Parkway Property Investments LLC — one of Central Florida’s most active real estate companies — has plans for a huge mixed-use project southwest of the City Beautiful.
A related entity of Parkway — whose predecessor at one time was downtown Orlando’s largest office landlord — spent $10 million, or about $13,793 per acre, to buy roughly 725 acres in Lakeland, said owner and CEO Jim Heistand. The seller was Coral Gables-based Flagler Development Co.’s FDG Lakeland Central Park LLC; Polk County property records haven’t been updated with the sale as of mid-morning on Dec. 20.
The property west of Airport Road and south of Old Tampa Highway is entitled for 5.5 million square feet of industrial, 650,000 square feet of office, 225,000 square feet of retail, 300 residential units and 125 hotel units, according to marketing materials. Parkway wants to start construction on the first industrial building — likely 1 million square feet — in May, Heistand said.