New Kelly Park project ramps up in Apopka with homes, shops
Plans have been filed for a $70 million mixed-use project in the Kelly Park area of Apopka, where a swarm of development is in the pipeline.
Why this matters: The area around the interchange of State Road 429and West Kelly Park Road has attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in investment, with more to follow, which will create jobs and business opportunities for area contractors, vendors and more. For instance, this new development entering the pipeline is adjacent to a 250-acre development planned by Vero Beach-based Evans Properties. Orlando-based Benge Development Corp. is the developer and applicant behind plans for a mixed-use project at 3951 W. Kelly Park Road Tony Benge, president of Benge Development, told Orlando Business Journal he’s under contract to buy roughly 16 acres from owner Ward Family Partners Ltd., though he declined to disclose the sales price. The deal should close early next year, he added. The intent is to develop 300 garden-style apartments behind two commercial outparcels on the property fronting West Kelly Park Road. Benge is working with GAI Consultants Inc. on land planning and he estimates the project’s total cost at about $70 million.
Benge’s group is seeking a rezoning with the city of Apopka that would change the property’s zoning designation from “transitional”— a low-density designation given to lands annexed into the city —to “Kelly Park Interchange District Mixed-Use.” Once the project gets through the municipal process with the city of Apopka — which Benge complimented for being “great to work with” — he said it’ll be off to the races to get dirt turning. “Everybody is going as fast as they can. About mid-next year, it should be rolling. “The Benge Development project will rise just across West Kelly Park Road from a 250-acre project being developed by Kelly Park VB Development LLC, an entity related to Vero Beach-based Evans Properties. That project will have 2,931 apartment homes and 2.9million square feet of commercial space.
Benge’s group also is involved in the under-construction Floridian Town Center, a $500 million-plus project near the intersection of State Road 429 and U.S. 441. He previously called Apopka “a quiet boom town “for its massive potential. However, it may not be so quiet anymore, as more developers eye projects in the northwest Orange suburb. Frank Silverman, a managing partner for Vision Development, who is not involved with the project, previously told OBJ the new development in the municipality makes it attractive for more projects. “Apopka has grown by leaps and bounds.”
Meanwhile, Benge Development’s future apartments would be built in the Northwest Orlando multifamily submarket, which had 672multifamily units delivered in the past 12 months and has an additional 4,153 under construction — second-highest among metro Orlando submarkets, according to CoStar Group. The submarket’s average monthly apartment rent is $1,654, and its average vacancy rate is 5.1%, compared to the Orlando metro’s averages of $1,786 and 6.1%. Sign up here for our free morning and afternoon daily newsletters. And be sure to follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.