Ormond Beach investors spend $17M for 11-acre portion of Village at Hunters Creek

An investment group with roots in Ormond Beach and Jacksonville paid $17 million on March 18 for an 11-acre portion of The Village at Hunter's Creek retail and office center, based near Hunter's Creek Golf Club in southwest Orlando.

Located at 13526 Village Park Dr., the two contiguous parcels totaling 11 acres lie at the southwest corner of the Central Florida Greeneway and S. John Young Parkway intersection.

The buyer, Village HC, LLC, acquired roughly a third of the 31-acre mixed-use development that includes office, medical and retail space, and supports the town of Hunter's Creek.

Ranjana Bhana, who also owns a stake in another retail shopping plaza in Lake Buena Vista, is the managing agent for the LLC and one of multiple investors in the group.

"We were looking for a new investment and this seemed like the perfect place," she said. "The people who are managing it (First Capital Property Group) are managing our other properties as well. It's a beautiful location, perfect fit, and we like that there's new apartment buildings coming up to the rear of it, which will increase foot traffic."

The buyer is registered at the Ormond Beach address of Elite Hospitality, a hotel developer and manager with 11 properties in Central Florida that's run by Bhana's father, Mohan Bhoola.

First Capital Property Management has managed Bhoola's other commercial property holdings for years, and brought The Village at Hunter's Creek purchase opportunity to the attention of Bhana last year.

The investment group also included Dr. Indravadan Shah of Ormond Beach, his son-in-law out of Jacksonville Antit Desai, and Shah's daughter Mittal Desai.

"We like Orlando for future investments in retail and office, along with Jacksonville, and we're usually looking for properties in the range of $5 million to $6 million," Shah said.

The buying entity acquired a $12.75 million loan from TD Bank out of Greenville, South Carolina.

The property was fully leased at time of sale, and was not expected to require immediate investment for renovation and upgrades, according to Shelly Hatzl of Elite Hospitality.

The seller was GB BM2 LLC, an affiliate of Gibraltar Capital & Asset Management, which acted in its capacity as the investment subsidiary of Toll Brothers, Inc., to sell the asset "in connection with its value-enhancement strategy," a company spokeswoman said.

First Capital Property Group represented the buyers in the deal, while the seller was represented by Sean Glickman of Colliers International Central Florida.

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