Some of the biggest commercial real estate firms in the nation are competing for the contract to market and sell the nearly 140 available acres in Osceola County’s NeoCity high-tech mixed-use district.
The March 3 solicitation stated that the county is looking for a firm with global reach and a clear understanding of the background, vision and “synergistic” nature of NeoCity. The county’s procurement office received eight bids Tuesday afternoon.
National firms who responded to the RFLOI included CBRE, Colliers International, Cushman & Wakefield, JLL, NAI Realvest and Lincoln Property Company. A pair of local firms, Bishop Beale Duncan and V3 Capital, also threw their hats in to compete for the contract.
Procurement Director Rebecca Jones said the county might ultimately choose two firms – one to market and sell the land and another to complete the lease-up the OC office building that opened last October and manage the property. The 100,000-square-foot Class A building serves as the corporate home for BRIDG and U.S. headquarters of Belgium-based imec. Those agencies occupy two of the building’s four floors.
NeoCity is also in the running for an $800 million “Smart City” town center planned by South Korean electronics maker LG.
The NeoCity subdivision plan creates 366 individual parcels and formalizes the road network that divides the district into 48 distinct blocks. It also identifies the locations of trails, parks and open space. The land is already master-planned as an urban mixed-use district, and it has Employment Center zoning, which does not allow for single family residential development. It’s also in a qualified opportunity zone.
In addition to the technology and research headquarters in NeoCity, there will be a potential mix of residential, retail, restaurant, and hotel facilities. The county has already been in discussions with South Florida hotel developer, Riviera Point Development Group, to build and operate a 200-room boutique hotel in NeoCity valued at $40 million, along with three hotels across the street at Osceola Heritage Park.
A three-person selection committee will review and rank the proposals. The committee members are Economic Development Director Tom Sunnarborg, Comptroller Amanda Clavijo and Real Estate Director Sally Myers.
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