Wellington, Fla.-based The Bainbridge Companies paid $6.95 million on Monday for a 3.7-acre site in Winter Park’s Ravaudage development, with early December targeted for groundbreaking on a planned five-story, 278-unit apartment complex with some of the multifamily market’s newest amenities.
Located in the 73-acre Ravaudage assemblage on the northwest corner of Lee Road and N. Orlando Avenue, the Bainbridge site lies adjacent to Alliance Residential Company‘s seven-story, 268-unit apartment building now under construction, set on 2.3 acres it bought last December with partner The Carlyle Group.
Bainbridge sourced a $37.698 million mortgage from PNC Bank to finance the project, and filed a notice of commencement for its construction affiliate on Monday.
The developer still has construction permit applications under review by city staff, but expects to have approvals by Dec. 1 to begin site work, Bob Thollander, vice president of development in Florida, told GrowthSpotter on Tuesday. Construction would run an estimated 21 months.
Dubbed “Bainbridge at Winter Park,” the Class-A apartments will feature a handful of new amenities that are being adopted by more multifamily developers for high-end urban infill projects, Thollander said.
Those will include 12,000 square feet of common space for an expansive lobby area with concierge desk, business center and private meeting room, clubhouse with private dining area, cyber cafe, work-at-home offices, resort-style swimming pool, fire pit and barbecue area, fitness center, yoga room and a five-story parking garage.
Bob Hold of Hold Thyssen, Inc. and David Winters of Florida Property Investments represented Bainbridge and the seller, developer Dan Bellows‘ Benjamin Partners Ltd.
Thollander is now actively looking for more multifamily sites in Greater Orlando.
“We’re very bullish on that market’s future, so I’m looking for sites everywhere,” he said. “We prefer garden-style deals with about 15 acres that can accommodate 300 to 350 units, a three-story or four-story building mix, and want to be in high-growth areas.”
Elsewhere in the market, Bainbridge’s 288-unit Nona Place apartments are expected to open in December on 15 acres along Lake Whippoorwill, Thollander said.
The company’s next development after Winter Park will be a 296-unit community along Maitland’s Lake Shadow on 48 acres it has owned for more than a decade, projected to break ground in late March 2018, he added.
And construction is nearly finished on 322 units across 16.26 acres of the former Marriott Pines Golf Course off S. International Drive, estimated to open Feb. 1.
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