Baker Hostetler Orlando partner Ted R. Brown was quoted in the article “Regional Spotlight: Southeast,” which appeared in the November/December 2010 issue of Urban Land.
Economists are forecasting that Florida will be the third-most populated state in the country. It remains a favorite retirement destination and as baby boomers start to retire, Florida is the optimal destination. International investors, usually cash buyers, are looking for sound investments in destination cities such as Orlando. Florida and Georgia, the two largest states in the Southeast, are experiencing major shifts in the real estate sector. Real estate investors are seeing increased activity in the Florida hospitality, leisure and entertainment markets and a number of municipalities are taking advantage of the current lull in real estate to transform themselves.
“One of the most significant developments in central Florida today is Restoration in Edgewater,” said Brown. “It is being developed under a new Land Use category—restoration sustainable community development district. Among the major ideas and metrics of the plan are: jobs-to-housing ratios that must be met, development of a fixed rail trolley system to service the community, more than 75 percent of the site to be restored wetlands, having all residents within a ten-minute walk of a trolley station and more than 50 percent of residents within a five-minute walk.”
According to Brown, Florida is expected to see moderately increased real estate activity because market uncertainty still lingers. “Larger-scale new developments will stay in the exploratory stage while the market continues to absorb existing built inventory and foreclosures, together with ‘paper’ lots—lots that are permitted but not developed. The good news is that there is activity and assuming a stable economy with predictable capital, Florida has turned around and now sees positive in-migration going forward. That coupled with a real interest in job development and the funding and development of high-speed rail integrated into SunRail, bodes well for the state.”