118-Acre MXD Set to Make History

ORLANDO—It's poised to become Seminole County's largest commercial real estate development. Reagan Center, a 118-acre site on US 17-92, just won full support of the Seminole County Commission.

Of course, not everyone is celebrating. The monumental mixed-use development puts an end to Flea World, a 38-year-old institution in the Sanford, FL. But industry watchers agree it's the best thing for the region.

“Reagan Center has the right mix of factors needed to generate a phenomenal development,” says Paul P. Partyka, partner at NAI Realvest in Orlando and broker of record for Reagan Center. “Within a five-mile radius are some of Central Florida's wealthiest communities with strong demographics and great Seminole county schools.”

A change in the property's zoning to Planned Development paved the way for increased densities for the Reagan Center. The $300 million mixed-use development could include a 14-story office building with retail stores and multifamily.

Located directly opposite Seminole County Government Operations Center, the Courthouse and Seminole State College, Partyka, former mayor of Winter Springs, expects Reagan Center to ignite a 20-year effort by Sanford, Lake Mary, Winter Springs, Longwood, and Casselberry to create a sustainable economic development corridor along US 17-92. He calls it a “generational development” that was almost a generation in the making.  

Partyka says he's in close talks with several developers who are eyeing major projects at Reagan Center. He already has one Reagan Center project under contract, with 88 town homes planned, that should close by year-end.

Flea World owner Syd Levy has long known his property could spark the area's 20-year old Community Redevelopment Agency vision of a sustainable economic development corridor. Last year, Levy formed a development study team with Partyka, Randall Morris of RM Strategies in Winter Park, Richard Wohlfarth of IBI Group in Maitland and Turgut Dervish, Traffic Planning & Design in Maitland.