The $200 million project–designed to be a community in Seminole County's north Interstate 4 corridor where locals can live, work and play–launched in June 2000. Its first phase consisted of a five-story, 155,000-sf office building and 456 apartments. At full build-out, the project will contain 1.1 million sf of office space, 225,000 sf of retail space as well as more than 400 hotel rooms.

"Colonial Properties Trust certainly meets and exceeds the award criteria," NAIOP chapter president George Livingston says in a statement on the award. He says the "visionary TownPark development made a big impact on the selection committee. This outstanding project has come to life in the past year and its success that these live, work and shop projects have are the future of real estate development."

Among the criteria NAIOP uses to select the developer of the year are quality of products and services, social consciousness, financial consistency and stability, and the ability to adapt to market conditions. Of course, active involvement in NAIOP also is a major factor.