Before commercial real estate broker and Southern California native Aaron Dan moved across the country to Orlando, Florida, last year, he had heard several anecdotes about the area's fast growth.
Nearly a year later, he's seen firsthand what's happening in Central Florida and why his new company, Dallas-based Lincoln Property Co., has big plans for the region. Dan, who joined the company last year as a senior vice president of brokerage, already is immersed in helping Lincoln find office tenants for a new tower in downtown Orlando, retail tenants for a food hall and industrial tenants across the Interstate 4 corridor that connects Orlando to Tampa.
Orlando's population growth and cost of living, Dan said, have ramped up the region's ability to attract new businesses, and that's resulted in new demand for real estate. In response, Lincoln is moving ahead with additional developments and expanding its team to serve clients, he said.
Companies "see the benefits of having a bunch of colleges and just growth in Orlando, which we're excited about right now," Dan said in an interview. "Of course, the housing market is still on fire right now, and that's not going to stop anytime soon."
Central Florida is proving popular among corporations that want to establish a cost-efficient presence in the Sunshine State, Dan said. That demand, particularly from tech companies, fueled Lincoln's decision to develop the Edge, a 32-story mixed-use tower with 200,000 square feet of office space on seven stories in downtown Orlando. Plans call for the Edge to also contain 240 multifamily units.
The Edge would be the next phase of the Church Street Stations development that spans from South Street to Church Street and includes the new 28-story Truist Plaza mixed-use tower, Bumby Arcade Food Hall and the Cheyenne Saloon, Dan said. Lincoln anticipates beginning demolition work next month to make room for the Edge and to complete it in the second quarter of 2024.
"We're seeing tenants who want to get out of the older buildings both in market and out of market all throughout Central Florida and then also from other states who are looking to locate in Florida," he said. "Those tenants who are wanting to make a home in Florida right now don't want to go necessarily to Miami. They want to be something a little bit more affordable but also have a great work population."
In January, Lincoln plans to open Bumby Arcade Food Hall at its creative office building at 126 W. Church St. next to the Edge, Dan said. The interior build-out is underway at the food hall that will include a winery, brewery and speakeasy.
"We want to help fuel the growth in downtown Orlando," he said.
Industrial development also is an area of focus as the market remains strong in Central Florida, Dan said. Lincoln has between 3.4 million and 5.5 million square feet of space in its pipeline, he said.
"You can't build it fast enough right now," he said of industrial space. "There's so much demand for large industrial, which is really exciting. And that's why we are growing our industrial leasing team right now."
Lincoln just hired broker Alex Eastwood as director of brokerage to focus on leasing its new industrial space. Eastwood joined Lincoln earlier this month from Avison Young.
"We're excited to have him on board, and then we have hopefully a couple more joining us in the next year," Dan said.
While Lincoln is focusing its industrial efforts along the I-4 corridor, the company said it also is looking at sites in other Florida cities including DeLand, Daytona and Jacksonville. The company expects to begin construction in earnest at three industrial sites in Central Florida in the first quarter of next year, Dan said.
Before leaving California, Dan worked for more than nine years at Lockehouse Retail Group, a boutique retail brokerage that has its headquarters in Walnut Creek, California.
Dan, who has a brother in commercial real estate, said he became interested in a career in the industry while studying development at the University of Southern California. Bret Nielsen, an adjunct professor at USC whose day job is working as a senior vice president of leasing and asset management at mixed-use development firm Caruso, made a lasting impact on Dan.
"He got me really interested in both retail and mixed use, and the leasing aspect of that," he said.
Dan and his wife decided to move to Orlando, where his wife had family, after the birth of their child. His wife, Desiree Stahley Dan, works as a vice president of marketing at Lincoln.
Dan, who grew up near Anaheim, California, and was working in Northern California when they moved, said he has come to really like Orlando.
"It's a little warmer, a little humid, but other than that, it's been fantastic," he said. "We're in a really cool neighborhood, the Lake Nona neighborhood, which is where a lot of the growth in Orlando is going."
CoStar Market Analytics director Lisa McNatt contributed to this article.