(Carl Cronan is editor of Real Estate Florida.)
ORLANDO, FL-Lane Florida LLC is moving ahead with its planned 19-story luxury apartment building called The Montage, with a groundbreaking ceremony scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. The $50-million project has been in the works since it was announced in July 2007.
Besides being the only high-rise apartment project to start in Downtown Orlando this year, Lane plans to seek LEED Silver certification on the building, making it the city's first environmentally sustainable rental community, according to Mike Mulhall, the company's regional development partner. He says he isn't concerned about the timing of the project's start, in the midst of a faltering national economy, because it will be finished by spring 2010 in time for the presumed recovery.
"We think that by the time we deliver our first units, we will be the first new product to be delivered in the foreseeable future," Mulhall tells GlobeSt.com. Besides the fact that Orlando's economy is faring better than most major US cities, he says the "green" status of the 183-unit complex will attract a greater number of environmentally conscious residents in years to come.
The Montage will add to Orlando's growing metropolitan apartment inventory, which totaled more than 146,000 units at midyear, according to Cushman & Wakefield Inc. The brokerage believes occupancy should continue to rise from its current 90% as long as job and population growth continue to outpace new supply, estimated at 2,750 units through the second half of 2008.
Apartment owners and operators remain somewhat optimistic about the multifamily sector from a national standpoint, based on executives' comments at this week's National Multi Housing Council Apartment Strategies Update in Washington, DC. Despite numerous job layoffs so far this year and the US unemployment rate reaching a five-year high of 6%, apartment vacancy levels remain in single-digit range while rent growth is tracking positive over the past year.
The Montage's prime location in Downtown Orlando, a block south of Lake Eola, will be another attractive quality, Mulhall says. Lane controls nearly two blocks along Lake Avenue between Pine and Mariposa streets, with two more LEED-certified towers planned at the site in future phases starting in 2010.
"A lot of municipalities are starting to demand it," Mulhall says of LEED certification for new commercial projects. "People definitely look for that."Lane Florida, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Lane Co., is also leasing Verano Apartment Homes, a 384-unit complex in Osceola County. It is also in the demolition phase on a six-story apartment development in Tampa's Westshore submarket that is slated for completion late next year, Mulhall says.
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