Packing District warehouse to transform into office building
One of the key components of The Packing District will be the reuse of industrial buildings throughout the 202-acre mixed-use district west of College Park. Now Dr. Phillips Charities, master developer of the project, has filed plans with the city to make that vision a reality.
The developer filed design plans for a small brick warehouse office built in 1956 to convert the 4,800-squarefoot building into an office building. Dr. Phillips President Ken Robinson said the design plan calls for a covered outdoor lounge area at the rear of the building that will back out onto the future trail in the community.
“We’re doing the adaptive reuse of that building at-risk,” Robinson said. The interior will be rebuilt and restrooms moved from the rear of the building closer to the front. The entrance will be brought up to ADA standards with a new wheelchair ramp and enhanced with planters.
The building at 1900 Diversified Way was one of 14 in the district identified in the master plan as having potential for adaptive reuse. “These buildings have shown potential by having a unique or desirable architectural character,” the plan states.
Two of the buildings fronting on South Orange Blossom Trail identified for potential adaptive reuse will instead be razed to make way for a second phase of apartments by Embrey Partners, which is now leasing in The Cannery apartments in the district. Several of the larger warehouse buildings owned by Dr. Phillips have active tenants with years remaining on their leases.
Another, the 1930s-era Great Southern Box Company building at 2105 N. Orange Blossom Trail, will be converted later this year into a food hall and event space.
Vaping executives buy penthouse suite
Two executives in the vaping industry are the latest investors to take in downtown Orlando’s skyline from a penthouse suite on the 16th floor of The Plaza at Orange Avenue and Church Street.
Sean Sleiman and Sonny Westmoreland Jr., owners of Monster Vape Labs, paid $2.65 million in November 2021 for the entire 16th floor of the north tower, which includes a 10,891-squarefoot contemporary penthouse unit and its accompanying 10,000-square-foot panoramic sky terrace.
Roger Soderstrom Jr. and John Kurtz, brokers with Stirling International Real Estate, represented the seller ACM DT Properties, LLC ,a Florida-based real estate firm.
“This extraordinary penthouse unit, with high-end custom appointments, spacious indoor and outdoor workspaces, and 360-degree views of Lake Eola and the downtown Orlando area, is ideal for a regional or U.S. headquarters,” Soderstrom said, “and definitely an investor confidence booster.”
Features include more than multiple private offices and open workspaces with floor-to-ceiling windows, a private elevator lobby and a catering kitchen.
The buyers own several vape shops and a 47,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Orlando that produces their products. They are customizing the office space, which will serve as their new corporate headquarters for Monster Labs, with executive offices as well as accounting, sales and marketing departments.
They were represented by Mike Stewart of Southern Realty Group. He told GrowthSpotter the buyers looked at several locations for the office but chose The Plaza penthouse for its prime location and outdoor space, which is perfect for their vaping parties and other marketing events.
“They decided they wanted to be downtown,” Stewart said. “They love the skyline, and one of the owners is a big (Orlando) Magic fan, so he’s down there quite a bit.”
The Plaza, comprised of two office towers with approximately 400,000 square feet, a residential condominium tower, and a ground-floor retail area that includes a movie theater, was built in 2006 and 2007.
This is a sampling of stories from GrowthSpotter, a premium subscription service from the Orlando Sentinel that focuses on the early stages of real estate development. To subscribe, go to GrowthSpotter.com