BBX enters venture to build Orlando apartments

A unit of Fort Lauderdale-based BBX Capital Corporation entered a joint venture agreement to build apartments in a 46-acre, mixed-use BBX development in Orlando called Gardens on Millenia.

BBX Capital Real Estate formed the joint venture with Contravest, a 30-year-old apartment developer, to construct 292 apartments in a cluster of two-, three- and four-story buildings known as Addison on Millenia. Case Pomeroy & Company is also an investor in the joint venture.

The Addison on Millenia property, which spans 11.5 acres, will have apartment sizes from 780 to 1,441 square feet. The master plan for Gardens on Millenia also includes about  300,000 square feet of total retail space and two one-acre outparcels.

BBX Capital Real Estate previously announced its entry into a joint venture agreement with Stiles Corporation to develop a retail center with about 141,100 square feet that will house Hobby Lobby and Academy Sports as anchors .

The BBX division also has sold 15.46 acres of the land at Gardens on Millenia to Costco Wholesale Corporation.  Costco plans to build an a big-box store there measuring about 152,000 square feet and gas station near the store.

The Gardens on Millenia is located just east of The Mall at Millenia on Millenia Boulevard and is accessible from I-4 and Florida’s Turnpike. —Mike Seemuth