New Urbanism Hitting Smaller Municipalities

Downtown Orlando

ORLANDO— David Hunter , commercial director for the Central Florida office of Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT , is amped up about the commercial real estate trends he sees in Central Florida. And he’s seeing a plenty. Hunter will join a list of expert speakers at RealShare Central Florida on Sept. 7. He’s a panelist on the Active Areas: What’s Driving Commercial Real Estate session. GlobeSt.com caught up with Hunter to find out more about what he’s seeing ahead of the conference. GlobeSt.com: What are Central Florida’s most active areas? Hunter: We have seen extensive involvement along inside of the 429 Beltway, in and around I-4 and North through to Winter Garden. Additionally, we’ve had a lot of movement in the Lake Nona/Medical City area, as well as new peripheral development in and around the new Oviedo hospital area. Lastly, we seen a huge push Northwest from Apopka to Mount Dora/Eustis/Tavares areas. GlobeSt.com: How much is mixed-use gaining traction in the region and why? Hunter: New Urbanism is not only happening in the larger metropolitan areas but the smaller municipal areas like Deland and Winter Garden . I am probably more excited by this than anything else in a long time! In short, everyone from “Millennials” to “aging-in-place” seniors, share an affinity for the “walk about” communities. For the record, I see this type of mixed-use component changing the face of challenged and distressed retail centers and office parks in the near future! GlobeSt.com: What are the change agents working to transform Central Florida commercial real estate? Hunter: Technology is changing brokerage… I predict in less than three to five years, if you want to make an offer on a property, there will be an online platform for that. But brokers and salespeople who can recognize value, will always have a place in brokerage! GlobeSt.com: What’s hot and what’s not for lenders, developers and brokers? Hunter: In short, developers are still looking at single-tenant freestanding—and some double-tenant freestanding—but there is not enough retail tenant base for all of the projects coming out of the ground now. Hospitality is still active but slowing. Multifamily , in select underserved areas, are still viable but edging towards oversupplied. Lenders are slowing on both retail and multifamily —and when debt withdraws, developers realize the windows are closing. At that point, brokers start transitioning from retail/investor driven to distressed/investor driven. Steady gains in the US economy have resulted in net positives for the multifamily sector—will this wave continue for the foreseeable future? What’s driving development and capital flows? Join us at RealShare Apartments on October 19 & 20 for impactful information from the leaders in the National multifamily space. Learn more.