Unicorp Lands $21M Loan for Orlando-Area Retail Project

Celebration Pointe. Image courtesy of Centennial Bank

Unicorp National Developments has scored $21 million in financing from Centennial Bank for the second phase of Celebration Pointe, a 109,000-square-foot retail center. The project is underway in Celebration, Fla., the master-planned community originally developed by The Walt Disney Co. According to Osceola County records, Unicorp purchased the development site from Walt Disney Imagineering for $13.6 million. Groundbreaking is slated for December, or the first quarter of 2020 at the latest, with an estimated completion of 18 months.

Celebration Pointe sits at the busy intersection of Interstate 4 and World Drive, where the daily traffic count reaches 210,000 cars. The property is 5 miles northeast of downtown Celebration and 18 miles southwest of downtown Orlando. Walt Disney World Resort, visited annually by 55 million tourists, is 4.4 miles northwest.

Celebration Pointe’s phase two totals 84,000 square feet and will have Dave & Busters and a supermarket chain as anchor tenants. Other confirmed tenants at the property include Dunkin Donuts, Walgreens and Burger King, bringing the current total occupancy at 56 percent. The retail center will mainly serve a population of more than 15,000 residents living within a 3-mile radius and having an average household income of more than $133,000.

In March, InvenTrust purchased two retail assets developed by Unicorp in Winter Park, Fla. The 76,000-square-foot portfolio sold for more than $63 million.