Last available quadrant of Sinclair Road interchange goes under contract

The final piece of a land assemblage that once spanned 126 acres and all four corners of the S.R. 429 - Sinclair Road interchange is now spoken for.

Winter Garden-based High Mark Companies and development partner Lote Group have a purchase contract on the 6-acre parcel at the northwest corner of the interchange in the fast-growing Reunion/ChampionsGate submarket.

“I’ve been watching that area for four or five years now,” High Mark President Tom Harl told GrowthSpotter. “We all know about the explosive growth going on there. It’s become a very attractive point as Horizon West is all spoken for.”

The two companies have worked together on multiple retail projects, but this is Lote Group’s first project in Orlando.

Lote President Taraz Darabi told GrowthSpotter he immediately saw the value of the Sinclair Road site last year when he stayed at the Omni Orlando Resort in ChampionsGate and experience the gridlock on C.R. 532.

“It was a nightmare because of the traffic,” he said.

The planned reconstruction of that interchange on I-4 will make Sinclair Road an attractive alternative – especially if Osceola County extends Sinclair to Goodman Road. “That ChampionsGate exit is going to get worse before it gets better,” Harl said.

Winter Park-based Avanti Properties Group paid $8 million in May 2015 for the Sinclair assemblage and has been gradually selling off portions for a variety of users, including three separate multifamily developers.

The development partners will seek to rezone the land to Commercial Tourist, which gives them the flexibility to do just about any type of commercial development with one big exception: self-storage.

“Ironically, that was one of the first things we considered for the site because there’s so much new multifamily coming in around it,” High Mark’s Kristine Hernandez said. “But we quickly realized that wouldn’t be the highest and best use of the land.”

The initial development plan calls for a grocery store with outparcels fronting on Sinclair for a possible fuel station and QSR. But Hernandez said the concept is still fluid because there’s been such strong interest for hotels at the interchange.

“We selected the site before we knew the best end use of the property,” Darabi added. “Usually we come into developments with a tenant in pocket, but in this case we’re still trying to figure out what the best use of the property is. We’re also very patient investors, so we won’t take the first deal that comes to the table.”

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