Orlando Sentinel | Kate Santich
The first residential project of Orlando’s $480 million Packing District development near College Park is about to break ground, nearly four years after Dr. Phillips Charities first proposed the upscale wellness-oriented community.
Embrey Partners Ltd., a nationally recognized multifamily residential developer, announced it will start construction early next month on 307 luxury apartments — to be named Cannery at The Packing District — the first of which will be available for lease by the second quarter of 2021.
“It’s very exciting,” said Ken Robinson, president and CEO of Dr. Phillips Charities. “We’ve been looking forward to this for years. It takes a while to get to this to point, but we’re creating a space that will support a vision of community, health and wellness for years to come.”
The Cannery project will sit on roughly 6 acres in an area of the district that will include a grocery store, restaurants and a replica of the original Dr. Phillips Juice Stand — a once-iconic building from a bygone citrus empire.
The district as a whole will include 202 acres of residential, retail and office space in a formerly industrial area at Orange Blossom Trail and Princeton Street. The name comes from canning and packing plant that citrus magnate Dr. Philip Phillips built there in the 1930s.
The Cannery apartment project is slated to include a pool and courtyard, two additional courtyards with entertainment areas, a lounge with roof deck, a Wi-Fi lounge and game room, a fitness facility with yoga and spin-class rooms, a dog park, a bike shop and micro offices.
“We are proud to be part of advancing the vision of Dr. Phillips Charities for this newest community in Orlando,” said Brad Knolle, Embrey’s executive vice president for development. “We are nationally known for developing places and spaces where people want to be and Cannery at The Packing District will more than meet that standard.”
Embrey closed on the property Aug. 9 for an undisclosed price. The company said it is too soon to say how much the units will cost to lease.
Already, work has begun on a 100-acre regional park at the southeast corner of Princeton and John Young Parkway using land gifted from the Dr. Phillips Charities to the city of Orlando. That property is expected to be the future home of the Orlando Tennis Center as well as trails, wetlands and an urban agriculture project.
Last November, the charity also announced it had donated 5 acres and $8.9 million toward a new YMCA to be built adjacent to the park. That project could start construction later this year.
In the coming months, Dr. Phillips is also expected to announce it has chosen a town home developer for the property as well as some future retailers and other commercial operations on the site.
