Atlanta-based developer Seefried Industrial Properties or a client it’s representing is pursuing at least 130 acres south of Orlando International Airport, where newly-filed plans propose a 855,000-square-foot distribution facility, which would be Greater Orlando’s largest new industrial project in three years.
Located along the southern side of Boggy Creek Road and the airport at the southwest corner with Jeff Fuqua Boulevard, the property is part of a 236.67-acre parcel owned by an affiliate of Tavistock Development Company.
Tavistock president James Zboril filed a Development Plan on Friday with Orange County for the project, which includes multiple elevations with Seefried’s name displayed. No tenant names were listed on the DP.
Dubbed “Project Mojo” by Seefried, plans indicate the site would have 54.79 acres reserved for conservation, the new distribution center would occupy 130.6 acres, another 42.43 acres would be developed as infrastructure, and 8.85 acres would be reserved for future development.
Plans for the distribution center indicate tilt-wall construction, and the property would have more than 2,500 regular parking spaces and 250 large trailer spaces.
Tavistock’s land-owner affiliate has title insurance on the property that details a planned sale to an unnamed buyer. That proposed insurance amount is $26 million, which when divided by 130 acres that may be sold for a distribution center reflects $200,000 per acre, a price in line with recent industrial land sales in the market.
Seefried develops industrial parks and build-to-suit warehouse facilities ranging from 25,000 to 2 million square feet for corporate clients across the country.
Notable distribution center projects by the company of more than 900,000 square feet include one for PepsiCo in Atlanta built in 2006, and two for Amazon.com in Nasvhille and Richmond in 2012. Seefried previously developed a 120,000-square-foot warehouse for Siemens in Orlando’s Lee Vista Center.
At 855,000 square feet, the new distribution center would be the largest in Greater Orlando, following Publix’s refrigerated distribution center of 988,000 square feet built in 2014 north of the airport on Goldenroad Road, according to Matt Sullivan, managing director with Cite Partners.
“We’re seeing more and more big deals that show Central Florida is becoming a hub for major industrial players planting down larger buildings,” he told GrowthSpotter on Monday. “Users see the need to be in Central Florida to distribute to a population approaching 20 million people, whereas that distribution used to be based in Atlanta and fed down here via satellite offices.”
In the past three years, major distribution tenants entering the Ocala-Tampa-Orlando triangle have included Autozone in Ocala (444,000 SF), Chewys.com in Ocala (600,000 SF) and Samsung in the former Circuit City facility in Groveland (705,000 SF).
“(Tavistock) may have a buyer in place, or there could be a deal in the market that they’re chasing and want to have plans approved to make the site more attractive,” said David Murphy, senior vice president specializing in industrial at CBRE Orlando. “This is one of very few sites in Central Florida that could accommodate an 800,000-square-foot user.”
Tavistock is also requesting a height waiver from Orange County in its DP filing, to allow a maximum height of 110 feet, even though the industrial building would only stand 50 feet.
That’s because Tavistock’s vision for this property includes commercial and hotel uses to be developed on lots 1 and 3 along Boggy Creek Road’s frontage, future book-ends to the proposed industrial building.
The developer wrote that those other projects have interested users that require the 110-foot height maximum, and are pending Orange County’s approval of this waiver request.
Tavistock and Seefried did not respond to requests for comment on Monday.
Kimley-Horn is civil engineer and landscape architect on the project, while Donald W. McIntosh Associates is the surveyor. Macgregor Associates Architects out of Atlanta is Seefried’s architect on the DP.
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