By Randall Shearin, Shopping Center Business

In a city known worldwide for bringing immersive and engaging environments to life and where more than 66 million visitors converge annually for leisure time activities, an innovative, next generation master-planned community is well underway.

The community is Lake Nona, a remarkable 11,000-acre, 17-square-mile “living lab” in Orlando, Florida that is reshaping the contours of the region’s mixed-use landscape.

While Lake Nona developer Tavistock Development Company has already completed more than 10 million square feet of office, medical, research, residential, university, hospitality and other commercial space, momentum is now building for the community’s retail, hotel, restaurant and entertainment destination: the Lake Nona Town Center. The first phase of the open-air lifestyle and entertainment center was completed in 2016, and includes 85,000 square feet of class A office space, a dual branded Courtyard by Marriott and Residence Inn by Marriott hotel, 16,000 square feet of fully leased retail and restaurant space and a multi-level parking structure that serves as both an amenity and landmark of visual and digital artwork for the community.

The next phases of what will ultimately become a 3.8 million-square-foot mixed-use experiential magnet are already underway, and the project’s development and leasing momentum has gained national attention. Tavistock recently announced that the new interactive golf and entertainment experience Drive Shack will be opening its first location in Lake Nona later this year. Tavistock and its retail planning, leasing and development services partner, Columbus, Ohio-based Steiner + Associates have yet to release the next wave of tenant announcements for the Town Center, but recently shared the news that they are in negotiations with several luxury theatres, and are close to finalizing plans for a brewery, comedy club and live performance venue, bowling concept and several restaurants and retailers. The development and leasing team also shared that they plan to bring more than 80 specialty retailers and big box users and restaurants to Lake Nona Town Center.

You can read the entire story on page 88 of the May issue of Shopping Center Business.