to homebuilders."