Chuck Whittall’s Unicorp to bid out $700M worth of projects after Fed’s interest rate cut
The Federal Reserve’s Sept. 18 decision to cut interest rates by 50 basis points already is creating business opportunities in Orlando — at least $700 million worth, as one of the region’s most prominent developers told Orlando Business Journal.
Elevated interest rates long have been a complaint by developers in town, cited as a reason projects have been put on ice.
Now, the rate cut has sparked the need to have a few drinks and celebrate, said Orlando developer and Unicorp National Developments President Chuck Whittall.\
Whittall told OBJ the cut alone has given him the green light to move forward with a series of projects around Central Florida that will total more than $700 million. “We are putting projects out to bid in October … with foresight to break ground in January.”
Here’s the slate of projects Whittall and Unicorp intend to put back into motion:
- Tao Hotel at O-Town West: A 220-room luxury hotel in partnership with New York-based Tao Group Hospitality, a subsidiary of Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. (NYSE: MSGE), that could cost $200 million to build, with a Tao Asian Bistro restaurant that may raise the construction price closer to $250 million.
- Glasshouse at O-Town West phases two and three: Glasshouse is an existing 300-unit apartment complex at O-Town West that debuted in 2023. The project will get an additional 600 units for a combined $250 million.
- Selene apartments in Lake Nona area: The 300-unit apartment complex planned in the Lake Nona area for an estimated $100 million.
- Apartment Site in Horizon West: Another 300-unit apartment complex estimated at $100 million.
Despite the aggressive move forward, Whittall said he’d like to see the Fed cut the rate the remaining half a point to truly get business moving.
But for now, “we are in a debt coverage ratio to move forward,” he added.
However, not everyone supported the rate cut.
For example, Sean Snaith, director of UCF’s Institute for Economic Forecasting, prior to the Fed’s decision, told OBJ it would be unwise to make the cut right now.
“The Fed has a dual mandate. Their job is not to make Wall Street happy. Their job is to create economic conditions where there’s price stability and low levels of inflation, which they have had as their target 2%. We’re not at 2% yet,” he said. “I don’t see us as about to fall off a cliff into a recession, and we’re not there yet, as far as the inflation target.”