Downtown Getting More Apartments, Retail and Office Space

After two years of trying to gauge the market, GDC Properties Inc. of Hawthorne, NY has set a mid-2005 groundbreaking date for the Ivanhoe, an $80-million, 244-unit apartment structure with 14,000 sf of retail on a 2.5-acre pad at Marks Street and North Orange Avenue, a destination some refer to as Uptown. Projected monthly apartment rents are in the $700 to $1,500 range, according to the developer.

In the same construction timeframe, Lincoln Property Co. and locally based Dynatech Corp. plan to start Dynatech Centre, an estimated $50-million project that will comprise 150,000 sf of office, 50,000-sf of ground-floor retail and 150 apartments. Dynatech, a Downtown-based development, management and technology company, is expected to occupy the entire building with its 325 employees when it moves in on Jan. 1, 2007.

Lincoln set its groundbreaking date after closing a $2.2-million deal with the city to buy an estimated 30,000-sf parking garage site at Magnolia Avenue and Washington Street. Lincoln paid the city an estimated premium of $73.33 per sf for the corner property, brokers in a position to know tell GlobeSt.com.

At 37 stories and an estimated 400 feet high, the Ivanhoe would be the tallest building in Orlando based on number of stories and the second tallest structure based on building height. The 35-story SunTrust Center at 200 S. Orange Ave. is slightly more than 441 feet high. But at 37 stories, the GDC project may still face building height challenges by the Federal Aviation Administration.

In 1997, the FAA rejected a 30-story office and retail structure planned by Columbus, OH-based Pizzuti Development Co. at the corner of North Orange Avenue and Livingston Street, directly across from the Orange County Courthouse plaza.

Pizzuti's 6.5-acre tract has remained vacant since 1995 when developer Ronald A. Pizzuti purchased a 10.8-acre tract for $14.2 million, or $1.31 million per acre ($30.19 per sf), from William M. duPont, a Louisville, KY-based horse breeder and former majority owner of the Orlando Magic basketball team.

Pizzuti sold off 4.3 acres of his 10.8-acre tract to the City of Orlando which is constructing a $30-million bus terminal that is nearing completion on Amelia Street behind the Pizzuti tract.