California-based developer Kennedy Wilson Inc. wants to turn a quiet, vacant stretch behind the post office near Orlando Fashion Square into a sizable new home base for renters, proposing a 378-unit apartment complex that would add a dense mid-rise presence along the East Colonial Drive corridor, according to Florida YIMBY.
The five-story project, called the Herndon Avenue apartments, is planned for about 6.6 acres at 815 Herndon Avenue. The site sits just north of East Colonial Drive, within an easy walk of Orlando Fashion Square and several long-standing retail parcels, as detailed by WFTV.
Project plan, units and design
The proposal, identified as the Herndon Avenue apartments, calls for roughly 290,000 square feet of new construction and 378 residences ranging from studios to three-bedroom layouts, with five models planned and at least one one-bedroom under 750 square feet, according to Florida YIMBY. It is the kind of unit mix that suggests everything from solo renters to small families could end up calling Herndon home.
Parking would be anything but scarce. The development package outlines 744 spaces total, including a 554-space covered parking garage and 136 surface spots shared with the adjacent Summit Church, with the remaining stalls set aside for motorcycles, bicycles, and accessible parking. The plan also lists Dwell Design Studio as the architect and Kimley-Horn as the civil engineer. It shows amenities such as a swimming pool and an outdoor courtyard, per Florida YIMBY.
Site ownership and past plans
Public property records list Bliss 815 Herndon LLC as the parcel owner, according to county data on FloridaParcels. City planning documents show that a Bliss Healthcare master plan for 815 Herndon, focused on a medical office concept, had previously been advanced before giving way to the current residential vision, per City of Orlando planning documents.
Neighborhood context
The site sits next to Orlando Fashion Square, a mall that has been struggling for years and recently lost its Premiere Cinema 14, a high-profile vacancy that local coverage has noted as part of the corridor’s broader retail slide. Dropping a mid-rise rental complex into that mix would be a textbook example of developers chasing residential infill near aging shopping centers as owners and cities look to reposition older commercial land, according to WFTV.
What comes next
The filing appears to be in early innings. Any formal application will go through City of Orlando review and likely land on a Municipal Planning Board agenda, where master plans, planned developments, and rezonings get vetted in public. Residents who want to keep tabs on the proposal can watch for it on the city’s Municipal Planning Board pages and upcoming agendas through the city’s public meeting resources.
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