Downtown Growth At Tourist Destinations
Orlando and Church Street Station
A Case On Point
by Keith Alan Deutsch
 |
Urban revitalization is happening to great cities all across America. From Harlem to Pittsburgh to Chicago to San Francisco, city neighborhoods and waterfronts are exploding with dynamic new projects. There’s nothing new in that story, and ESP Magazine has been covering the urban renaissance from its first issue. |
Of course, we all know that the city of Orlando really shouldn’t take credit for these statistics. It is Disney and Universal and all of the entertainment retail appendages that have grown around them that pull in the visitors. True enough, but something is happening in downtown Orlando that bears watching.
| According to Urban Real
Estate Trends, an Altamonte Springs, Florida real estate consulting company, downtown
Orlando’s retail properties are selling briskly at more than $100 per sq.ft.; last
year, apartment building sales reached $430 million, averaging $100,000 per unit for first
time in history; and more than one million sq.ft. of office space will change ownership by
the end of this year. (To order a copy of Urban Real Estate Trends Office and Retail
Reports for the Orlando Market, visit www.jmbgroup.com). These facts don’t necessarily mean that the tourists are coming to town, but according to Tina Morbitzer, president of Morbitzer Group, Inc., a real estate company that specializes in retail throughout the state of Florida, “Orlando no longer needs to depend on tourists for its success and vitality. Residents want a living community experience and they are getting it.” |
| What is new is the reemergence of tourist destination downtowns that have long been ignored by tourists and local communities. When we think of downtown Orlando, Florida, for instance, we do not think of a great city. We think of clusters of great entertainment destinations located just inconveniently enough to make a downtown visit an unlikely stop on the vacation. But this may all be changing. |
|
Consider these facts. According to a May 1999 Target Travel Club survey commissioned by Target Stores (parent company, Dayton Hudson Corporation, 612-304-6557): 30 percent of Americans prefer to vacation in Florida (California is a distant second at 12 percent; Europe third at 9 percent; Hawaii fourth at 8 percent; and Colorado fifth at 4 percent). And for the second year in row, Florida’s and America’s top city destination was Orlando, according to the American Society of Travel Agents. |
Historic downtown Orlando is 35 minutes
away from Universal and Disney by car. There is no public transportation yet, though it is
in the works. And although Tom Morbitzer, ceo of Morbitzer Group, admits that Disney and
Universal have done everything they can to keep the tourists snugly tied up at their
facilities, one company is betting that plans for public transportation, a metro light
rail system, will go through and that downtown Orlando will see an influx of the tourist
trade-at least the British tourist market.
Last April, Enic PLC, a British investment group (Tenison Court Off
Regent Street, London, W1R 5LP, 0171- 432-7050 fax 0171-432-7075), bought the three-story
entertainment retail complex that has been known as The Exchange at Church Street Station
since its opening in 1974. Enic plans to redesign and reposition the project to attract
the large British tourist market and the growing local community.
Tina and Tom Morbitzer have been given the job of repositioning the
Church Street Station facility. The complex has been moribund for the last decade while it
was held as an investment by a Baltimore utility company, but the Morbitzers believe that
the facility can survive on the burgeoning downtown Orlando resident population and work
force. “You see, the new owner controls much of the British tourist industry, and
they and we believe that the British visitors will enjoy the society and entertainments
that the revitalized Church Street Station offers the growing young, local, primarily
professional population,” says Tom Morbitzer.
“Our plan is to insure that the project reaches its full potential
as the community center of downtown Orlando. We believe that with all we offer,
particularly our dining and entertainment
spots, this is assured. Enic will publicize us to the British market.” The Brits are
the number one foreign visitor group to Orlando, according to the Morbitzers.
The Morbitzers believe Orlando is undergoing a renaissance like
downtown Miami, but they hope the results will be more like what has happened in Chicago
and Manhattan. But one of the problems facing Church Street Station is that it is showing
its age. “We need more than boutique and tourist shops,” says Tina Morbitzer.
“We plan to revamp some of the spaces so that large major retailers like
Bloomingdales, Nordstroms, and Lord & Taylor can be fit in to the site. We need stores
that will appeal to our professional and office worker residents.” A national new
tenant search is underway. The Morbitzers also plan a redesign of the entertainment
offerings. “There are four theme areas in place now. They were established so long
ago that they are no longer viable.
| Entertainment
themes change and so must a project like Church Street Station change with the
times,” says Tina Morbitzer. The popular “red hot mama” antique saloon is
about 90 years behind the times so, ironically, it is a timeless concept. Not so the old
disco venue, which is due for an as-yet-unannounced thematic update. The rock venue needs
to be upscaled and updated. But the country and western restaurant/dance hall is a very
strong winner, particularly with British and German tourists. One interesting feature of the themed entertainment offerings is that live music and other offerings can be accessed from the street as well as the retail complex. One price admits patrons to all the offerings, so the retailers are serviced by the entertainment facilities. In fact, the country western showplace uses all three stories of the Exchange at Church Street Station. |
 |
The Exchange has about 75,000 sq.ft. to
80,000 sq.ft. of retail space available. Currently retail tenants average only 300 sq.ft.,
but this will change to larger venues. Victoria’s Secret uses 4,500 sq.ft., for
example, and the Morbitzers are actively seeking credit and national tenants to fill 70
percent of the current space. They are particularly interested in soft goods merchandisers
and electronic retailers. There already is a game room on the third floor.
New restaurants are also wanted. The Morbitzer’s plan is to
outsource these offerings. Retail rents are $20 to $30 per sq.ft. and percentage leases at
triple net against gross are the rule. But the Morbitzers are ready to deal!
There is room for about eight tenants in the food court, each averaging
about 600 sq.ft. Rents there average about $35 to $40 triple net against gross. Currently
there are no national food chains on line, and the Morbitzers will court national names.
The Church Street complex fronts I-4, the major east/west highway, and
because it is three stories high, the Morbitzers believe it offers excellent signage
opportunities. Plans for repositioning include a major new signage program inside and out.
A major anchor like Nike World is needed, say the Morbitzers, who have only been on the
project for about 60 days. A new look for the new millennium is planned to update the
fraying old New Orleans style of the outer facade. One advantage of the project is that
all the architectural details, the antiques, the old train station, and the decorations
are authentic.
The time frame to put all the changes in place is 10 to 12 months,
according to Tina Morbitzer. The Morbitzers are enthusiastic about the project because
they believe they are riding a trend of downtown revitalization in which the local
community energy is as important to a project’s success as tourist trade. “It is
happening all across the country,” says Tina Morbitzer. “Energy is flowing into
downtowns. We don’t have to be clever, today, to be attractive. We don’t need
gimmicks. We have the demographics and the psychographics for downtown success in place.
Like other cities near tourist attractions, we are renewing our downtowns. Even if we only
get a smattering of the tourist trade, and we’re betting our neighborhood energy will
attract more than a smattering, well, we can be a great success just by serving our local
community.”
For leasing information on the
Exchange At Church Street Station,
contact Ed Rordan,
Morbitzer Group, Inc.,
668 North Orlando
Avenue, Suite 105, Maitland,FL 32751 407-539-1000, Fax 539-0328.