Kobé Japanese Steakhouse-tied group plans 9-story Mills 50 redevelopment

GROWTHSPOTTER

By TREVOR FRASER

SEPTEMBER 3, 2024

The lot at 1840 E. Colonial Drive is being considered for a significant redevelopment project.

A former Dollar Tree location on Colonial Drive in Orlando's Mills 50 district is being eyed for a mixed-use village that could include more than 300 dwelling units.

Developers are proposing a nine-story building with 301 apartments, 17 townhomes and 19 live/work units, plus a parking garage, on the lots that encompass 1840, 1904 and 1920 E. Colonial Drive, according to a request filed with the city of Orlando. The request seeks a density bonus of 150 units per acre for the 2.2-acre property.

The property is owned by an entity tied to Kobé Realty, the real estate arm of the Kobé Japanese Steakhouse restaurant chain. The applicant on the project is listed as Renese Johnson of Nvision Development Management Services.

Neither Johnson nor representatives for Kobé cold be reached for comment. City records tentatively indicate the request will go before Orlando's Municipal Planning Board on Oct. 15.

Hien Nguyen, real estate manager and development coordinator for Kobé, told OBJ in 2023 that they couldn't find a tenant for the 17,690-square-foot empty shell of a Dollar Tree that used to sit on the site, with the store having moved a block east into a closed Office Depot.

All the buildings on the site have since been razed.

The proximity to downtown and the age of some of the surrounding buildings make the stretch of Colonial Drive in Mills 50 primed for new development, said Jeré Matheny, a senior associate at Orlando-based real estate firm First Capital Property Group Inc. Matheny is uninvolved with these properties but manages others in the area.

Jeré Matheny, First Capital Property Group Inc.Rich Johnson/Spectacle Photo

"There is some jockeying for position in that area," he said. "It’s outskirts [of downtown] — but it’s close outskirts."

Matheny said that, while there is a lot of interest in the area, he is concerned about how the neighborhoods to the north and south of Colonial Drive might react to more apartments.

"Those properties act as a buffer to the neighborhoods behind them," he said. "I’m not really sure how the high-density multifamily is going to play in that area."

A block west saw the opening of the 245-unit Alexan apartment building in 2024. The Alexan has rents ranging between $1,524 and $2,758 per month, according to Apartments.com.

More than 7,800 apartments have been delivered within five miles of the site in the last five years, with 1,099 units currently in development, according to real estate analysts CoStar Group.