New Mixed Use Project in Orlando’s Packing District; October 7, 2021

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Packing District warehouses give way to make room for more apartments

By 
GROWTHSPOTTER 
OCT 06, 2021  1:45 PM

The four parcels in blue will be the site for Embrey Development's second apartment complex in the Packing District. Outlined in red is the K and D Investments property where the owners are seeking entitlements for 600 residential units and 20,000 square feet of office and retail uses.
The four parcels in blue will be the site for Embrey Development’s second apartment complex in the Packing District. Outlined in red is the K and D Investments property where the owners are seeking entitlements for 600 residential units and 20,000 square feet of office and retail uses. (Orange County Property Appraiser/HDSi)

Dr. Phillips Charities, master developer of the 202-acre Packing District has applied for demolition permits for four buildings fronting on Orange Blossom Trail southwest of Princeton Street. Two of the buildings had previously been identified as potential sites for adaptive reuse in the Packing District master plan, but they will instead be razed to make way for a second phase of apartments by Embrey Partners which is now leasing in The Cannery apartments in the district.

Texas-based Embrey Partners has filed a master plan with the city of Orlando for the 350-unit multifamily community. The location sits directly across Orange Blossom Trail from the Packing District food hall, which has an approved master plan. No construction plans have been submitted for the food hall, which is one of the only buildings that will feature an adaptive reuse redevelopment.

A new Publix will anchor the retail center just south of The Cannery at the Packing District apartments.
A new Publix will anchor the retail center just south of The Cannery at the Packing District apartments. (Handout)

The Cannery offers 307 residential units immediately north of the Publix-anchored shopping center. Featured amenities include a pool and courtyard; two additional courtyards with entertainment areas; a lounge with roof deck; a resident lounge, a Wi-Fi lounge and game room; fitness facility with yoga and spin rooms; a dog park and dog wash; a bike shop; micro offices and a package room.

Meanwhile, the owners of Princeton Commerce Center, an 83,750-square-foot warehouse complex at the corner of Princeton Street and Texas Avenue, are also seeking approval for a new mixed-use planned development to complement the Packing District.  Jim Hall with HDSi has submitted a framework master plan for the 10-acre site that creates a pair of mixed-use residential buildings with a maximum height of 100 feet, structured parking and allowances for 600 residential units. A new east-west road would bisect the project, which would have apartment buildings on either side, and would provide cross access to the new YMCA facility next door. Up to 20,000 square feet of combined office and retail uses would occupy the ground floors of the buildings, fronting on the new thru road. The project would be divided into two phases with each able to function as stand-alone developments.

Hall said he is working on behalf of K and D Investments, which has owned the property since 1999. “We’re just taking it through entitlements, and then they’ll be able to take it to market,” he said.