Festival Bay Prepping for 2001 Grand Opening

ORLANDO-If big is better, the $1 billion, 1.1 million-sf Festival Bay retail/entertainment complex, scheduled to formally open in south Orlando at an undetermined date next year, will have the retail Oscar written all over its grand façade. Festival Bay won’t top the gross 1.3 million square footage of a competitor, The Mall of Millenia, scheduled to open in 2002, but it is preparing to emerge as the premier one-of-a-kind store destination for shoppers.

Memphis-based Belz Enterprises is the owner/developer of a venture that some industry observers say may give the conventional non-retail theme parks a run for the customer’s money.

Already signed to estimated 10-year leases with renewal options are four anchors–Bass Pro Shops-Outdoor World, 162,000 sf; Cinemark USA, 85,000 sf; Ron Jon Surf Shop, 50,000 sf; and Vans Inc., 50,000 sf. Belz principals do not disclose lease terms but seasoned retail brokers here tell GlobeSt.com they estimate the space isn’t renting for under $25 per sf. That would put the estimated value of the four leases signed to date at $87 million.