Osceola to turn old Publix location into sheriff ’s station for tourist strip
Osceola County commissioners have agreed to pay $5.5 million for a former Publix grocery store in the tourism corridor to convert to a Westside Command Center for the sheriff. The grocery store at 2925 International Drive, just north of U.S. 192, had been vacant since Publix opened its Celebration store more than six years ago. The grocer maintained its lease, which had a noncompete clause, preventing the landlord from signing another supermarket.
The property is part of the 200-acre masterplanned Xentury City development, which is home to the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center. Xentury City President Nick Pope and Project Manager Dimitri Toumazos told the addition of a new westside sheriff’s office will benefit the entire tourism corridor.
“It will add a measure of safety to Xentury City and the entire vicinity, as well,” Pope said. “The county has agreed to design the facade in a manner similar to the Five-Points substation and to upgrade the landscaping. We’re very pleased that this is going to move forward.”
Sheriff Russ Gibson and County Manager Don Fisher first presented the idea of opening a command center there in June, shortly after it hit the market for $5.8 million.
Fisher estimated it could take up to three years before the Sheriff’s Office could occupy it.
A new study commissioned by the Florida Department of Transportation has confirmed what local transit enthusiasts have promised: SunRail is proving to be a good investment.
Property values around the first 12 stations increased by $2.4 billion (63 percent) from 2011-2017, and FDOT estimates that $1.19 billion of that is directly attributable to SunRail. Each station has drawn new development, and most experienced a sharp increase in property values that outpaced their surrounding areas by nearly 23 percent.
The research team from Florida State University first analyzed the property value impact of SunRail in 2015, but at that time, the system had only been operational for two years. Now, with three more years of data, the team determined that property values in the station areas are escalating at a higher rate as the system matures.
In 2016, for example, the station area property values grew at twice the rate as their surrounding neighborhoods. Last year the station area values grew at seven times the rate of the comparable neighborhoods.
Investment and appreciation around the stations have generated $18 million in taxable revenue for the local jurisdictions. But higher property values haven’t always translated to increased revenues be- cause so much of the property around the two hospital stations is tax exempt.
Like its companion ridership study by MetroPlan Orlando, the property value analysis did not take into account the SunRail’s southern extension, which opened this past summer.
is prepping its second “Neo” branded mixed-use development on a 27-acre parcel in the heart of the Four Corners submarket.
Senior Project Manager Robert Mick and his development team are scheduled to meet with Polk County’s Development Review Committee this week to discuss preliminary plans for the site that fronts on U.S. 27, just south of U.S. 192.
Park Square introduced its “Neo” brand in October with the unveiling of the design for Neo at Kissimmee, a 17-acre mixed-use development next to Valencia College. Mick told
the Four Corners project would be developed in phases, with the apartments first. Later phases could include four-story hotel, an office building and approximately 20,000 square feet of retail and dining.