Central Florida Developments
Urban Redevelopment & Downtown
Creative Village, the OCCC expansion, and a downtown Orlando that's growing faster than any time since the 1990s.
By Ryan Solberg, Licensed FL Real Estate Broker (BK3354351) · Updated
Downtown Orlando is in the middle of its most significant transformation since the 1990s. The combination of Creative Village's institutional anchor at the former Amway Arena site, continued expansion of the OCCC, and a wave of multifamily development that has added thousands of units to the urban core has fundamentally shifted the commercial calculus for downtown-adjacent properties.
The downtown commercial market has historically been challenged by Orlando's car-dependent suburban development pattern — which kept office and retail demand dispersed across suburban corridors rather than concentrated in a walkable urban core. Creative Village is the most ambitious attempt to break that pattern: a 68-acre mixed-use district anchored by UCF and Valencia's downtown campuses, generating the student foot traffic and institutional employment that urban retail and office needs to succeed.
For commercial real estate investors, urban redevelopment creates a specific opportunity profile: retail and mixed-use in the first generation of development around the anchor project, adaptive reuse of older downtown office, and the hotel and hospitality demand generated by the OCCC's continued expansion.
Key Projects
Creative Village
Downtown Orlando, former Amway Arena site
Creative Village is a 68-acre mixed-use urban district built on the former Amway Arena site in downtown Orlando. UCF's downtown campus and Valencia College's downtown campus anchor the district with thousands of students, creating the foot traffic base that urban retail and restaurant tenants require. The district's design incorporates apartments, office, retail, and innovation space with a walkable street grid. Several buildings are complete; additional phases are underway. The proximity to the Amway Center, the courts, and the existing downtown employment base gives Creative Village a multi-demand-driver foundation.
CRE Investor Impact
Ground-floor retail and restaurant space in Creative Village and its immediately adjacent blocks benefits from student and employee foot traffic that is structurally different from suburban Orlando. Office tenants in the creative and technology sectors are attracted by the urban campus environment and proximity to UCF talent. The first generation of mixed-use projects here are setting the rent baseline for the district.
OCCC South Expansion
South International Drive, Orange County
The Orange County Convention Center — already one of the largest convention facilities in the United States — has been planning an expansion of its south building to increase total capacity and attract larger conventions and trade shows. The OCCC drives millions of business travel room nights annually to the surrounding I-Drive hotel corridor and generates consistent retail and restaurant demand year-round. Expansion of the facility increases this demand base, reinforcing the value case for hotel and commercial properties in the surrounding submarket.
CRE Investor Impact
Hotel properties within a half-mile of the OCCC's primary entrances consistently outperform the broader Orlando hospitality market on RevPAR during convention periods. Additional convention capacity translates to more room nights and higher occupancy. Multi-tenant restaurant and retail properties serving the convention corridor are direct beneficiaries.
SoDo / South Downtown Revitalization
South Downtown Orlando, south of I-4
The SoDo district — South Downtown Orlando, primarily the corridor along Orange Avenue south of the 408 — has experienced a sustained wave of multifamily and mixed-use development as Orlando's urban residential demand has pushed south from downtown. New apartment complexes, adaptive reuse of older commercial buildings, and a growing number of independent retail and restaurant tenants have increased the district's commercial activity significantly. The district benefits from walkable proximity to downtown employment and the Orlando Health hospital campus.
CRE Investor Impact
Older retail and commercial properties in SoDo that can be repositioned for the growing residential tenant base — coffee shops, fitness, neighborhood services — are among the more accessible value-add opportunities in central Orlando. The residential density growth in this district will continue to support commercial lease-up for well-located street-level retail.
Investor Takeaway
Downtown Orlando urban redevelopment is at an inflection point — Creative Village has crossed the threshold where institutional anchors are generating real foot traffic, and the multifamily density needed to support urban retail is accumulating rapidly. The opportunity window for investors to acquire commercial positions in the first ring around these anchor projects before rents adjust is narrowing. Adaptive reuse and ground-floor retail adjacent to Creative Village and the OCCC are the highest-conviction plays.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Creative Village?
Creative Village is a 68-acre mixed-use innovation district on the former Amway Arena site in downtown Orlando, anchored by the UCF Downtown and Valencia College Downtown campuses (nearly 7,700 students). Phase 1 — over $700 million in development including the Electronic Arts Orlando studio, apartments, and student housing — was completed in 2022, and Phase 2 is underway.
How does the OCCC expansion affect nearby commercial property?
The Orange County Convention Center drives millions of business-travel room nights to the I-Drive corridor annually. Hotels within a half-mile of its entrances consistently outperform the broader Orlando market on RevPAR during convention periods, and added capacity translates directly into more room nights for the surrounding hotel, restaurant, and retail base.
What is the investment opportunity in SoDo?
Value-add repositioning. Older retail and commercial buildings along the Orange Avenue corridor south of SR-408 can be repositioned for the district's fast-growing residential base — coffee, fitness, and neighborhood services — at entry prices well below downtown core assets, with Orlando Health's campus anchoring daytime traffic.
Sources & Further Reading
Related Resources
Live Listings Near Urban Redevelopment & Downtown
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Listings courtesy of Stellar MLS as distributed by MLS GRID. Data deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
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