A planned commercial development site in Winter Garden will be the home for a new Home2 Suites hotel and two-story medical office.
Developer Dale Parsons confirmed Hilton’s extended-stay hotel concept will rise within his planned 8.25-acre commercial plaza at 12301 W. Colonial Dr., in addition to a new 24,000-square-foot medical office and a 7-Eleven gas station that will front W. Colonial Drive.
Neurosurgeon and real estate developer Dr. Ravi Gandhi is the lead investor behind the Verax planned medical office project.
He told GrowthSpotter his group Orlando Neurosurgery will occupy a portion of the building, and will be partnering with AdventHealth to help open other orthopedic, brain and spine care practices and surgery centers at the facility.
The project is similar to Dr. Gandhi’s Orlando Health Women’s Pavilion medical office in Winter Park, which brings multiple physicians that serve a similar patient population together. Dr. Gandhi said he believes having similar medical practices under one roof is convenient for the patient and improves care.
“The form has to follow the function,” he said. “As a doctor I would want to build an office where I want to work and where I want my patients to go.”
The women’s center opened last summer along Fairbanks Avenue. Dr. Gandhi is also behind the Vilasa Homes residential community in Winter Park that will commence vertical construction soon, he said.
Dr. Gandhi said he’d like to hold onto the medical office in Winter Garden for the long term, but is open to discussions with investors interested in acquisition or partnerships.
Ashley Walker, a senior vice president at Millenia Partners, is handling leasing efforts. Lamm & Co. Partners is the contractor.
Parsons, who works for SMC Construction, said he believes the medical office and surgery center could create a good synergy with the upcoming four-story, 95-room hotel, located directly behind the planned office building.
The 7-Eleven gas station will rise on the northeast corner of Carter Road and W. Colonial Drive.
Hilton’s Home2 Suites brand is pet-friendly and designed for extended stays and cost-conscious guests. Newer Home2 Suites hotels feature saline-based pools, lounge areas and fitness stations.
There is one remaining lot at Parson’s commercial plaza, located northwest of where Florida’s Turnpike and S.R. 429 intersect. Mitch Collins P.E. is the engineering firm.
Parsons teamed up with business partner John Hussey to purchase the property in 2006 for $4.2 million.
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