February 4, 2008 Monday

$17M medical center to rise in Celebration

By: Jerry W. Jackson, Sentinel Staff Writer

Commercial construction continues to defy the real estate slowdown in the Orlando area. This week The Shermen Group LLC, a full-service real estate company with offices in New York, Boston and Celebration, breaks ground on a $17 million project called Celebration Blvd. Medical Center.

The 90,000-square-foot, four-story medical-office center, located on Celebration Boulevard, has frontage along Interstate 4 and will house doctors, other medical professionals and health-care providers serving residents of Celebration, Osceola County and surrounding areas.

Francis Jenkins, managing partner of The Shermen Group, said the building "has already begun attracting tenants at a brisk pace."

The complex is being built on 7 acres that The Shermen Group bought from The Celebration Co. in 2007. It is the last available lot in Celebration designated specifically for medical-office use, independent of the hospital system. Shermen has a $17 million construction loan from Fifth Third Bank and has received all of the government entitlements necessary, including special medical entitlements.

John Stephens, senior vice president and head of commercial banking for Fifth Third in Central Florida, said the bank is busy lending and growing in the region and plans to open more banking centers in Osceola County during the year.

Matt Kelly, president of The Celebration Co., said The Shermen Group's plans complement the existing buildings along Celebration Boulevard. Cooper Robertson & Partners provided the design. The architect-of-record, C4 Architecture, used Cooper's schematic drawings to create construction drawings for the project. The general contractor is Whiting Turner Contracting Co.

Construction

Palmer Electric Co., Central Florida's longest continuously operating electrical contracting and service company, has won a $10 million-plus contract with The Hunt Construction Group, one of the nation's largest construction companies, for electrical work at The Waldorf-Astoria Orlando. The 14-story project is under construction in Bonnet Creek Resort near Walt Disney World. The 500,000-square-foot hotel will have 392 rooms, and when complete in late 2009, will be the newest member of Hilton Hotel Corp.'s luxury brand of resort properties. Palmer, founded in 1951, is based in Winter Park and has an office in Kissimmee. The company employs 450; the president is Tom Beard.

Orlando-based general contractor R.C. Stevens Construction Co. has completed the $3.5 million, 11,000-square-foot meeting-hall expansion for the Episcopal Church of the Messiah in Winter Garden. It also finished a 4,473-square-foot branch for CFE Federal Credit Union in Oviedo. An identical branch in Fern Park will be completed in March. Both credit union offices are one-story, full-service structures, with walk-up and drive-through ATMs.

Altamonte Springs-based Tilt- Con Corp. completed the 1800 Boca Center Office Building, Phase I, a four-story, 147,365-square-foot structure, as well as a four-story, 174,000-square-foot parking garage, under its contract with Codina Construction. The Boca Raton projects were designed by RLC Architects P.A. of Boca Raton.

Orlando-based Johnson-Laux Construction "fast-tracked" the $4.6 million, 74,000-square-foot Burlington Coat Factory at Osceola Square Mall in Kissimmee, finishing it in only 4 1/2 months, or 2 1/2 months ahead of its original schedule, according to company President Kevin Johnson. Reprise Design Inc. of Burnsville, Minn., was architect for the project on West Vine Street.

Leases

Woolbright Development said a Marshall's department store has signed a lease for 28,000 square feet in the Wekiva Riverwalk center in Apopka. Brahm Scoler, leasing agent with Woolbright, handled the transaction.

Winter Park- based Taurus Southern Investments LLC announced that VaxDesign has occupied 17,699 square feet of space under a five-year lease at Taurus Southern's new, 75,000-square-foot Challenger South, Phase II, flex-tech building in Central Florida Research Park in east Orange County. VaxDesign is an emerging biotechnology company that combines immunology with engineering. Taurus Southern's Jeff McFadden, managing partner, and Director of Leasing Heidi C. Adams represented the landlord in the transaction. Steve Coughlin of Coughlin Commercial in Orlando represented the tenant.

Cushman & Wakefield of Florida Inc. announced that eSchool Solutions has signed a long-term lease for 15,000 square feet of offices at 604 Courtland St.near Interstate 4 and Lee Road. Matthew McKeever, senior director of office brokerage services, and associate Douglas Eber, both in the company's Orlando office, represented the tenant. The deal included free rent for two months and furnishings.

Sales

William "Bo" Bradford and Tom McFadden of Southern Commercial Real Estate Advisors completed the sale of a 24,120-square-foot industrial office/warehouse in Apopka. It was built in 1999. The buyer, Selma II LLC, is out of Altamonte Springs and was represented by Kathryn Thornburg of Certified Sales Professionals. Bradford and McFadden represented the seller, L&B Properties LLC of Longwood. The sale value was just under $2 million, or $75.66 a square foot, which shows the rising value of industrial product in the Orlando market, as the same property sold in 2005 for $39.24 a square foot.

Milestone

SchenkelShultz Architecture celebrates 50 years in business this year. The firm's Orlando office has made its presence felt through the years as one of the leading designers of commercial projects, notably schools. About 100 K-12 schools throughout the region have been designed by SchenkelShultz.

CONTACT:

Jerry W. Jackson can be reached at jwjackson@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5721.

Copyright 2008 Sentinel Communications Co.