Heading the development parade is Rob Miller, an entrepreneur who isn't giving up on Osceola's retail potential. Miller has put his prime 850-acre Osceola Trace tract near Disney on the market and already is negotiating with undisclosed investors to build a one-million-sf, open-air shopping center along State Road 535 between US 192 and Osceola Parkway.

"He's not deterred by past failures," a former Miller associate tells GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity. "He never takes no for an answer." However, other developers and brokers, intimate with the Osceola County retail markets, tell GlobeSt.com they doubt Osceola's permanent population of 172,493 can support 1.32 million sf of new retail, even over a five-year span.

Miller couldn't be reached at GlobeSt.com's publication deadline. But the Orlando office of Colliers Arnold Commercial Real Estate Services Inc. confirms it is marketing Miller's land. The developer's envisioned $1.1-billion, three-million-sf World Expo Center enterprise bombed in 2001 when investors pulled out midway through the project's planning stage.