Development group revives plans for south Orlando retail center (from Orlando Business Journal)

An Ohio shopping center development firm is reviving plans for an abandoned retail center near Orlando International Airport.

Beachwood, Ohio-based Developers Diversified Realty, which in March 2010 took possession of the foreclosed 74-acre former Current at Lee Vista site on State Road 436 and Hazeltine National Drive, now wants to restart work on the project. Original developer Premier Properties USA Inc. of Indianapolis, which had planned for a 675,000-square-foot retail center, began and then halted work in 2008 after filing for bankruptcy protection.

Now, Developers Diversified is seeking approval from the city of Orlando to remove a planned 150-room hotel, reconfigure the town center and add a 2,500-seat movie theater. Target Corp., which owns a 14.5-acre site, still is expected to anchor the project with a 185,334-square-foot SuperTarget, according to the revised master plan. The Current at Lee Vista site has been dormant since 2008.

The new plan is slated to go before the city's Municipal Planning Board on May 17, and the developer wants to break ground in 2012 for a 2013 completion, sources said.

Representatives from Developers Diversified Realty didn't respond by press time, but the local real estate community is buzzing about the rekindled project, since the market hasn't seen a new large-scale retail project in nearly three years. It likely would attract tourists, since it's on the main corridor heading north from Orlando International Airport. "We're excited about the retail, dining and entertainment options this new development will bring," said city spokeswoman Cassandra Lafser.

Retail agents said it's a killer location. Existing area restaurants Miller's Orlando Ale House, Chili's, TGI Friday's, LongHorn Steakhouse and more - are among the chains' top performers.

"State Road 436 is heavily trafficked and you've got 50 million people visiting Orlando, so this is the entrance to the city from the airport," said Jorge Rodriguez, director of retail for commercial real estate brokerage firm Colliers International in Orlando. "As far as the real estate, that's a hot market."

However, there are some challenges: The Lake Nona/Southeast Orange submarket, which Rodriguez includes the Lee Vista area, saw little change in fourth-quarter vacancy rates, from 13.1 percent in 2009 to 13.2 percent in 2010, Colliers International said. Average asking lease rates also fell in that period, from $16.16 per square foot in 2009 to $14.17 per square foot in 2010.

But the submarket managed to fill 45,401 square feet of vacated retail space in 2010, while 110,691 square feet of retail space was vacated and remained empty, known as negative absorption, a year earlier.

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