NAI Welsh Wins Contract to Sell Two Prime Disney-Area Parcels

ORLANDO-The Orlando office of Minneapolis-based NAI Welsh Cos. is marketing two prime tourist corridor tracts that could become the area’s next posh hotel or timeshare location. The properties are on the eastern doorstep of Walt Disney World’s 30,000-acre empire.

Landowner Upsala Florida Corp. awarded the contract to Welsh which is marketing both parcels, totaling 53.4 acres, for $23.2 million. The dirt is being sold separately or together. The land is among the remaining development sites in Orlando’s major tourist market.

A 45-acre parcel, bordered on the north of Osceola Parkway and on the south by U.S. 192, is going for $18 million or $400,000 per acre ($9.18 per sf). Both the Parkway and U.S. 192 have interstate exchanges.

The asking price for an 8.4-acre parcel on Lake Cecile, off U.S. 192, is $5.21 million or $620,833 per acre ($14.25 per sf).

NAI Welsh president Susan Lawrence feels the strategic location of both tracts make them ripe for near-future development. “The (planned) Opryland Florida Hotel and Convention Center site, just east of the property, will serve upscale hotel demands, but will likely increase the need for mid-scale lodging accommodations in the not-to-distant future,” Lawrence tells GlobeSt.com.

The proximity of the land to Disney won’t hurt the dirt’s marketability either. “Walt Disney World, with an estimated 25 million tourists annually, is the driving force behind the overall success of Orlando’s tourist corridor,” Lawrence says.

The corridor is “continuing to experience unprecedented growth in all directions, including retail, residential, office, industrial and tourism.”

The broker recalls “the continued success of Disney spurred the development of other entertainment venues such as Universal Studios and Sea World” in the past and remains the motivation for newer competitive attractions.