MIAMI—Is there a growing connection between South Florida and Central Florida on the commercial real estate front? Kevin Mays, BTI Partners' director of development and construction, thinks so.

“Absolutely,” Mays tells GlobeSt.com. “BTI has been developing in South Florida for over 50 years so we have seen the market mature to a point where we had to start looking outside the region to find opportunistic and value-add real estate investments on behalf of BTI principals, high-net worth individuals and institutional partners.”

Mays points to real estate companies like Related Group, Lennar Homes, Kolter Group and American Land Ventures as other examples of this northward migration trend. Many real estate developers, he says, are betting on Central Florida because that's where job and population growth is gaining momentum.