Local developers Tom Ustler and Bill Fagan of Ustler/Fagan Inc. paid an average $93,960 per acre, or $2.16 per sf, for a total 74.5 prime, mixed-use-zoned acres in the center of Ocoee, a local bedroom community and a vibrant commercial-residential-retail development hub, seven miles west of Downtown.
The developers plan to break ground by December on 16 acres of commercial, retail and office space, with possibly a hotel. Later development phases will include 35 acres for single-family houses and 14.5 acres for multifamily development. The project already is 78% under-contract or pre-leased.
The land was purchased from two owners--the Kazaros family which has owned 65.5 acres for 50 years and the Kent family which owned nine acres. "Their land was in high demand, based on the amount of growth that Ocoee has experienced," says Morris. The nine acres from the Kent family will provide needed frontage for the commercial development.
"We had the properties under contract twice before, but Ocoee's strict guidelines made the project difficult to support financially," says Morris-Webster. "The developers will be helping the community by improving Blackwood Avenue and creating a road network that will connect with Montgomery Avenue."
The brokers say they offered the land to Ustler/Fagan, "knowing they could produce the type of development the city of Ocoee would appreciate."
The Kazaros-Kent land is in a hot development core. A new Super Wal-Mart and the expanded Health Central Hospital are across the road; a 32,000-sf strip center is being developed nearby, along the State Road 50 (Colonial Drive) frontage east of Blackwood Avenue; 50 acres of single-family and multifamily parcels are under contract in the immediate area; and a bank has contracted for a branch center at the corner of Blackwood Avenue and State Road 50.
"The Kazaros family has resided in Central Florida for many generations and watch the developments grow around their groves," adds Morris.
The mother-daughter team has closed four deals this year valued at $22 million. The transactions include the sale of 75 acres of undeveloped land, 50 hotel units, and 100,000 sf of commercial space.
Continue Reading for Free
Register and gain access to:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
