Miami developer pays $5.5M for mixed-use site close to NeoCity

A Coconut Grove developer is planning to build retail and apartments on 28+acres just minutes from NeoCity.

Alliance Companies paid $5.5 million last month for the property on Fortune Road, just east of the Florida’s Turnpike, that is the final phase of a Planned Unit Development called Lakeside Crossings.

“There’s a long history to this property,” Alliance Managing Partner Robert Cambó said. “It used to be part of DRI that was rescinded. This was the commercial part.”

The property wasn’t on the market, but Cambó approached the owners directly. No brokers were involved in the transaction. He told GrowthSpotter the property is entitled for 300,000 square feet of commercial space, and it contains a restriction that no more than half of the site can be developer for multifamily housing.

“We’re actually going to develop it as it’s been approved,” Cambó said, noting that Alliance is just beginning the site planning process for the land.

Alliance specializes in the development of charter schools, multi-family apartments and shopping center redevelopment. The company first entered the Kissimmee market in 2016 with the construction of Avant Garde Academy (now Cosgrove Academy) on Orange Blossom Trail.

Initially, the company was looking at doing about 150,000 to 200,000 square feet of big box retail on the site and selling the back half to a multifamily developer. But after receiving multiple unsolicited LOIs for the multifamily portion, Cambó said the Alliance decided to reverse course and start with the apartments. They’re looking to build 4-story, garden-style, elevator served apartments, similar to a project currently under construction in Melbourne.

“I work in eight different counties, and multifamily is going bonkers all over the state,” he said. “Especially workforce housing. We hope to be coming out of the ground by the Fourth Quarter. Then the commercial will come when it’s ready. We’ll take our time and do something that’s high quality."

Cambó said he believes the location could be ideal for a hotel because of its proximity to Osceola Heritage Park and NeoCity.

“NeoCity will create a lot of business traveler room nights,” he said. “That was a large reason, why it was very attractive for us to buy the property.”

The property is sandwiched between a 394-unit affordable apartment complex and a newly constructed condo community. Across the street is another 66-acre site entitled for mixed-use development.

The E192 corridor around NeoCity is one of Osceola’s hottest multifamily submarkets with a half-dozen new apartment communities in pipeline.

Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at lkinsler@GrowthSpotter.com or (407) 420-6261, or tweet me at @LKinslerOGrowth. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.