Industrial development activity continues to surge in Apopka submarket

Industrial development activity continues to explode in the Northwest Orange County submarket as efforts move forward to bring the city of Apopka another 2.6 million square feet of warehouse space in areas around the municipal airport and within the heavily residential Kelly Park Interchange District.

BlueScope Properties Group submitted plans to the city recently for an expansion of its 180-acre Mid-Florida Logistics Center, which is home to distribution centers for Amazon, Coca-Cola, and Goya. The addition of a 71-acre assemblage across five parcels to the east and south would bring another two buildings totaling 690,939 square feet to the large-scale industrial park near the Orlando-Apopka airport, plans show.

Nearby, Connecticut-based Indus Realty Trust is set to deliver 575,000 square feet of warehouse space across three buildings after buying 73 acres along the west side of S.R. 421 on Jan. 23 for $17.4 million, deed records show.

Elsewhere in the city, Cadence Partners has been tabbed to build out the industrial component of a massive mixed-use project in the works for the Kelly Park Interchange District.

According to an application pending approval by the city, Cadence is poised to construct 1.3 million square feet across nine warehouse buildings in Kelly Crossings, a long-awaited village center concept with shops, restaurants, and multifamily housing that will stretch across 230 acres on S.R. 429.

Evans Properties is the master developer of the mixed-use project that calls for 2,900 apartments and over a million square feet of retail and commercial space.

Todd Watson, a managing partner with Cadence Partners, believes it won’t be hard to find tenants ready to move into warehouse space surrounded by so many amenities within walking distance.

“Some of the people who work here could live in the multifamily (apartments) and shop at whatever stores come there and then there will be restaurant space,” he said. “They will have a lot of options. And for the right user, it will really be a big amenity you can’t get anywhere else.”

With office space included in the project as well, Watson said he could see companies relocating their whole headquarters to the property.

“It’s got everything all in one place,” he added.

The Kelly Park interchange district, which spreads to the east and west of S.R. 429, is a largely residential area where many new subdivisions are going up. Within the boundaries of the district, industrial is only allocated for this Kelly Crossings mixed-use project, Watson said.

“This is the only industrial land at that intersection. We will have a monopoly at that intersection,” Watson said. “It’s big, and with these bigger projects, you can sit and strategize about design and layout. It’s a lot of fun.”

Site plans drafted by Florida Engineering Group show buildings ranging in size from 82,750 square feet to 537,694 square feet.

Cadence has also been active along the S.R. 421 corridor, where most of the city’s industrial growth is occurring.

The company’s Northstar Logistic Center is under construction at the corner of S.R. 417 and Ocoee Apopka Road. Once complete, it will hold nearly 800,000 square feet.

The first phase — consisting of three buildings totaling 460,000 square feet — isn’t expected to open until October but tenants have already expressed interest in moving in.

“We’ve got good activity,” Watson said. “And we are seeing it across a range of (building) sizes. It’s encouraging just seeing all of the leasing activity right now.”

Indus Realty Trust is also no stranger to the Central Florida market. It’s currently building the 196,100- square-foot Landstar Logistics Center along Wetherbee Road near the Orlando International Airport.

Its Apopka project was dubbed Alterna Logistics Center when it went through the city permitting process. Up until its approval by the city commission in October, Lakeland-based Blue Steel Development was listed as site plans as the developer.

It was intended to be an expansion of Blue Steel’s Apopka 429 industrial project, which covers 2.4 million square feet to the immediate north.

Blue Steel officials could not be reached for comment.

In a news release published by Indus Realty on Jan. 9, the company indicated they had entered into an agreement to purchase the fully entitled land in the Orlando market. Company officials declined further comment.

The three parcels were previously owned by an entity affiliated with Daniel O’ Keefe, a real estate attorney at Orlando-based law firm Shutts and Bowen. The entity, Apopka Industrial Airport South, LLC, bought the land in 2021 for a total of $5.2 million.

BlueScope has other properties in the Orlando area, including the 113,150-square-foot Sanford Logistics Center on Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. and the 441,175-square-foot Park @ 429 in Ocoee.

Marine Fasteners occupies 56,000 square feet of the Sanford Logistics Center while City Furniture serves as a tenant of the Park @ 429.

BlueScope paid $15.13 million for the first phase of its 2.3 million-square-foot Mid-Florida Logistics Park property in 2019. Using the affiliated company BPG Apopka Properties LLC, Bluescope then subdivided the property into five lots and sold either shovel-ready development sites or built-to-suit warehouses for a total of $128.2 million, according to deeds recorded in Orange County.

The parcels eyed for expansion are controlled by four different owners who have agreed to sell. Tommy Pinel, director of land services with Colliers International, said BlueScope has been under contract to buy since last March and is expected to close soon.

“I worked with the property owners and one by one got them all on board,” said Pinel. “It’s just dense forest out there now.”

Site plans for Mid-Florida South Logistics Park show one building totaling 352,268 square feet with 270 parking spaces and a second building of 338,671 square feet with 261 parking spaces.

Northwest Orange County has 4.1 million square feet of warehouse space under construction, more than any other submarket in the Greater Orlando area, according to a recent report by CBRE.

“The roads and the infrastructure that’s been put in place over the last decade has certainly helped that area grow and become a logistical hub,” said Justin West, the regional manager of Marcus & Millichap, noting the significance of the opening of a section of the Wekiva Parkway in 2020. “The Wekiva Parkway has just opened that area for business, and you are going to continue to see significant growth out there.”

On adjacent land to the west of the Mid-Florida Logistics Center, Dallas-based Trammel Crow Company is bringing the 700,000-square-foot Apopka Business Center to 80 acres between Shelby Industrial Drive and Conrad Road.

Missouri-based Summit Real Estate Group is moving forward on two separate projects. Crossroads 429, located directly across from the Mid-Florida Logistics Park, will feature 280,000 square feet of warehouse space while 451 Commerce, a few miles to the southeast, would cover 260,010 square feet.

Matt Lederman, managing director of Summit Real Estate, said that Crossroads 429 is under construction and expected to open by the end of February.

He said 451 Commerce is in the pre-construction phase with an expected completion date of December.

Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at (407)-800-1161 or dwyatt@GrowthSpotter.com, or tweet me at @DustinWyattGS. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn