Unicorp flips 8 retail centers to fund Creative Village, Longboat Key projects
Unicorp National Developments Inc. has unloaded eight properties in a $33.1 million portfolio sale to Crow Holdings Capital Real Estate, and will use most of that cash to fund two projects on Florida’s west coast and in downtown Orlando’s planned Creative Village.
Unicorp’s eight properties sold include:
- Metro Plaza, Metro Pointe, and Metro Crossings in Orlando
- Winter Park Terrace, Village Shoppes of Winter Park, and WPT Outparcel in Winter Park
- Brandon Commons and Lake Brandon Shoppes in Brandon
Unicorp CEO Chuck Whittall said the total portfolio consists of more than 100,000 square feet of retail space, including the Winter Park Terrace — his first retail center. “It’s always a little bittersweet. I thought about if I’d be a little sad selling my first center, but I have the center with Trader Joe’s next door that is such a nice center, so I figured it best to look forward and not backward,” he toldOrlando Business Journal.
The portfolio deal also opens up new opportunities for the Orlando developer. Specifically, Whittall said the capital from the deal will go toward many new projects, but two are at the forefront.
- The Colony, a $1 billion resort on Longboat Key on Florida’s west coast that will have a 5-star resort with 180 hotel rooms, 67 timeshare units and 180 luxury condos. That project will break ground in two years and open in 2020. “There will be a lagoon with exotic fish for snorkeling, a lazy river pool and oceanfront cabanas that will be pretty cool. To be creative on a project like that is a lot of fun,” he said, noting he paid $22 million for the property.
- A mixed-use center at downtown Orlando’s Creative Village that will have 300 apartments with some micro units — smaller apartments, roughly 200 to 300 square feet — and more than 20,000 square feet of retail. A deal on the land needed for the project will be closed by next year with plans to begin work shortly after, Whittall added.