Less than six weeks after securing the zoning changes needed for its Maitland campus expansion, Charles Schwab & Co. Inc. won approval of the project’s detailed site plan. On Aug. 19, the City of Maitland Development Review Committee unanimously approved a site plan petition that paves the way for upgrades across Schwab’s local footprint.
The move follows the company’s landmark $122 million purchase of the 27.2 acre Maitland Summit Office Park in December 2024. That purchase, which ranked as the region’s largest office deal of the year, gave Schwab full ownership of the four building campus comprising over 500,000 square feet along Summit Park Drive, where it previously leased roughly 30% of the space.
Now, the firm is preparing the campus to house its growing regional workforce.
The newly approved plan centers on a parking garage of up to 10 stories with 1,970 spaces. Apopka-based Finfrock filed the application on Schwab’s behalf. The plans also call for a new outdoor cafe dining area, a service yard for an existing office building, changes to the stormwater system, a reconfigured entrance to one existing garage and replacement canopies on an office building.
At a proposed height of 112 feet, 5 inches, the new garage would be nearly as tall as the adjacent 7-story office building. more than double the campus’s structured parking capacity, bringing the total to 3,728 spaces before surface parking is counted.
Parking for a larger workforce
The parking is not being added to serve a new office building. The site plan does not increase the campus’s office square footage, which city documents place at about 539,000 square feet. Instead, the garage would create capacity for more employees as Schwab expands its regional operations and makes fuller use of the buildings it acquired.
The approved site plan details Charles Schwab’s proposed campus enhancements, including an up to 10-story parking garage (orange), service yard (blue), and outdoor café dining area (fuchsia). (City of Maitland)
The need for more parking becomes clearer in light of Schwab’s hiring plans. The Orlando Economic Partnership said in January 2025 that Schwab already employed more than 1,200 people in the region and was expanding its local operations to serve a growing client base.
FloridaCommerce’s fiscal 2025 incentives report says the Maitland project is expected to create 1,500 high-skilled jobs in Orange County. The scale of the projected hiring helps explain why Schwab needs additional garage space.
The planned expansion does not mean Schwab can immediately use the entire campus for its own workforce. At the time of the acquisition, Schwab occupied roughly 30% of the office space and assumed leases held by other companies. One of those tenants, cybersecurity firm ThreatLocker Inc., has since sued Schwab, alleging violations of the expansion and building access provisions in its 44,246-square-foot lease at 1950 Summit Park Drive.
Schwab filed a separate federal lawsuit in May, alleging ThreatLocker stopped paying rent and abandoned the space before its lease expires Jan. 31, 2029. ThreatLocker denied those allegations and filed a counterclaim. Both cases remain pending in U.S. District Court in Orlando, where the parties continue to contest amended claims and motions to dismiss.
Approval follows a zoning change
The Development Review Committee’s site plan action followed the City Council’s July 13 amendment of the property’s planned development zoning for the campus improvements. The ordinance reduced the required setback along the northern property line from 25 feet to 10 feet, raised the maximum impervious area to 70% and allowed internally illuminated monument and directional signs within the campus.
An aerial view highlights the 27.2-acre Charles Schwab campus at Maitland Summit Office Park along Summit Park Drive. (City of Maitland)
Before Maitland issues a site construction permit, Schwab must address fire access, automatic sprinklers, landscaping and other technical revisions. The proposed garage site also falls within a Zone A flood hazard area, prompting the company to submit engineering analysis seeking a map revision and resolve drainage and easement issues before the project is completed.
City staff found the proposal consistent with Maitland’s comprehensive plan and development standards. The committee approved it 3-0, with no substantive discussion recorded in the draft minutes. The filings do not provide a construction cost or timetable.
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