Park Square adds 110-room hotel pad and fitness center to UCF-area retail site

Park Square Enterprises will announce a national fitness center anchor tenant this week that has been the catalyst for a complete re-envisioning of its plans for Park Square Plaza near UCF.

When Park Square Homes CEO Suresh Gupta purchased the 12.5-acre site on the 12000 block East Colonial Dr. in 2016, he planned to develop retail along the highway frontage and pursue rezoning for multifamily use.

The college campus has attracted several multifamily developments recently, including the Core Spaces student housing development and a second complex by Catalyst Development Partners that will mirror its popular EOS Apartments. 

Park Square had initially planned to seek rezoning for a 250-unit apartment complex. 

Ali Mushtaq, senior adviser for SVN, told GrowthSpotter on Monday the developers were approached by a national gym tenant with a strong interest in locating there. The Guptas scrapped the apartments and filed a new retail-focused site plan last week with the St. Johns River Water Management District.

The site plan shows a 37,005-square-foot anchor space for the user, along with 8,550 square feet of in-line retail. Construction is scheduled to start in October with a planned 2018 opening.

"We are seeking a restaurant user end-cap with 1,000 square feet of patio space," Mushtaq said.

The company has already signed Tampa-based fast-casual chain PDQ to the outparcel adjacent to the Congo River Golf site, according to the site plan. It's one of seven locations in the works now in Central Florida. 

Park Square also has a 1.4-acre outparcel fronting Colonial (available for ground lease or build-to-suit) and a 110-key hotel pad, Mushtaq said. 

"The hotel pad is available for sale," he said. "The asking price is $2 million, and it can be delivered pad-ready."

The development team includes AVID Engineering and Eleven 18 Architecture. Hawkins Construction is the general contractor for infrastructure, site development and the retail building shells. 

Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at lkinsler@GrowthSpotter.com or (407)420-6261, or tweet me at @LKinslerOGrowth. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.