{"id":208958,"date":"2026-03-27T22:39:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T22:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/208958\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T22:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T22:39:11","slug":"unicorp-plans-mixed-use-development-in-orlandos-restaurant-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/208958\/","title":{"rendered":"UniCorp plans mixed-use development in Orlando’s ‘Restaurant Row’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unicorp National Developments<\/a> is moving forward with its revised plans for an almost $90 million mixed-use project called The Pinnacle in one of the Orlando area\u2019s most-affluent communities.<\/p>\n

Marketplace Center LLC, an entity tied to Orlando-based Unicorp, filed plans Wednesday with Orange County for the four-story, mixed-use commercial center with an internal four-level parking garage. The 1.6 acres of land are in the heart of Orlando\u2019s famed \u201cRestaurant Row.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

The project on the northwest corner at the intersection of Dr. Phillips Boulevard and W. Sand Lake Road would have about 48,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space. The building would top out at no more than 70 feet tall at the peak of the elevator tower that rises to the rooftop parking level.<\/p>\n

Unicorp President and CEO Church Whittall, who founded the company, told GrowthSpotter the development will have up to seven spaces available for retail and restaurants \u2014 most on the first floor but none above the second. His goal is two to four restaurants \u2014 possibly one in each corner of the first floor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have several interested restaurants and a couple other retail concepts, as well, that we\u2019re working with,\u201d Whittall said, adding he\u2019s not ready to identify them. \u201cThey\u2019re just really good concepts that are elsewhere in the country and elsewhere in the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

To make way for the development, Unicorp would demolish an existing two-story building currently occupied by a Valley Bank<\/a> branch that was built in 1984.\u00a0 Unicorp acquired the property for $2 million in 2002, and it has a 2025 assessed value of $2.51 million.\n<\/p>\n

Although there will be some surface parking on the west side of the building that\u2019s not facing the intersection, Whittall said most is on the second, third and fourth floors largely hidden from public view.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe parking garage will be hidden by the restaurants and retail that go around it,\u201d he said. \u201cThe parking will be the center of the doughnut, if you would.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unicorp got pushback to the project in 2023<\/a> during a community meeting with area residents who expressed concerns about the building\u2019s appearance and its proposed height of up to six stories.<\/p>\n

\"ToThe original vision for The Pinnacle development, at the intersection of Dr. Phillips Boulevard and W. Sand Lake Road, got pushback from area residents over the building’s appearance and height. Revised plans show a shorter building with a new look for the prime spot in Orlando’s “Restaurant Row.” (Renderings by Finfrock\/Orange County records)<\/p>\n

\u201cOne, they thought it was too modern looking, and, second, the height was taller than everybody wanted it,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we lowered the height to conform with what\u2019s in the area, and we changed the design to more of a Mediterranean feel.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company is seeking eight waivers from county regulations governing issues including open space, building height, landscape buffers and setbacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe waivers that we\u2019re seeking are exactly what\u2019s in the new Orange code that got challenged in the courts,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re not seeking anything outside of what the new Orange code is, Vision 2050<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re complying with that, but we\u2019re asking for waivers so we don\u2019t have to wait for the lawsuit between the county and the state to get resolved.\u201d<\/p>\n

In September, the county joined Windermere and more than two dozen other cities and counties in a lawsuit challenging parts of the statute, Senate Bill 180,<\/a> which went into effect last year and restricts local home rule authority<\/a> over land use and planning. That litigation is still pending, though\u00a0Leon County Circuit Judge Angela Dempsey dismissed four of the five counts in the complaint in late February.<\/p>\n

The Pinnacle is one of the latest among many projects Unicorp has underway in the Central Florida region.<\/p>\n

The company hopes to start construction in the coming months on The Luxe at Dr. Phillips<\/a>, located at the corner of Fenton Street and South Apopka Vineland Road. Whittall previously said The Luxe is a \u201csuper high luxury project\u201d that will stand out even among the area\u2019s other high-end communities.<\/p>\n

Last fall, Unicorp broke ground on the\u00a0final phase of Glasshouse<\/a>, a luxury apartment complex in O-Town West<\/a>, with construction expected to take between two and two-and-a-half years. The phase will include two additional 5-story buildings with a combined 591 units, according to plans filed with the county. Unicorp opened an existing 302-unit building in 2022.<\/p>\n

Unicorp is also co-developing the former Wyndham Resort property on International Drive with a new InterContinental Hotel<\/a>, planned to break ground this summer.<\/p>\n

Brian Bell can be reached at\u00a0bbell@orlandosentinel.com<\/a>. Have a tip about Central Florida development? Email Newsroom@GrowthSpotter.com<\/a>. Follow GrowthSpotter on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unicorp National Developments is moving forward with its revised plans for an almost $90 million mixed-use project called…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":208959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[558,6032,28,114,1335,11477,139,141,140,480,14859,109],"class_list":{"0":"post-208958","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-dr-phillips","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-latest-headlines","12":"tag-orange-county","13":"tag-orange-county-developments","14":"tag-orlando","15":"tag-orlando-headlines","16":"tag-orlando-news","17":"tag-real-estate","18":"tag-retail-dining","19":"tag-social"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/208959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}