School Board Superintendent Ronald Blocker may take the property off the selling block by June and continue to use the building for administrative offices, area brokers familiar with the board's plans tell GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity. Blocker and university officials couldn't be reached at GlobeSt.com's publication deadline.
University officials will formally ask the Legislature next week for $18.4 million in construction funds. At a planned 100,000-sf, the law school building at Hughey Avenue and Washington Street would come in at an estimated $184 per-sf hard construction cost.
That number compares with the current market value appraisal of $28.9 million or $126 per sf the Orange County Property Appraiser's office shows for the structure. The building, at 445 Amelia St. near the T.D. Waterhouse Center, was erected in 1990 for $20 million or $90.50 per sf.
The replacement cost today would be at least $150 per sf or $34.5 million, construction industry estimators tell GlobeSt.com. Blocker hasn't disclosed an asking price for the building.
The school board is one of Orlando's largest landowners with a portfolio of 3,586 acres. The district, with 166 schools and 20 planned new locations, is the 16th largest in the nation and the fifth largest in Florida, board demographics show.
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