Fast-growing tutoring company targeting the Orlando market
Seattle-based
is planning to expand into the Orlando area and is looking for retail space to accommodate the tutoring centers.
“Next year our goal is to open 20-25 centers and at least three will be in the Orlando market,” said Sharon Peterson, Vice President, of Franchise Recruitment & Development, Best in Class Education Center.
Currently operating over 55 locations in 14 states, Best in Class helps K-12 students in many subject areas including math, English and SAT/ACT prep. There are 11 curriculum options including test prep and the offerings vary by location and time of year.
“We really cater to the needs of each individual student,” Peterson said. All of the classes are either small or private and each student goes through an evaluation process before beginning a program.
There are now three Florida locations, all in the Tampa Bay area with an additional location opening soon in Broward County. “We have three people who are in our exploration process [for potential Orlando franchisees] and are pretty close to the finish line,” Peterson said.
The target locations for the Central Florida centers are in the Hunters Creek/ Kissimmee area, Winter Park and Vista Lakes.
The Orange County school district is of particular interest to Best in Class because it is one of the largest districts in the country, Peterson said. “It’s such a large potential market to help so many kids.”
The number of colleges and universities in the area also help with recruitment for instructors. has added a new hotel to the mix of uses planned for construction next year at Hamlin Town Center in West Orange County, according to plans filed with the county.
“We are in conversations with a couple of different hotel groups,” Boyd partner Ken Kupp told
“Our exDevelopment pectation is that it would be somewhere between 125-150 units in the first hotel.”
He said Boyd filed the revised Master Development Plan to help expedite the approvals for several construction projects in the next phase of the lakefront town center at the southeast corner of Hamlin Groves Trail and New Independence Parkway.
The submittal follows a determination review last month for the 34.5-acre quadrant. The retail center is anchored by a 10-screen Cinepolis movie theater that opened in August.
The updated Preliminary Subdivision Plan, approved by Orange County Review Committee on Nov. 28, added a 26,000-square-foot building next to the movie theater and changed the square footage of several other Phase 2 buildings, resulting in an additional 33,843 square feet combined.
Kupp said Boyd will develop a food hall on the site next to Cinepolis. It’s one of several new buildings planned for construction in 2019.
Also breaking ground in the first quarter is a Valley National Bank and a trio of stand-alone restaurants by Tampa-based 23 Restaurant Services. Those are Ford’s Garage, Capone’s Coal Fired Pizza and British pub Yeoman’s Cask & Lion.
A multitenant building is already under construction on New Independence Parkway with executed leases from Tipsy Salon and The Eye Place.
The MDP includes two new buildings fronting on New Independence Parkway and several more on the southern portion of the development, including up to 32,000 square feet or dining spaces overlooking the planned boardwalk and Lake Hancock.
Kupp said that square footage would be divided among at least four buildings. “You’ll see one or two lakefront restaurants starting next year,” he said.