Another big-name sports car brand is kicking plans into high gear on the southwest side of town, adding to the hotbed of luxury auto dealerships by The Mall at Millenia.
Franklin, Tenn.-based UP Development Inc. — which already has landed Ferrari-Maserati of Central Florida as part of a 23-acre, mixed-use development on Vineland Road — also is finalizing a land sale to bring a new Porsche dealership to the project.
Scott Fish, principal of UP Development, told Orlando Business Journal in a previous interview that he was working with another “luxury European sports car brand,” and on May 4, he confirmed that it is Porsche, though he was unavailable for further comment.
“It will be very high end, and there’s great synergy in this brand,” Fish told OBJ in the previous interview.
Orlando-based civil engineering firm Poulos & Bennett LLC met with city of Orlando officials earlier this week to discuss preliminary plans for the Porsche dealership at 4891 Vineland Road, according to city documents. An application is expected to be submitted for the “Porsche South Orlando” project sometime soon showing more detailed plans.
UP Development’s related UP Fieldgate US Investments-Gardens at Millenia LLC may sell a 3.5-acre parcel for the new Porsche dealership by the end of this week.
Central Florida’s existing Porsche of Orlando dealership is on U.S. Highway 17-92 in Maitland. It’s unknown whether the existing dealership will relocate to the Millenia location — like Ferrari-Maserati of Central Florida — or if this will be a second dealership in the region.
Andrew Parkinson, general manager of Porsche of Orlando, wasn’t immediately available for comment.
Meanwhile, Ferrari-Maserati is expected to begin securing building permits from the city for its 55,000-square-foot complex, which will include a three-story showroom/sales center and vehicle service center on about 4.5 acres on Vineland Road near Conroy Road.
UP Development is still working on plans for the remaining 13 acres it owns at that site.