A global real estate firm that has been trying to unload the former Tupperware World Headquarters for over a year has a buyer under contract who wants to raze the corporate campus to build a 60-acre industrial park.
“Complete demo is what this plan is proposing,” Harris Civil Engineers‘ Abdul Alkadry told members of Osceola County’s Development Review Committee during a pre-application meeting on Tuesday.
Realty Income Corporation, an S&P 500 company, owns the former corporate campus, which has been vacant since Tupperware closed it in 2024 as part of its bankruptcy case. It’s been on the market since December of that year.
A conceptual plan calls for an industrial park with its main access on Orange Blossom Trail and secondary entrances on Mary Louis Lane and Healthy Way. It encompasses the former Tupperware campus, plus about 17 acres owned by O’Connor Capital Partners.
Peter Bergner, development director for O’Connor, confirmed to GrowthSpotter that a third-party buyer is under contract for both parcels, which are located within the Osceola Corporate Center Planned Development.
The park would have eight warehouses, ranging from 50,000 to 168,000 square feet, for a total of 742,000 square feet. Three of the warehouses would back up to a new 5-acre stormwater pond. Bergner said the new developer would complete the extension of Healthy Way and bring Mary Louis Lane up to county standards, with sidewalks and appropriate lighting.
Alkadry said the two existing ponds on OBT were built for aesthetic purposes but are not permitted for stormwater retention. He said the developer would modify and expand the ponds, as needed, and install a control structure to regulate the water level during heavy rain events.
“We did the same thing to the third (pond) down on the south, where we did the apartments,” he said. “Plus, we are proposing additional retention on site.”
Spirit Realty bought the property in 2022 for $43 million. At the time, Tupperware had a leaseback agreement for the headquarters building. Spirit later merged with Realty Income Corp.
The plan is a departure from an earlier redevelopment concept envisioned by O’Connor, which previously sought permits for a 348-unit apartment complex on lots 3 and 4 of the PD. Osceola County was cool to the idea of adding more housing to a mixed-use, transit-oriented development that already had four apartment complexes and only one major employer (Orlando Health).
Planning Director Corinne Carpenter said light industrial and distribution are permitted uses in the PD, and the conceptual site plan appears to meet the zoning and parking requirements.
“Honestly, I think we’re pretty close on what you’re proposing,” she said.
Alkadry has already filed a PD amendment seeking to remove the proposed industrial park from the Transit-Oriented Development district within OCC-PD.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Spirit Realty has not previously applied for any development permits on the Tupperware property. The earlier multifamily project would have occurred on property owned by O’Connor Capital Partners.
Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at lkinsler@GrowthSpotter.com or (407) 420-6261. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook and LinkedIn.
