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McCraney Property Co. Breaks Ground on Winter Park Headquarters

Jim Carchidi

Mayor Sheila DeCiccio joined project partners to mark the start of construction on the 3-story building that will offer Class A office and retail space. Photos by: Jim Carchidi

The first new building approved for Winter Park’s Orange Avenue Overlay district began its construction phase with a groundbreaking ceremony on the morning of Thursday, Jan. 16. McCraney Property Company representatives joined city and local business leaders for a ceremonial dirt toss at the future site of McCraney’s three-story mixed-use project featuring nearly 30,000-square-feet of space.

The building, located at 1100 N. Orange Ave., will house the firm’s headquarters and offer Class A office space on its second and third floors. A selection of first-floor retail bays will have visibility along S. Denning Drive, and the property will include 102 surface parking spaces.

Months of revisions over resident and city concerns about architecture and building height led to the final design proposal, approved on Feb. 29, 2024. Among the Orange Avenue Overlay code requirements was the inclusion of outdoor spaces, shown below, that feature landscaping. Images courtesy of: Hunton Brady Architects

Building height and architectural revisions received the final green light from city commission nearly a year before the groundbreaking. The final design is the result of months of debate over code requirements, intended to maintain the appeal of the N. Orange Avenue gateway into downtown Winter Park. The nearly 2-acre property has its own history as the planned site of a three-story, 80,000-square-foot building by previous owner, Bank of the Ozarks. City leaders had attempted to purchase the property to form a continuous greenspace with nearby Seven Oaks Park and Mead Botanical Garden, but offers were rebuffed with McCraney’s purchase announced in September of 2023.

Damien Madsen with Steve and Maria McCraney at the start of the groundbreaking event. Madsen wore a white had to change the idea that developers “were always looked at as men in black hats.”
Winter Park Mayor Sheila DeCiccio speaks before the ceremonial dirt toss. “We are thrilled that you have chosen Winter Park for your new headquarters and are thrilled to see the vision for your new project come to life.”
Mayor DeCiccio joins Madsen, the McCraneys, and other project partners for the ceremonial dirt toss at the end of the ceremony.

The McCraney project team includes Hunton Brady Architects, Welbro Building Corporation, LandDesign, Inc., and Harbert Realty Services. Harbert Senior VP Damien Madsen told the32789 that while the project has drawn interest from several companies throughout the Central Florida area, leasing was held off until after the project went vertical to assess the best use of space and the best mix of tenants.

An Orange Avenue Overlay requirement that 25% of the building’s gross floor area go toward non-office, mixed-use tenants is meant to ensure economic vibrancy of the neighborhood. The list of agreed-upon uses includes the following:

Madsen says there is no shortage of possibilities for the office and mixed-use components. “We guarantee that the building will be 100% leased by the time we get our certificate of occupancy,” he said. The building is expected to be complete and ready to occupy in December.