Property in Orlando: An insight into my business trips to Florida
I have been clocking up the air miles lately and recently arrived back from a weeklong trip to Florida.
I travel to the Sunshine State four or five times per year and I thought it might be useful to describe who I meet and what I do during most of these visits.
Travel to the Sunshine State
Being a restless type with an understanding wife, I spend roughly 50-60 days per year abroad on business and a large chunk of that would be in Florida.
The routine starts as follows: from Europe, I generally fly into St. Peterburg (via Tampa) and spend a few days working, strategizing and relaxing in a gorgeous townhouse at Waterside at Coquina Key with my two business partners (David Shaw & Kathryn Andrew).
There´s no place like home, but Waterside at Coquina Key is one of my all time favorite locations; it is an incredibly peaceful and relaxing spot (as the images above and plenty of client references will attest).
Every property has a water view and the community has a huge range of on site amenities. St. Pete Beach is around the corner and the trendy bars, restaurants and clubs of St. Petersburg are 10 minutes away.
Orlando: What recession?
Two or three nights after I arrive in Florida, we leave the tranquility of St. Petersburg, hit the I4 and drive two hours north east towards Orlando. I´ve always been struck by how busy Orlando is. Visit any time of year and spend your days visiting shops, restaurants, bars, golf courses and theme parks and you´ll find absolutely no signs of a recession.
In Orlando, everything is packed and everything is buzzing all your round - it is by far the most visited city in the USA. New York, Las Vegas and Los Angeles don´t even get a look in.
This is a city with a modest population of 2.2 million which attracts 50 million visitors per year - that´s almost 1 million per week! To put that number into perspective, Spain (population 46m) attracted 53 million tourists in 2010.
I love the evenings in Orlando. We tend to avoid the crazy tourist hotspots: our favorite eatery's are Maggianos, Capital Grill, Bahama Breeze and Crave (all close to I Drive). There is a ridiculously good choice of restaurants to choose from in this town, although you´ll need to book well in advance for the best ones.
Although I´m in Orlando very often, I usually don´t have time to shop, golf or visit Mickey Mouse and friends. The mornings, afternoons and evenings always fly by in a flurry of activity: there are property managers, lawyers, brokers, clients, sales staff and bank managers to meet.
However, these meetings are all by products of the most important and most enjoyable activity - visiting existing and inspecting potential new property in Orlando ...
New Launch: Sun Lake, Orlando Florida
On the 13th October David Shaw and I spent a long sunny afternoon inspecting what is going to be our second property in Orlando targeted at the short and long term residents in the Disney vacation area.
The Sun Lake Resort is located in the epicentre of the tourism business in Orlando - right off the 192, two miles from Walt Disney World and adjacent to the Formosa Gardens Shopping complex. This is quite simply the most convenient location possible for both tourists and people working in the tourist industry.
These are huge and fully furnished apartments ranging in size from 1250 - 1684 sq ft and in price from a jaw dropping $74,900 - $91,400. That equates to $54-$59 per sq ft! Even with materials costing less than they used to, you still couldn´t build a development like this for less than $100 per sq ft.
Many thanks for reading
Regards
Colin
For full details on the real estate offered by Torcana Ltd please visit www.torcana.com