Miami’s Mast Capital planning luxury apartments on site of former condemned motels

A Miami developer known for delivering million-dollar condos along Brickell Avenue is making its Orlando market entry with a project that could transform a once-blighted stretch of Kissimmee’s W192 corridor.

Mast Capital received preliminary approval this month from Osceola County for a 312-unit apartment complex on three parcels of land along the shore of Lake Cecile that previously housed the condemned Lake Cecile Inn, Star Motel and Palm Lakefront. Mast Acquisitions has a purchase contract for the nearly 18-acre site that was sold at auction for $8.5 million in 2021 to BMI Companies of Miami. All three motels have now been demolished.

While this is the firm’s first project in Central Florida, it will be led by Managing Director Eran Landry, who previously led the development of Modera Central and Modera Creative Village for Mill Creek Residential in Orlando. He told GrowthSpotter the company was drawn to the project because of the development taking place around it and the ability to capitalize on lake views.

“I think it’s a bit of an emerging corridor, but it has great connectivity to employment centers, which I think is always key for multifamily to be successful,” Landrey said. “And I think that having a project like this lake is a phenomenal opportunity.”

The initial plans were filed to show the project complies with the county’s W192 CRA design guidelines. With the conditional approval in hand, the developer has now submitted a site development plan and hopes to break ground in the third quarter of this year.

“It’s taking something that was an eyesore and making it something nicer and relevant to the market,” Economic Development Director Christina Morris said. “I would have liked to see retail along W192 — and I think that was envisioned in our guidelines to be some retail along W192 and then residential. But other than that, I mean, the product seems like a good product and finishes.”

Osceola County typically requires at least 20% of new development to be nonresidential in projects over 10 acres with Urban Center Core zoning. But in this case, nearly half of the property is submerged, so the application lists the size as 9.9 acres, exempting it from that standard.

“They did have constraints on that site, for sure,” Morris said.

The Development Review Committee added a special condition requiring a minimum of 4,000 square feet of non-residential uses be mixed in either vertically or horizontally, based on an update to the Land Development Code that was approved on Feb. 20. Landry said the specifics of those plans are still to be determined.

The conceptual plan from Atwell calls for four 4-story apartment buildings and a separate 8,294-square-foot clubhouse and pool overlooking Lake Cecile. The clubhouse features a fitness center, lounge, coffee bar and TV room. There’s also several co-working spaces, a dog spa, and a large mailroom with Amazon lockers. The site plan also shows an additional 1-acre open space amenity on the lakefront which could indicate the developer will add a beach or boat launch.

Landry said the team is still fleshing out concepts for the lakefront park. “Ultimately in terms of whether or not there’s some type of a, you know, some type of amenity, whether it be a deck or something that encroaches into water, that’s all TBD. And so that’s to be designed and studied much further,” he said.

The development matrix includes a product mix of 16 studios, 116 one-bedroom units, 140 two-bedroom units and 40 three-bedroom units.

Dwell Design Studio led the architecture, and RVi Planning & Landscape Architecture created the landscape plans. This is the first major new construction project planned on Lake Cecile, though several of the aging motels have been converted to workforce housing or are being targeted for conversion. Styx Companies converted the former Quality Inn at 4978 W. Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy. into The Teale apartments.

Next door to the Mast site, the Howard Johnson at 4836 W. Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy., also recently sold and is part of redevelopment/residential conversion called Dimora Lake. The new owners bought two vacant lots to create a unified 12.25-acre site that can accommodate the county’s parking and recreation requirements.

The developer submitted a conceptual site plan to the county last October but it is still in the review process.

Nearby, the former Golden Link Motel at the intersection of W192 and Vineland Road, is being renovated by investor/architect Juan F. Nagaro. He bought the property last year for $5.7 million and initially considered razing it to build a new tower but ultimately decided to renovate the existing building and rebrand it as the Viette Hotel. He said it’s on schedule to open this spring.

Across the street, Miami-based Urban Network Capital Group (UNCG), is building The Flats Resort & Spa, a $32 million wellness-themed condo hotel resort at W192 and Bamboo Lane, near the main entrance to Storey Lake Resort.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article has been updated with the correct ownership information and comments from the developer.

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