Job Growth will drive Occupancy, New Apartment Development in Orlando Region, says Leading Analyst

ORLANDO, FL --- Positive signs for Central Florida job growth, including development of new healthcare and medical research facilities in east Orlando, will likely drive rental apartment occupancies and new development in the Central Florida region over the next few years, says a leading multi-family development executive.

Cole Whitaker,(top right photo) Orlando partner of Hendricks & Partners, one of the nation’s leading multi-family development consultants, said the slowdown in rental apartment development over the last few years is another contributing factor.

“I think occupancies are going to strengthen and we’ll see some real rent growth, especially in 2009 and into 2010,” Whitaker said.

Whitaker, who has negotiated sales of Central Florida rental apartment properties and development sites that total more than three billion dollars since 1983, said a growth boom could emerge quickly in south Orange County and Osceola County over the next two years.

(Post Lake Apartments at Baldwin Park, Orlando, middle left photo)

“With more than a half a dozen major new apartment developments planned along the U.S. 192 corridor, Osceola County is expected to grow faster than any of the other five counties in the region,” he said.

“Osceola County’s Growth Management Plan currently shows six large Developments of Regional Impact planned to accommodate more than 30,000 housing units east of Lake Toho,” Whitaker said. “Most of those DRIs include apartment zoning,” he said.

New healthcare and medical research facilities under development in east Orlando, including the University of Central Florida College of Medicine and the Burnham Institute for Medical Research near Lake Nona, will drive development of ancillary and support facilities in that area, Whitaker said.

“We will see a number of new high-end apartment projects in southeast Orlando to serve those populations,” he added.

(Camden Lee Vista Apartments near Orlando International Airport, , bottom right photo)

For more information, contact:

Cole Whitaker, Partner, Hendricks & Partners, 407-256-9594
Don Hendricks, Chairman/CEO Hendricks & Partners 602-912-1620
Larry Vershel, Larry Vershel Communications 407-644-4142