Taurus nears permit & groundbreaking on Phase 1 of Apopka City Center

Site work on the first-phase hotel at Apopka City Center should begin in the third quarter by developer Taurus Southern Investments, with key widening of public roads by the city to follow before year's end, a lead executive with the company told GrowthSpotter.

Apopka's City Council reviewed a Final Development Plan in late June for the Apopka City Center's Hilton Garden Inn hotel. It was for discussion only, as a development agreement gives city staff the authority to approve FDPs for phases of the project.

To be located on the northeast corner of McGee Avenue and E. 6th Street, the four-story, 118-key hotel will lie directly west of the existing Highland Manor events venue, a Victorian mansion the city bought in 2006.

Taurus has site work construction plans for the hotel under permit review by city staff, with vertical construction plans at 90 percent and likely ready for submission in the next 30 days, said Jeff McFadden, Florida managing partner. Pinkerton & Laws is the hotel general contractor.

The 35-acre Apopka City Center is a long anticipated mixed-use development on former public property along the north and south sides of the interchange of S.R. 436 and U.S. 441.

Taurus was chosen by the city as master developer in 2016. The project's master plan calls for 207,000 square feet of dining, retail and office space, a hotel and 11-acre community park.

The developer is also in design phase for the first two retail buildings directly north of the hotel pad, which will face S.R. 436. Those total about 8,155 square feet, and are two of five retail buildings planned around the hotel that would sum 26,355 square feet.

Taurus has some Letters of Intent on those retail and restaurant pads, but McFadden doesn't anticipate interest and contract talk really heating up until prospective tenants see the project's key road work start.

The city is responsible for funding the widening and upgrades construction work to come on S.R. 436 and U.S. 441. Those plans are complete and in to the Florida Department of Transportation for review.

Taurus is coordinating the road work contracting through its own local executive Allen Peacock, a process that should begin in the third quarter, McFadden said.

By this time next year, McFadden anticipates the city's road widening and upgrades to be complete, and the new hotel and retail pads to be delivered by early Fourth Quarter 2019.

As for the 12-building multifamily segment planned for the southern end of Apopka City Center, Taurus is in its conceptual design phase now, McFadden said. The developer is working on pricing out the project and could begin producing plans in Q4.

Taurus must still get thorugh a density study and layout design of that apartments project. The company has yet to decide if it will develop the segment itself or bring in another developer specialized in multifamily, McFadden said.

Lochrane Engineering and ELEVEN18 Architecture have contributed to project design thus far.

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