Kissimmee businessman Chirag Patel has sold the 50-room Central Motel on the W192 tourism corridor, and is moving forward with plans for a 31,000-square-foot self storage facility immediately behind the motel.
Patel’s Ronadiad Inc. also provided $1 million in financing toward the $1.5 million purchase price for the buyer, an affiliate of Bhargav and Nayankumar Patel.
The sale represents a 500-percent return on Patel’s original investment. He bought the 34-year-old budget motel at 4698 W. Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway and an adjacent 1.9-acre vacant lot in 2010 for just $300,000.
The previous owner had successfully rezoned the property from Commercial Tourist to a Planned Development in order to build a self storage facility on the vacant lot.
Osceola County prohibits self storage facilities on land zoned CT, but it is a permitted use in PDs.
Patel met with the county’s Development Review Committee in late 2016 to discuss rebooting the plans. He has since filed a Site Development Plan that is now under review by staff.
The project was put on hold last year because the Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline extends through the Ronadiad property. The pipeline paid Patel $815,000 for a permanent 50-foot easement through both parcels and for the temporary use of the vacant lot as a construction staging area.
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