An affiliate of real estate investor and developer Taurus Investment Holdings paid $4.1 million last month for 15 acres in Apopka that it wants to turn into a grocery store, and may also put multi-family housing on.
The 42,000-square-foot grocery store would sit on the outskirts of a densely residential area and front busy E. Semoran Boulevard, where it intersects with Balmy Beach Drive.
The apartments would be located on roughly 5 acres behind the store, Taurus’ Florida representative Craig Govan told GrowthSpotter. There are also two one-acre outparcels towards Semoran Avenue that could be developed for retail or restaurant use.
Govan declined to say who the grocer would be, and suggested the company is still negotiating with a number of them. He said work on the project was hoped to start as soon as possible.
The store would sit less than mile from a Publix, so local developers rule out that brand for the new location.
Instead, one of the many organic grocers that are expanding in the area is likely, said James Gendreau, head of Tailwinds Development LLC.
“This has all the ingredients to be a successful site,” Gendreau said. “There is its location, including being at a lighted intersection, the surrounding rooftops and the amount of traffic that travels that part of Semoran every day.”
The site is currently vacant land. The building itself would be about an acre in size, with 3.7 acres allotted for parking.
The property was bought last month from CenturyLink, which inherited it in 2009 when it purchased for $11.6 billion the property’s then-owner Emparq.
Govan is currently working with Seminole County planners on what would be required to allow a building of that size on that parcel.
The county has asked for a traffic study that will determine, in part, if left and right turn lanes are required. There also appears to be endangered wildlife on the site and the county is asking that a study be done prior to final site plan approval, among other measures that have been requested.
Taurus Investment does projects all over the world, including at least one in Central Florida, Sugarland Business Center in Maitland, which also acts as Taurus Investment’s Florida headquarters.
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