Madsen, principal of real estate brokerage Taylor & Mathis of Florida who represents office building owners in Maitland, said not only will construction of the new $60 million mixed-use project bring some much-needed amenities to the area, it also will help connect the struggling Maitland Center office complex on the west side of Interstate 4 with the rest of the city.
The 96-acre site owned by Winter Park-based Battaglia Group Management LLC is one of the last remaining open large parcels in Maitland that can be developed. Plans for the site on Maitland Boulevard include a 350-unit luxury residential rental community, both apartments and “Big House” townhome units, by Miami-based Related Development LLC, an entity related to The Related Group. Along with that, a 130,000-square-foot specialty grocer-anchored shopping center will be built by Lake Mary-based Pelloni Development Corp.
Some residents have opposed the project, saying that a new commercial development will mar their views from the other side of the three lakes around the property. But Madsen told Orlando Business Journal a new project on the site, which city documents call Maitland Concourse North, would help erase the psychological barrier created by I-4 and create something that would be enjoyable to all residents and workers in the area.
“Once it’s developed, it will connect the two micro-markets and create some kind of continuity for the two,” said Madsen, adding that the five Maitland office building owners that he represents are excited about the interest the new projects will bring to the area.
“The way it is right now, everybody always thought there was this divide between Maitland Center and the city of Maitland. This will be a natural connector to fill that void.”
Over the years, many companies have left their offices in the older Maitland Center for greener, amenity-rich pastures in Lake Mary and other local submarkets that offered a bigger choice of lunchtime restaurants, shops, services and after-hours venues.
But Maitland still has a large number of office properties, including five of Central Florida’s top multitenant office buildings, based on OBJ research. So, as tenants departed the submarket, the Maitland submarket’s vacancy fell to 18.5 percent, the region’s second-highest office vacancy rate in last year’s fourth quarter, Cushman & Wakefield of Florida reported.
“For the longest time, it’s been the older business park in the Orlando area and I think with all this new development, it will create a new energy,” Madsen told OBJ. “Whenever you have activity like that, it creates additional activity. Once people see a new building going up, that’s what creates the excitement — it makes it real.”