Legendary Whitetails, which sells hunting apparel, will expand its distribution headquarters and move into an Apopka warehouse building after signing one of the Orlando market’s largest industrial leases since the beginning of 2024.
HLI Partners secured a 283,170-square-foot, 120-month lease at 5101 Wesley Rd. on behalf of the brand’s parent company Legendary Holdings, LLC. In August, the company will move into Building 2 within EQT Group‘s four-building Orlando-Apopka Commerce Center, which opened in 2023. Building 2 features 52 dock doors, 36-foot clear heights, and 2,500 square feet of office space.
Gena Filion, Vice President at HLI Partners, told GrowthSpotter that she hasn’t seen a comparable lease as large as Legendary Whitetails’ so far in 2025, but that she couldn’t confirm that the deal was the biggest so far this year. However, the deal was larger than all but one lease that took place last year.
Essedant, a distributor of office supplies previously known as United Stationers, signed a 404,286-square-foot renewal lease last year in the Southridge Commerce Park east of Epic Universe. Aerospace One signed 2024’s second-largest lease, a 220,853-square-foot deal in the VenturePark Beachline near Sunbridge.
Legendary Whitetails currently leases a combined 159,903 square feet of space in two buildings in Apopka, including 89,578 square feet at 1349 Ocoee Apopka Rd. and 70,325 square feet at 2840 W Orange Ave. HLI Partners will be retained to sublease the two buildings.
“We are proud to have played a key role in Apopka’s largest industrial deal of the year, highlighting the area’s strong market appeal,” said HLI Partners Principal Josh Lipoff in a press release.
KC Tolliver, CEO of Legendary Holdings, said that he is excited to expand and consolidate the company’s distribution headquarters into one building.
“We are excited to expand our footprint in Apopka, Florida to better meet demand for our products and serve our customers as our business has grown meaningfully over the years. With the opening of this new distribution center, we’ll have the agility to support our customers more efficiently than ever right here in Central Florida with its strong sense of community and characteristics that align with our company’s mission and values,” said KC Tolliver, CEO of Legendary Holdings.
The Orlando-Apopka Commerce Center is located in a desirable area of Apopka near the 429 and Orange Blossom Trail interchange that is home to high-profile distribution tenants such as Coca-Cola, Universal, Goya Foods, Amazon, and AdventHealth.
A Q4 2024 Industrial Market Report from Colliers found that the Orlando market’s industrial vacancy rate in 2024 inched up from 7.2% to 7.5% year-over-year. Meanwhile, leasing activity declined from 10.7 million to 9.5 million square feet last year. Northwest Orange County had the largest vacancy rate of the seven submarkets included in the report, but developers continue to see Apopka as an attractive distribution market, with several large projects in the pipeline for the city.
For example, Cadence Partners plans to build the 1.5-million-square-foot industrial portion of the mixed-use Wyld Oaks development after purchasing 88 acres for $48.5 million in 2023.
McCraney Property Company also intends to build a 1.26-million-square-foot, five-building industrial park called Logistics 429 at Apopka Ridge on 78 acres at 1403 Binion Rd.
Los Angeles-based Standard Real Estate Investments and Dallas-based Trammell Crow Company partnered on the 1,171,038-square-foot Apopka Business Center, located on 80 acres at 444 Hermit Smith Rd. The first phase, consisting of two buildings with 267,482 square feet of space, is nearing completion.
Additionally, Connecticut-based Indus Realty Trust bought 73 acres along the west side of S.R. 421, just south of the Orlando Apopka Airport in 2023 for $17.4 million. The developer plans to deliver a 575,000-square-foot, three-building industrial park called Tradestar Logistics Center on the property.
Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at (407) 607-8160 or TyWilliams@GrowthSpotter.com. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook and LinkedIn.
