JLL to Market Portions of New TOD in Downtown Orlando

by Jeffrey Steele

Creative Village, Orlando, rendering

Orlando–Creative Village Development (CVD) has retained JLL to oversee marketing of select sites available for sale at Creative Village. A public-private partnership between the city of Orlando and CVD has resulted in the development of The Creative Village project in downtown Orlando.

According to the master development agreement, select parcels at Creative Village will be marketed to third-party buyers in multiple phases. The first phase consists of three development sites within the downtown Orlando 68-acre mixed-use project site, each programmed for multifamily development featuring a minimum of 250 units, as well as an office building and additional office/commercial/multifamily/hotel space totaling several hundred thousand feet. CVD is a joint venture between a local entity led by Ustler Development and Bank of America Community Development Corp.

“Creative Village was announced at or near the height of the recession. As a result, it has taken some time to properly align all of the tremendous resources that are now in place. That is a huge testament to the City of Orlando, CVD, Bank of America Development Corp. and UCF,” JLL Senior Vice President Aaron Gray told Multi-Housing News.

“Taking time to lay down the proper groundwork for this project resulted in an understandable degree of skepticism among some in the general public about the viability or timing of Creative Village. Now that the word is starting to get out about just how much is going to be built and delivered by the end of 2019, we are already seeing those attitudes changing. Creative Village will see over $350 million of vertical development across five projects. Once the dirt starts moving, this challenge, if it even is one, will naturally be resolved.”

Creative Village is designed to build upon the success of Orlando’s digital media industry. It will transform the former Amway Arena site into a transit-oriented urban infill neighborhood. It will be home to the University of Central Florida’s downtown campus, and a number of high-tech digital media and creative companies. Along with that development will come a 600-bed, $90 million student housing development by Ustler, with KUD International LLC as joint venture partner. A 250-unit market-rate apartment building by Ustler and a joint venture partner valued at $62.5 million will be another component of Creative Village. Additional private development will result in the construction of a 116-unit, $29 million mixed-income housing project by BACDC and Atlantic Housing Partners.

“The highest levels of JLL’s leadership are informed on the inner workings of this project and regularly provide their insight and support,” Gray said.

“We are also working with fantastic partners who are strong and visionary stakeholders. Mayor Dyer, the City of Orlando, Craig Ustler and Brooke Myers of the CVD, Dr. Hitt, Thad Seymour and the whole UCF team have collectively put an incredible amount of time and effort into the realization of Creative Village.”