New businesses entering the area are expected to make 2004 another banner year for the company which is the real estate subsidiary of defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp.
The 2003 sales include $4.2 million on 26 acres the company sold at its 911-acre Woodland Lakes development in east Orlando to the Orange County School Board. At the three parks within the 30-year-old, 4,100-acre Orlando Central Park, OCP Inc. posted $3.9 million on 17.1 acres.
On a per-sf basis, OCP's six collective sales in 2002, although lower in total dollar volume, are higher on a per-sf-price-comparison. The 2002 sales equate to $283,333 per acre or $6.50 per sf. The 2003 sales come to $187,935 per acre or $4.31 per sf. Not factoring in the 26 acres sold at Woodland Lakes, the $3.9 million booked on 17.1 acres at the three OCP parks equate to $228,070 per acre or $5.24 per sf--still below the 2002 numbers.
Although per-sf-prices are dominant factors in land sales, OCP broker J. Gary Castle, president, Castle Commercial Realty Inc., has a logical explanation. "When you combine the collective sales of property with different uses--office, quasi-retail and industrial--all of which have different prices per sf, the results of office and industrial land will, in fact, be lower per acre than all office land, as is the case here," Castle says.
The broker says "there were also other factors at work which had an impact on 2003 prices, including location, density of land use and other real estate issues." For example, Castle says the 4.3 acres sold in December to Medallion Convenience Stores Inc. had several factors that lowered the cost per acre. "Besides soil issues, it included acreage that was part of a wetland area. As a result, not all of the property was developable."
Further, Castle says, the sale of land is "not a sale process where everything is fully developed and sells as is." To illustrate, he cites the one-acre parcel OCP sold for $145,000 to Villeco Cheese Products Distributors. "It's located on Exchange Drive in Orlando Central Park, an area designated as industrial in nature and use. However, the lot is very shallow in depth, therefore commanding the lower end of the industrial cost-per-acre spectrum."
OCP Inc. president Jeff Troan says the strong 2003 land sales performance is "a sign that the commercial/industrial real estate market has come out of the doldrums." The company had three separate closings in December, "a great way to finish the year and build momentum for 2004."
More than half of the 17.1 acres sold last year in the three OCP-based parks occurred in December over a three-day span. Norbert Corp., Medallion Convenience Stores Inc. and Villeco Cheese Products Distributors of Italy paid about $1.7 million for 9.3 acres in Orlando Central Park, Orlando Central Park South and SouthPark.
The largest of the December deals was a four-acre parcel at Commodity Circle and John Young Parkway which Norbert Corp. bought for $897,000 or $5.15 per sf.
The single largest transaction was the $995,041 purchase by Equity Row Partners Inc. of 4.3 acres at Commodity Circle and Equity Row in SouthPark. The price equates to $231,405 per acre or $5.31 per sf. Equity bought the property for Island One Resorts which is building a new corporate timeshare headquarters on the site.
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