Thad Seymour (left) manages life sciences investments for Lake Nona and has been deeply involved in bioFlorida, a public-private consortium focused on growing the biotech industry in Central Florida. Tavistock director Rasesh Thakkar (right) was an early proponent of Medical City and has been instrumental in its development.
Lake Nona
Nearly everyone talks about Medical City in terms of the four initial anchor tenants. But in reality, there are five: Lake Nona itself has been the key catalyst in making the project a reality. The senior leadership of Lake Nona Property Holdings (LNPH), the subsidiary of the Tavistock Group that owns the land where Medical City is being built, has been involved in creating the project from before its inception. They helped lay the groundwork for what would become Medical City through their work with local planning and development organizations and through their connections with the life sciences industry and sources of capital.
The Tavistock Group is a private investment firm with interests in some 170 companies located in 15 countries. Its principal, Joe Lewis, keeps a low profile except when it comes to charity and civic endeavors, and he was named 2006 Central Floridian of the Year for his efforts.
The Group’s contributions to the region to date – and they’ve been considerable – will likely pale in retrospect once the full scope of Medical City is realized.
“One of the unique things is that there is a Tavistock in the mix here,” said Thad Seymour, Vice President and General Manager for Life Science Investments for LNPH. “If you look at other clusters, they’re either affiliated with a university or they just happen over a long period of time. There isn’t a central glue. We’re the land owner and very interested in accelerating the creation, so that’s one of the keys to moving it along fast.”
Fast is an understatement. In addition to bringing four major partners into the development since 2005, the residential side of Lake Nona is springing up quickly as well. Continued expansion of the Lake Nona Golf & Country Club – a perennial list-topper for golf communities – has been matched with the development of NorthLake Park, Waters Edge and VillageWalk, which won the grand award in the 2007 Parade of Homes.
The total property is approved for 9,000 residential units, 950,000 square feet of retail, 950,000 square feet of office space and 4.9 million square feet of commercial.
LAKE NONA
Lake Nona Property Holdings, LLC
- 7,000 acres in southeast Orlando
- Master-planned community with 1,189 acres of conservation land and four existing residential communities
- Donated $12.5 million and 50 acres of land for the UCF College of Medicine