Design work on a $17 million, 5.4-mile connector road, linking main transportation arteries to the south Orlando property, begins this week. ICP is donating land and engineering expertise for the four-lane right-of-way that will extend Alafaya Trail through the site to the Martin Anderson Bee Line Expressway.
Permitting and construction of the road will take three years but selling prime pieces of dirt inside the park is already under way. The connector is key to the park's long-range development plans and ultimate success, ICP broker Sam Evans tells GlobeSt.com.
"I have just finished talking long-distance with an international manufacturer" for one of the tracts, says Evans. "Interest is high." Already booked for a construction start this year is Orlando-based Correct Craft Inc.'s planned 300,000-sf boat factory and new headquarters; and a 200,000-sf distribution center planned by Sierra Stone Inc. of Dallas.
The park was ahead of its time in originally planning high-speed telecommunications hookups and amenities in 1986, Evans says. "Initial planning began more than 15 years ago when work at Kennedy Space Center was at its peak," the broker recalls. Work stalled due to a combination of factors that included problems with regulatory approvals and a national recession.
"International Corporate Park was envisioned as a 'smart' park with state-of-the-art communications systems and convenient access to Orlando International Airport," Evans says. One of the early visionaries at the park which bought that pitch was Lockheed Corp., formerly Lockheed Martin Corp.
The national defense contractor acquired 200 acres planned for a regional headquarters site. When defense industry work slowed, the Lockheed project was placed on hold where it remains today. That land can be used at any time for a quick development start since the park already has vested development of regional impact status from the Florida Department of Community Affairs.
"It may be the only office/industrial park in Orange County (Orlando) that can accommodate large users in excess of 100 acres," Evans says.
Orlando Business Park bought ICP in March 2000 from Swiss Bank Corp. for $17.9 million or $6,630 per acre (15 cents per sf). That acquisition was considered one of the top bargains of the year.
."At that price," Tom D. Cook, development vice president in the Orlando office of Carter & Associates-ONCOR, tells GlobeSt.com, "they can afford to install the very best (high-tech) equipment money can buy to attract high-credit tenants."
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