New $65M-plus Lake Mary luxury apartments to go vertical this summer

Dirt is moving on a site being primed for a $65 million-plus luxury apartment complex in Lake Mary’s now-developing Midtown district.

Altamonte Springs-based Roger B. Kennedy Construction expects to begin vertical construction in June on Drake at Midtown, an upscale, five-story, 263-unit apartment community that’s part of Unicorp National Developments Inc.’s $200 million Griffin Farms at Midtown mixed-use development.

DeWitt Excavating Inc. in Winter Garden began site work in late February on the site, which surrounds Wheelhouse Lane south of West Lake Mary Boulevard. Maitland-based Slocum Plattts Architects PA is the architect on the project, which is scheduled for a June 2018 completion.

Drake at Midtown will include two clubhouses:

• The 11,115-square-foot, two-story Building I clubhouse will feature a gathering kitchen; lounge/seating and gaming/lounge seating separated by a two-sided fireplace; the property’s leasing center; fitness center; business center; conference room; theater; kid’s playroom; yoga/aerobics room; rentable storage lockers; mail room; screened-in lanai; and restrooms.
• The 2,579-square-foot Building II clubhouse will include a club room, lounge seating with gathering kitchen, mail room and restroom.

Other community amenities are a 2,180-square-foot swimming pool with spa, built-in gas grills, seating areas, fire pit, oversized checker board, bocce ball court and fountain.

Subcontractors and vendors interested in working on the project are asked to visit Roger B. Kennedy Construction’s online bidroom.

Griffin Farms at Midtown, being developed by Unicorp and Orlando-based Project Finance & Development LLC, also will include a $20 million, 150,000-square-foot specialty grocer-anchored shopping center — possibly a Trader Joe’s— along with a five-level parking garage and Griffin Park, a 128-home, gated “Baldwin Park-like” luxury residential community by David Weekley Homes — the last of which was an honoree for Orlando Business Journal’s inaugural Residential Real Estate Awards.

A groundbreaking ceremony for Griffin Farms at Midtown was held in October on the former cow pasture sandwiched between the city’s two big job centers. The project is expected to create nearly 2,000 temporary construction jobs and 415 permanent jobs, as previously reported by OBJ.

It’s also bringing a much-needed mix of housing to Lake Mary, a fast-growing business hub with big-name employers like Verizon Communications Inc.(NYSE: VZ), Deloitte, AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) and Kroger Co.’s (NYSE: KR) related Axium Healthcare Pharmacy Inc.

Read more of OBJ’s previous coverage of Griffin Farms at Midtown and come back to OrlandoBusinessJournal.com for updates.