Author: insitere

As seen on Orlando Business Journal 

Coffee powerhouse Starbucks (Nasdaq: SBUX) has opened two new stores in Central Florida — including one that represents a first for the market — in addition to five more new locations in the construction pipeline, Orlando Business Journal has learned.

The newly opened stores are both in Seminole County, with a new location open at 3645 Aloma Ave., in unincorporated Seminole County between Oviedo and Winter Park, and the other at 3764 S. Orlando Drive, in Sanford.

According to Alex Bisbee, a commercial brokerage advisor for Insite Real Estate Inc. in Orlando who does tenant representation for the coffee chain in Central Florida, the new Sanford location is the first drive-thru-only Starbucks in metro Orlando. The 1,400-square-foot prototype eschews the chain’s typical interior cafe space in favor of a smaller building footprint and larger drive-thru infrastructure on the property.

In addition to those two stores, Bisbee confirmed five additional Starbucks locations that are currently under construction:

• 4300 Alafaya Trail, south of Oviedo and adjacent the University of Central Florida
• 410 Myrtle Street, in Longwood
• 4115 Town Center Blvd., in Orange County’s Hunters Creek area
• 7589 Narcoossee Road, northeast of Orlando International Airport
• 13350 Hartzog Road, in Horizon West — the second Starbucks in the Flamingo Crossings area

“Central Florida remains a very high performing market for Starbucks,” Bisbee said. “We see a significant horizon for continued new store openings.”

Executives for Starbucks were not immediately available for comment on the expansion plans.

 

The building at 1120 N. Mills Avenue has long been home to Armstrong Lock & Security Products — a family-owned company that dates back to 1929.

A family-owned Orlando company in business for nearly a century is preparing to relocate — and has placed the Mills 50 property it long has called home on the market.

The Armstrong family, owners of Armstrong Lock & Security Products, have listed the 0.37-acre property at 1120 N. Mills Ave. for sale.

It has been listed without an asking price and is being marketed by Alex Bisbee, a commercial brokerage adviser with Clearwater-based Insite Real Estate Inc.

The property at the southwest corner of Lake Highland Drive and North Mills Avenue includes a 2,900-square-foot building.

Bisbee told Orlando Business Journal the offering is “generational real estate,” adding that the 17 parking spaces the property currently has are a distinctive asset relative to surrounding properties.

“That’s a very unique attribute — parking in this corridor is tight.”

A well-located property in Mills 50 being put up for sale is a big deal, largely because the busy retail district has strong connectivity to some of Orlando’s most popular neighborhoods and suburbs.

Because of this, it boasts a high barrier to entry — both for property owners and retail or restaurant tenants.

“I must get five calls a week saying ‘hey, I want to open my business in Mills 50,’ or ‘hey, I want to move my business to Mills 50’ – it’s a nice problem to have that we have very little available space,” previously said Joanne Grant, executive director for the Mills 50 Main Street District.

In addition, most of the lot sizes in that area are small, which makes it more difficult for developers to assemble parcels and redevelop space in the area, said Jill Rose, vice president of retail services at Orlando-based Bishop Beale Duncan.

This makes existing properties that come on the market all the more desirable. “We’re a big believer in Mills 50. I think there’s pent-up demand for that market and we’ll continue to see that.”

Speaking on behalf of the Armstrong family, Bisbee said Armstrong Lock & Security Products has outgrown the space and will announce a relocation destination in the near future.

Meanwhile, though the offering is unpriced, it does have a nearby comparable sale that is relatively recent.

The family-owned Armstrong Lock and Security (Website) has been in business since 1929 and they are putting their longtime home at 1120 N. Mills Avenue [GMap] up for sale.

According to Insite Real Estate, Armstrong has outgrown its building and is relocating somewhere else in Central Florida – though they wouldn’t/couldn’t disclose the new address.

The 0.37-acre property features a 2,900 SF building and 17 parking spaces – a commodity in the ever-growing Mills 50 District.

It has been listed sans-asking price and is being marketed by Alex Bisbee, of Insite Real Estate, Inc (Website). According to the Orange County Property Appraiser website, the property was last assessed at $937,278 in 2022, but a comparable warehouse across the street sold for $2.3 million last year.

Multiple banks in metro Orlando slimmed their branch footprint over the past year.

From June 30, 2021 to June 30 of this year, metro Orlando lost roughly 30 bank branches, down 6% from 499 to 469 according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The region has lost 143 branches in the past decade, down 23.4% from 612 branches in 2012.

Alex Bisbee, a commercial brokerage advisor with Clearwater-based Insite Real Estate Inc., previously told Orlando Business Journal more customers have switched to digital banking, which has changed strategies for banks and branches. “There’s still a lot of banks carefully doing deals and repositioning to higher-profile areas.”

Many banks are considering the demographics of an area, as well as other factors like vehicle traffic levels. For Charlotte, North Carolina-based Truist Financial Corp, that change in strategy nationally has included plans to open 15 U.S. branches in low- to moderate-income communities or majority-minority communities through 2022.

Steve Fisher, Central Florida regional president for Truist, previously said the bank has seen the transition of more customers to online, which has shaped its retail strategy.

These banks closed some locations in the four-county metro area between 2021-2022:

• Truist (NYSE: TFC): From 77 to 60, down 17
• Bank of America (NYSE: BAC): From 56 to 53, down three
• Chase Bank (NYSE: JPM): From 52 to 49, down three
• First Horizon Bank (NYSE: FHN): From 12 to 10, down two
• Wells Fargo Bank (NYSE: WFC): From 51 to 50, down one
• Trustco Bank (Nasdaq: TRST) : From 36 to 35, down one
• PNC Bank (NYSE: PNC): From 22 to 21, down one

These banks added local branches between 2021-2022:

• Regions Bank (NYSE: RF): From 32 to 34, up two
• TD Bank (NYSE: TD): From 11 to 13, up two

These banks saw no change in number of area branches between 2021-2022:

• Fifth Third Bank (Nasdaq: FITB): 33
• SouthState Bank (Nasdaq: SSB): 16
• Seacoast National Bank (Nasdaq: SBCF): 13
• United Southern Bank: 13