... strike and get the best deal possible,” he adds.

Balfour Beatty Construction of Orlando expects to complete the new home of the University of Central Florida’s Medical School and library (Above) later this year. The contractor also began work last May on UCF’s Arts Complex II (Below), which consists of two classroom buildings for the theater and music departments.
Photo: Balfour Beatty Construction
Balfour Beatty Construction of Orlando expects to complete the new home of the University of Central Florida’s Medical School and library (Above) later this year. The contractor also began work last May on UCF’s Arts Complex II (Below), which consists of two classroom buildings for the theater and music departments.
Balfour Beatty Construction of Orlando expects to complete the new home of the University of Central Florida’s Medical School and library (Above) later this year. The contractor also began work last May on UCF’s Arts Complex II (Below), which consists of two classroom buildings for the theater and music departments.

GAI Consultants of Orlando has seized the opportunity to move into new quarters, with Brasfield & Gorrie of Lake Mary, Fla., breaking ground this winter on a $30-million, 105,000-sq-ft downtown office building for the engineering firm. The project is being developed by Ustler Development of Orlando.

“Commercial lending has been tight for real estate development, and it’s pretty much limited to projects like GAI where you have an owner-occupied building,” says Mark Wylie, president and CEO of the Central Florida ABC in Orlando.

Medical City One of Orlando’s brightest spots, for both short- and long-term development, is its emerging “Medical City,” a portion of the Lake Nona planned development within the city of Orlando, near Orlando International Airport.

“That is the single biggest booming component in Orlando,” Turner’s Skidelsky says.

Lake Nona’s developer, Tavistock Group of Orlando, donated cash and property for the UCF College of Medicine and money and land as part of a public-private incentive to bring the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute’s planned East Coast expansion to Central Florida to anchor a biomedical hub at Lake Nona. Burnham scientists moved in last year.

Balfour Beatty is nearing completion of the other anchor—the $53-million, 170,000-sq-ft UCF College of Medicine Instructional Library Building.

Skanska USA Building of Orlando is constructing another part of the emerging health-care corridor, the $400-million, 600,000-sq-ft Nemours Children’s Hospital. The 95-bed facility is scheduled for a 2012 completion.

RLF of Winter Park designed the $665-million, 1.2-million-sq-ft Veterans Administration Medical Center campus at Lake Nona. About 400,000 sq ft is devoted to outpatient care, with diagnostic and imaging services located between the clinics and 80-bed hospital.

Also in the Medical City, Turner is building a $39.4-million Community Living Center for the VA that includes 120 beds, a 60-bed residential rehab center and a chapel. James A. Cummings of Orlando is building the $38.4-million central energy plant, and Brasfield & Gorrie received a $29.6-million contract to build the foundation, tunnel and superstructure and a $30-million contract to build the parking garages and warehouse.

More Health Care Not all health care projects are at Lake Nona. The area’s two major health systems both have projects in the works.

Jack Jennings & Sons of Orlando recently completed a $27.5-million parking garage at Orlando Health’s main campus. The company now is building a $39-million medical office building adjacent to the garage. The health system has announced plans for a $125-million expansion of its flagship Orlando Regional Medical Center.

Nearby, Brasfield & Gorrie topped out Florida Hospital Orlando’s $47-million, seven-story, 156,000-sq-ft...