Osceola Developer Plans 1M-SF Outdoor Mall

ORLANDO-Osceola County, a largely rural, cattle-raising area 20 miles south of Downtown Orlando where Walt Disney World has developed half of its 30,000-acre enclave, is looking at 1.32 million sf of newly planned retail as the new year begins. That amount of new retail is unprecedented in metro Orlando development annals, brokers and planners tell GlobeSt.com.

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.