An Orlando neurosurgeon and part-time real estate developer is eying a 10-acre site on U.S. 192 for a mixed-use project combining new medical offices with residential apartments.
Ravi Gandhi, a partner with Orlando Neurosurgery who practices at Osceola Regional Medical Center and AdventHealth, started Verax Investments in 2018. He completed his first medical complex, now the Orlando Health Women’s Pavilion in Winter Park in 2020 and is close to wrapping up construction on a second in Winter Garden. The two-story center will feature multiple medical office spaces to be filled by healthcare professionals specializing in areas related to spinal health, including spinal surgery, physical therapy, and pain management.
Gandhi told GrowthSpotter 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.”
Spine and back pain issues are often life-changing for patients. Nearly half of all Americans report have back pain and 80% of people will experience a spine-related issue at some point in their lives. This spine clinic is to improve the patient experience by incorporating all facets of spine care both surgical and non-surgical under one roof.
Verax also has mixed-use medical office projects in the works in Lake Mary and other commercial investments, such as the Veranda at Thornton Park complex.
Gandhi and his attorney, McGregor Love with Lowndes, held a pre-application meeting Wednesday with Osceola County’s Development Review Committee to discuss options for the property at 5525 E Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway. Gandhi wants to rezone the site to match the underlying future land use of Community Center Perimeter and build a medical center with apartments behind it.
“That zoning designation that zoning district allows for of a mix of uses at a density range of eight to 18 units an acre, so the intent at this point, where we are right now, is to have somewhere in the neighborhood of maybe around 100 or 125 units on those two parcels,” Love said.
The property is currently owned by Marjorie Carr. A 9-acre parcel owned by Grace Community Church separates the Carr property from 26.5-acre site at the northeast corner of U.S. 192 and Nova Road that is under contract to Greystar for a mixed-use development that would include multiple retail parcels along U.S. 192 and apartments on the northern two-thirds of the property.
Greystar has already applied to rezone the corner property to Community Center Core, which matches the future land use and requires higher densities and intensities of use than CC Perimeter. The rezoning application is slated to go to the Board of County Commissioners in June.
Photenie Burnette, senior urban planner for Osceola County, told Gandhi his project would have to be designed with an east-west interior road that could connect to the Greystar project, either through the church parking lot or when/if the church property is redeveloped. She also advised the developer to consider building the medical and commercial buildings with at least two stories to meet the county’s minimum floor area ratio (FAR) requirements under the CCP zoning.
The E192 corridor near St. Cloud has attracted several multifamily mixed-use projects in the last year. In addition to the Greystar project, Atlanta-based Hathaway Group has a purchase contract on the 41.7 acres of timberland on U.S. 192 a block east of Narcoossee Road.
A conceptual plan calls for a mid-rise community with 300 residential units spread among 12 apartment buildings. All of the land fronting on U.S. 192 would be reserved for future retail development.
Farther east, Harmony is slated to get a 377-unit apartment community in its town center, and Curve Development is planning a Cyrene-branded build-to-rent community.
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