Giant Ocoee development seeks construction bids

By Teresa Burney. GrowthSpotter  

Bids are being solicited to build the first phase of City Center West Orange, a $150-million mixed-use development with nearly half a million square feet of space planned for 60 acres of lakefront land facing West Colonial Drive near the junctions of S.R. 429, S.R. 408 and the Florida Turnpike. The estimated start date for the huge project is February 2016.

Park Development Corp., led by CEO David Townsend, is gathering some traditional investors, many from other countries, and is also using the U.S. government’s EB-5 investment program for funding. EB-5 gives visas to foreign investors who contribute at least $500,000 to an investment that creates at least 10 American jobs for 24 months. The project is expected to create 4,320 jobs.

The development could be a city unto itself with a Hotel/Motel branded as a Hilton Garden Inn, medical offices, 1,734 units of multi-family residential, potential municipal use, offices, parking garage, restaurant, retail and a conference/convention center. Here are the project elements up for the first phase bid:

• A nine-story, 1,734-unit residential building
• 70,000-square-foot conference/convention center
• Six-story parking garage
• 150,000 square feet of retail development
• 100,000-square-foot office development, municipal facility
• A medical facility
• Paving

The developer is not looking for a general contractor bid before the first quarter of 2016. A schedule for the second and third phases hasn’t been set.