The developer building Society Orlando at 434 N. Orange Ave. is on track to deliver the 26-story tower plus 34,000 square feet of retail space in the fall.
Nick McManus, senior director of construction for Property Markets Group, said they would start pre-leasing for the 484-unit apartment tower this summer.
“We’re actually shooting to deliver all of the units at once,” he said.
McManus gave GrowthSpotter an update on the construction project, noting that the general contractor has already completed about a quarter of the residential units. “Right now, we have about five floors that our punch list team is already going through, and we’re doing the owner punch-list walk-through for those floors. And then above those, we still have trades finalizing the units, so there’s still work ongoing. And then also we’re still building out all the common area spaces right now.”
The Orlando project is the latest of PMG’s Society Living communities, which are also located in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Chicago, Denver, Atlanta and Nashville.
“We think this is the best iteration of our Society brand units with the changes that we did make to them. So we feel we feel great about how they’ve turned out,” McManus said.
Nearly 30 percent of all units at Society will be included in PMG’s co-living program, where residents lease their bedrooms and bathroom and share common living spaces with roommates. The developer redesigned its four-bedroom four-bath co-living units to convert them into units with three bedrooms, three bathrooms and a den.
“We gave back that square footage to the residents,” McManus said. The den will be furnished to act as a home office. “It should be a really nice amenity for those residents.”
The tower will also have an expansive co-working space on its amenity level with open seating, glassed-in offices and conference rooms. The Society Las Olas tower in downtown Fort Lauderdale is a good example of how the co-working lab and amenities will look in Orlando.
“And then very close by that is our gym, which we like to consider them oversized gyms because we really give a lot of square footage to them,” McManus said. “So it’s really a nice gym, and co-working space. So the idea is that you can go work, go to the gym and do everything in your own building.”
That also includes grabbing a bite to eat or a cocktail. The building will have 34,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor, and much of that will be dedicated for a robust choice of food and beverage options. McManus said PMG has partnered with a prominent local restaurant group to open a cocktail lounge and eatery just off the main lobby.
“So one thing we’ve been trying to recreate in most of our Society projects is F&B in our lobby that, basically, serves as an amenity to our tenants,” McManus said. “So we like to work with a local operator who we think does really, really fine food and drink that we can put in our lobby to elevate the experience in the lobby, and also open it up to the public. So obviously our residents get the benefit of being in their lobby, and then we create a little more sense of community while welcoming in guests not from the Society.”
Cabot Jaffee and James Mitchell with CBRE are heading up the commercial leasing for the remaining available space, which includes 15,172 square feet fronting on the Orlando Urban Trail and downtown SunRail and Lynx Central Station.
“So right now we have most of our amenities framed out, which means we’re working on the MEP trades,” McManus said. “And then I think in the next couple of months, we’ll start seeing drywall on so that will start closing those walls, which means we’re really progressing with them.”
Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at lkinsler@GrowthSpotter.com or (407) 420-6261, or tweet me at @byLauraKinsler. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
