City Scoop - Orlando Construction Starts May Dip in '17

In a sign of Orlando’s robust activity, Roger B. Kennedy Construction has completed more than $300 million of projects for Westgate Resorts Ltd., including Westgate Town Center Resort & Spa.

*PHOTO COURTESY ROGER B. KENNEDY CONSTRUCTION*

Roger B. Kennedy Construction broke ground for the Drake Midtown Apartments in Lake Mary on Feb. 27.

*RENDERING COURTESY AERIAL INNOVATIONS OF FLORIDA*

City Grill

Roger B. Kennedy Jr.
President
Roger B. Kennedy Construction

While Roger B. Kennedy Construction is seeing strong activity, particularly in market-rate and affordable multifamily, hospitality and mixed-use sectors, Kennedy says his firm is “cautiously optimistic” about the area’s growth given recent reports of rents exceeding the national average. Meanwhile, projects such as the multibillion-dollar Orlando International Airport expansion, I-4 Ultimate Improvement Project and theme park expansions continue to create work, Kennedy says.

Timeshare work is steady too. The firm constructed more than $300 million worth of projects for Orlando-based Westgate Resorts Ltd., including Westgate Lakes Resort & Spa in Orlando and Westgate Town Center Resort & Spa in Kissimmee, Fla. It also built the 220,000-sq-ft Westgate Lakes Retail Village.

Noting that Orlando led the nation in job growth in 2015, according to the U.S. Dept. of Labor, Kennedy hopes that the health care, retail commercial, warehouse industrial and office sectors continue to demonstrate strength.

And while Kennedy says that the trades are “spread quite thin,” he remains optimistic because “2017 is showing signs of supporting sizable workloads.”

Firm in Focus

Roger B. Kennedy Construction
1105 Kensington Park Drive, Altamonte Springs
President: Roger B. Kennedy Jr.
Employees: 48
Founded: 1870
What’s New: Roger B. Kennedy Construction broke ground for the Drake Midtown Apartments in Lake Mary on Feb. 27. The firm entered into a more than $35-million contract with Unicorp National Developments Inc. to build the 263-unit apartment community.

Designed by Slocum Platts Architects of Maitland, Fla., the project is adjacent to Unicorp’s announced Griffin Farms at Midtown, a town center with 150,000-sq-ft of retail.

Additionally, the firm recently completed the Murano at Grande Lakes Apartments under a $22-million contract with JY-TV Associates, an affiliate of Courtelis Co. in partnership with the Kislak Organization and HMG/Courtland Properties. The four-story, 240-unit community was designed by Forum Architecture & Interior Design of Altamonte Springs.