Lee Vista Promenade near Belle Isle sells for $68.5 million
Epic Theatres is one of the most prominent tenants within the Lee Vista Promenade shopping center. (Orange County Property Records)
A prominent shopping center just north of the Orlando International Airport recently sold to an international buyer.
Toronto-based Dundas Real Estate Investments purchased the Lee Vista Promenade for $68.5 million from Ohio-based Site Centers. To finance the purchase, Dundas received a $39 million loan from City National Bank of Florida.
The 313,902-square-foot shopping center at the intersection of Semoran and Lee Vista boulevards opened in 2016 and consists of 7 parcels totaling 74.25 acres. Prominent tenants include Epic Theatres, Ross Dress for Less, Michael’s, Petco, HomeGoods, Five Below, Ulta Beauty, Outback Steakhouse, Buffalo Wild Wings, Red Robin, and Rock & Brews.
A site plan of the shopping center on the Site Centers website indicates that a future 51,976-square-foot retail space is slated for vacant land directly next to the existing Beall’s Outlet store. A vacant 7.4-acre parcel south of Augusta National Drive and west of Eagle Watch Drive is also slated for future development, but the site plan doesn’t specify the proposed square footage for that lot. The City of Orlando hasn’t yet issued any building permits for future development within the shopping center.
Brad Peterson and his team at Colliers represented both the buyer and the seller. No other brokers were involved in the deal.
“It is extremely rare for a center like Lee Vista Promenade to become available on the market. Its unmatched proximity to Florida’s busiest airport, the strength of existing tenancy, and the caliber of the seller, Site Centers, made the transaction a natural fit for our growth plans in Florida,” Richard Wakeel, a Partner with Dundas Real Estate Investments, told GrowthSpotter. “The center’s undeveloped land of almost 20 acres presents an incredible opportunity to develop additional retail themes, catering for the needs and wants of the local population as well as the important tourist traffic.”
The Lee Vista Promenade consists of 313,902 square feet of retail space. The two parcels outlined in blue are set aside for future development. (Orange County Property Appraiser)
Billy Rodriguez, Colette Santana, and Brandon McCalla of JLL’s Central Florida Retail Advisory Services handle leasing for the property. Representatives from JLL declined to comment.
Dundas Real Estate Investments is a real estate investment and management firm that focuses on commercial and retail properties. The company owns and operates eight properties in the Toronto area, and now owns four properties in Florida after their recent purchase of the Lee Vista Promenade.
In 2016, the company purchased the 110,646-square-foot Ocean Walk Shoppes at 250 N. Atlantic Ave. in Daytona Beach for $8.03 million. Other Florida properties in their portfolio include a 25,678-square-foot retail center at 4370 N Federal Hwy in Fort Lauderdale and a 103,298-square-foot shopping center at 4000 N Armenia Ave in Tampa.
“We are very long-term holders and are bullish on Central Florida’s retail market, supported by a growing and diverse demographic. We are particularly drawn to the way the City of Orlando is governed with long-term goals and sustainable development in mind,” Wakeel said. “We see the airport’s annual traffic growth, the opening of Brightline station, and sizable investment by Disney and Universal as a major catalyst for the City Beautiful’s future as Florida’s premier tourist destination.”
There are several restaurants located within the Lee Vista Promenade, including a Red Robin location. (Orange County Property Records)
The sale of Lee Vista Promenade is one of the Orlando market’s largest retail transactions so far this year. In March, Winer Park-based CTO Realty Growth purchased Marketplace at Seminole Town Center for $68.7 million, narrowly beating out Lee Vista Promenade’s price tag. The 318,000-square-foot shopping center, located at 1771 WP Ball Blvd., was 98% leased with 39 tenants at the time of the sale. Peterson and his team also brokered that deal, representing the buyer and the seller.
The Lee Vista area experienced the largest commercial transaction in the Orlando market so far this year when Irvine, CA-based LBA Logistics purchased the Lee Vista Business Center for $120 million. The property is situated off Emerald Dunes Drive and includes 635,684 square feet of warehouse, office, and distribution space spread out over four buildings.
A Q2 Retail Market Report from Marcus & Millichap found that more than half of the Orlando area’s eight largest retail submarkets saw their occupancy rates increase, with Casselberry, West Colonial, and the Tourist Corridor posting the largest quarterly increases. The average multi-tenant asking rent grew by 13.4% year-over-year between March 2023 and March 2024 to $21.71 per square foot. However, single-tenant assets posted a smaller 2.1% annual increase to $24.08 per square foot. Overall, retail rents are forecasted to rise 4.7% in 2024 to an average of $23.40 per square foot at the end of the year.
The Orlando market also experienced the third-most retail asset closings among major Florida markets from April 2023 through March 2024, with only Miami and Tampa-St. Petersburg posting higher sales volume. The report notes that the Orlando retail market is expected to remain strong due to high population growth. Between 2020 and 2023, the Orlando market posted the seventh-fastest population growth percentage of metro areas with a population of over one million, and rapid population growth is expected to continue.
“The Orlando retail market is thriving, driven by strong population growth and robust demand for retail space, particularly in areas experiencing significant residential and tourism development,” stated Justin West, first vice president/regional manager of Marcus & Millichap’s Orlando office.
Additionally, the region’s strong tourism sector and growing hotel pipeline are expected to drive additional retail demand and spending. The I-Drive corridor, for example, had nearly 2,200 hotel rooms under construction as of April, which is the second-largest hotel pipeline among major U.S. submarkets.