New Land Sales Hit $10M

"Many of the smaller deals are being completed now as developers and users expect the land will be priced much higher in future years because of the supply and demand factor," Dean Fritchen, a senior land broker in the Winter Park office of Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT, tells GlobeSt.com. "I'm even getting calls from as far away as India. Investors there want to buy land here, sight unseen. Can you believe that?"

An indication that land prices are rising may be seen from a $4.6-million sale of 41 acres in the Gotha area, five miles west of Downtown Orlando. Gotha was once considered the boondocks where acreage could be picked up for 12 cents per sf. Ranc Development, however, had to pay $2.59 per sf, or about $112,805 per acre, to the Ralph Meitin Family Partnership Ltd. Ranc plans a 37-home development on the Orange County site.

In neighboring Osceola County, Destiny Land Co. LLC of Columbus, OH, also paid a current market price of $2.97 per sf, or $129,310 per acre, for a 29-acre, $3.8-million tract fronting Interstate 4 off Goodman Road.

Even steeper per-sf price tags were displayed on a 10-acre tract on the southwest corner of Alafaya Trail and Corporate Boulevard in east Orange County. Southern Management & Development LP paid Kash N Karry Food Stores Inc. $3.5 million, or $350,000 per acre and $8.03 per sf. Southern plans a 125,000-sf shopping center on the site.

In Sanford, 25 miles north of Downtown Orlando, Richard H. Parker, trustee, sold a 6.5-acre parcel to NAI Realvest Partners and Monroe Commercenter LLC for $552,776, or $85,042 per acre and $1.95 per sf.

And near Deltona, 40 miles north of Downtown Orlando, an 85-acre parcel on the south side of Enterprise-Osteen Road, east of Courtland Boulevard, sold for $1.4 million, or about $16,765 per acre and 38 cents per sf.