Emerson Pays 46 Cents per SF for 20 More Acres

ORLANDO-Now that the word is out, Eagle Creek Development Corp. is finding out quickly how land prices shoot up when tract owners learn of a proposed project.

Still two years away from ground-breaking, the subsidiary of locally based Emerson International Inc. paid Orlando owners Edward and Alyce Hansen $400,000 or $20,000 per acre (46 cents per sf) for 20 acres adjacent to the planned 1,209-acre project off Narcoosee Road (State Road 15) in southeast Orlando.

Two years ago, Emerson paid $10.1 million or $8,354 per acre (19 cents) per sf for its initial 1,209-acre spread. Eagle Creek is planned for 2,850 homes, 200,000 sf of retail/office, a 150-room hotel and an 18-hole championship-caliber golf course.

Orange County approved the project in June 2001. The Florida Department of Community Affairs is reviewing Eagle Creek’s master plan. Complete local, state and regional building and development permit approvals are not expected until year end 2003, state and county building permit department officials tell GlobeSt.com.

Eagle Creek follows three other successful commercial/residential undertakings in the airport axis. They are Campus Crusade for Christ which has built a $50 million international headquarters complex on Lake Hart; Wycliffe Bible Translators’ new headquarters next to the Campus Crusade property; and the 15-year-old Lake Nona golf-oriented community which has had 9,000 new homes on the drawing board for the past two years.

Emerson International has a 20-year track record in commercial, industrial and multifamily development in Central Florida. Its newest venture is CenterPointe on the Park, a 55-acre, mixed-use development in suburban Altamonte Springs, FL.

The project comprises a five-story, 100,000-sf, $18 million office building and a planned $45 million, 11-story hotel/health complex overlooking Crane’s Roost Lake. Emerson International is the U.S. division of London-based Emerson Group.