Meet G3 Development, the company chosen to lead downtown Ocoee’s revitalization

Ultimately, the growth and development of Ocoee’s downtown core will mean much more than new streetscapes and shops.

The look, feel and vision for McKey Street and the immediate surrounding area will give Ocoee its character. It will be the city’s visual representation online and in the minds of both residents and visitors.

Earlier this month, the Ocoee City Commission chose its development partner for the pivotal project when it named Mount Dora-based G3 Development as its master developer for the implementation of the city’s downtown master plan. 

But who is G3 Development, and is it the best organization to lead this highly anticipated project for Orange County’s third-biggest city?

“We at G3 Development are a boutique real-estate development company located out of Mount Dora, Florida, that is family-run and has been open and operational now for the past 25 years,” Jake Guenther, who runs G3’s business development, said. “Throughout those 25 years, we’ve done commercial  real-estate development all through the Southeast, with a heavy focus in Central Florida. … We currently own and manage around $100 million of our own properties and are constantly looking to add to that.

“In that time we’ve been a little bit different than most developers,” he said. “(Whereas) most developers kind of have a bread-and-butter, where they focus on a specific sector (such as) multifamily projects or medical, we’ve kind of done it all. We’ve definitely been very successful in the high-end medical space with clients (such as) AdventHealth and Orlando Health, but one of our big passions — and being from Mount Dora is probably where this comes from — is historic downtown infill development.”

The passion Guenther describes for helping develop historic downtowns may be an understatement. According to the company’s website, it has developed or currently is working on developing public-private partnership projects — similar to Ocoee’s vision — in multiple Central Florida areas; including its hometown of Mount Dora, as well as in Sanford, Wildwood, Tavares Square and Eustis.

In addition, G3’s Finfrock built the city of Winter Garden’s three-level downtown parking garage, and ELEVEN18 Architecture firm is responsible for the redevelopment of the Apopka City Center.

“The great news for us, when it came to this project, was that the city staff, the City Commission and the citizens of the Ocoee have already done a great job with their master-planning process and keeping that master plan up to date,” Guenther said. “They’ve basically said, ‘This is what we want in our downtown.’ That’s extremely important to us. We love it when downtown’s (have) gone through the master-planning process and has gotten the community’s input, versus us coming in and saying this is what we think is best for downtown Ocoee and this how you all should do it. 

“So really, we view our role as us looking at that master plan, working to implement that vision … and being the spur for some more private investment,” he said. “There will probably be one to three catalyst sites we identify through this process, and from there, we’ll just work to get those projects rocking and rolling, but still (we) have a while to go until that point.”

One of the biggest questions surrounding the growth and development of downtown Ocoee is about the vision and, ultimately, what the area will become in the next 10, 20 or even 30 years — a long-term process in which G3 wants to be involved.

“We’re excited about the prospects of the future of downtown Ocoee,” Guenther said. “We love its historic nature, the fact that it’s on a lake. Obviously, there is a ton of growth right now happening in Ocoee, and there’s a strong desire to have something more in downtown. We see in the next 10,15, 20, 30 years — for however long the development life cycle of the downtown is— that Ocoee can blossom into a place like Winter Garden, Mount Dora or New Smyrna — some of these downtowns that people think about when they think of great areas in Central Florida. Like we’ve already seen the city has invested and will continue to invest in the area. We’re just excited to be a small part of that private investment and see what we can help build and where it can go.”

The development process of the area will take time, but with the commission’s approval at its April 2 meeting, choosing to proceed with contracting G3 as its master developer is a big first step.