Orlando Power Center Changes Hands

By Gail Kalinoski

The Crosslands

Orlando—HFF did double duty recently with the sale of The Crosslands, a 530,816-square-foot power center in Kissimmee, Fla. The firm closed on the $121 million sale and arranged $49 million in financing for the new owner.

HFF brokered the sale on behalf of the sellers, O’Connor Capital Partners and Tupperware Brands Corp., who jointly developed the 71-acre shopping center near Orlando. The Hampshire Cos., a Morristown, N.J.-based privately held real estate firm and real estate investment fund manager, was the buyer. O’Connor, which has its headquarters in New York City and offices in Palm Beach, Fla., and Mexico City, is retaining an interest in the property and continuing with leasing and management responsibilities.

The HFF investment sales and debt team was led by Senior Managing Director & Co-head of HFF’s Retail Group Daniel Finkle, Senior Managing Director Jon Mikula, managing directors Chris Drew and Michael Klein and Associate Director Brian Gaswirth.

In addition to marketing the property, HFF also placed a seven-year, fixed-rate loan with Principal Real Estate Investors for The Hampshire Cos.

Located at the intersection of West Osceola Parkway and Orange Blossom Trail, the shopping center is less than 8 miles from Walt Disney World, Sea World and Universal Studios. Phase I, with approximately 427,000 square feet of space, was completed in 2014, while the smaller Phase II portion of the property is nearly completed. The two phases are 99 percent leased to national and regional retailers including The Fresh Market, 24 Hour Fitness, Burlington Stores, Academy Sports, Havertys Furniture, Hobby Lobby, Marshalls, Home Goods, Forever 21 RED, PetSmart, Five Below, Boot Barn, Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen, Dollar Tree, Party City and Outback Steakhouse.

“The Crosslands’ unique combination of location, accessibility and visibility made this an ideal position for several of the industry’s most sought after retailers and a highly-desirable investment opportunity,” Finkle said in a prepared statement.

A record 66.1 million people visited Orlando last year, up 5.5 percent from 2014—making it the most visited destination in the United States, according to the Visit Orlando, the area’s tourism association. Tourism to the region has more than doubled over the past 20 years, the association noted.

“Orlando and its submarkets have been an incredibly hot market, with a burgeoning tech-sector, massive improvements to its infrastructure and investments by the Universal and Walt Disney resorts resulting in a sharp increase in tourism to the already most-visited city in America,” Robert Schmitt, a principal in The Hampshire Cos., said in a statement obtained by the Orlando Sentinel.

William O’Connor, CEO of O’Connor Capital Partners, an institutional real estate investment, management and development firm, also talked about the region’s “strong economic and demographic trends.”

“Orlando is one of the top-performing markets in the country, with strong supply and demand fundamentals driving tremendous economic and employment growth, which is a positive indicator for continued top performance for well-located assets such as The Crosslands,” O’Connor said in prepared remarks.

The Crosslands is near Tupperware’s headquarters located on the border of Orange and Osceola counties. Tupperware’s development company, Deerfield Land Corp., is paying roughly $6 million to rebuild a road by its corporate campus that will also lead to a new Tupperware/Osceola Parkway SunRail commuter rail station, according to the Orlando Business Journal.