- An Orlando mailing address does not put you under City of Orlando zoning. Taft and much of the industrial land south of the city sit in unincorporated Orange County.
- Vacancy rose to 10.2 per cent as new buildings delivered, and asking rents still climbed. Your comparables have to match your building's age and size.
- Clear your paperwork before a buyer asks for it.
- Choose off-market or open market on purpose.
- Expect a retrade attempt, and keep a second buyer warm until the deposit goes hard.
This guide is written for Orlando and Orange County. Osceola, Seminole and Lake counties each run their own code. For the statewide process, start with how to sell a warehouse in Florida.
The seven steps
Work through these in order. The owner who jumps to step four, with a number in mind and a sign on the fence, gives away the most money.
-
Get a real number
Orlando's industrial runs from the Airport and Southeast Orange to Orlando Central Park in the southwest, Northwest Orange toward Apopka, and Osceola and Seminole on either side. A 1980s bay off Orange Blossom Trail and a new 250,000 square foot box near the Beachline share a metro and very little else.
A real number comes from closed industrial sales in your corridor, the rent your space would draw today, what your zoning allows, and who is buying this quarter. Brokerages hold that data. The MLS does not.
-
Clear the paperwork
Pull the survey, the title commitment, permits and the certificate of occupancy, environmental history, roof and structural records, tax bills, and every lease with every amendment.
Get zoning verification from the right government: the city if your parcel sits inside one, Orange County if it does not. The zoning section below explains why the address can mislead you.
-
Decide off-market or open market
Off-market means a named list of buyers who already own this asset class, approached under NDA. Your tenants and competitors hear nothing. Open market means every buyer sees it, and you get the competition that comes with that.
A stabilised multi-tenant building often does better with wide exposure. An owner-occupied building, or one carrying a tenant problem, usually does better quietly.
-
Price it, then market it
Set the price from the underwriting, then build the marketing around the buyer who will pay the most. An owner user wants possession and loading. A fund wants a rent roll and a covenant.
An asking price above the underwriting buys you two months of silence and a building every buyer now knows has been sitting.
-
Run the buyers against each other
Set a date for offers and compare the whole offer: the deposit and its hard date, the inspection period, any financing contingency, proof of funds, and what the buyer has closed before.
A short study period and a hard deposit at a fair price closes. A record price with a long exit hands the buyer a free option.
-
Survive due diligence
Assume a retrade attempt late in the inspection period, framed as a roof, an environmental finding or a lease question. Answer it with evidence and hold the deposit schedule you agreed.
Keep your second buyer informed until the money goes hard. A seller with a backup offer negotiates from a stronger seat.
-
Close
Estoppels from every tenant, tax and rent prorations, the lender payoff, security deposit transfers, and the documentary stamp tax on the deed, which runs 70 cents per $100 of price in Orange County. Your attorney runs the closing. Your broker keeps surprises off the list.
What sets the price on an Orlando industrial building
Six things move the number more than anything else.
- Age and size against the new supply. Developers delivered a wave of big new buildings after 2022. A small older building competes with a different set of options than a new box does.
- Clear height and loading. Dock high and grade level doors, and room for a 53 foot trailer to turn.
- The yard. Paved, fenced outside area and a recorded right to store on it. Contractors and fleet users pay for it.
- Position against the freight network. I-4, Florida's Turnpike, the Beachline (SR 528), SR 417 and Orlando International Airport. Last-mile users buy drive time to the tourist corridor and the suburbs.
- Which county. Colliers put Osceola at 6.2 per cent vacancy and Northwest Orange at 12.3 per cent in mid 2026. Two buildings 30 minutes apart can sit in different markets.
- The lease. Remaining term, escalations, who pays taxes and insurance, and whether a lender will underwrite the tenant.
CBRE counted 252,095 square feet of positive net absorption that quarter, after 243,000 in the first. Vacancy sat between 3.0 and 3.5 per cent through 2022. Those are market figures, and they help you check the report a buyer sends to justify a low offer.
City code or county code
Orange County has 13 cities. Land outside all of them falls under the county's zoning code, Chapter 38 of the Orange County Code, with its own industrial districts.
Inside the City of Orlando, industrial land carries the I-P industrial park, I-G general industrial or I-C industrial commercial district. Taft, an industrial area south of the city, is unincorporated, and plenty of other Orlando addresses are too. The county code then decides what you can do with the building and the yard.
Orange County collects impact fees at building permit, so a buyer who plans to add floor area will price them into the offer. Confirm which government controls your parcel and get the permitted use in writing before you go to market.
Three mistakes that cost the most
- Trusting the mailing address. Sellers quote the city code to a buyer and learn in due diligence that the county governs. The buyer then reprices the yard.
- Pricing an old building off new deliveries. Asking rents on new product tell you little about a 1980s bay with low clear height. Price off trades in your own size and age band.
- Letting the buyer set the timetable. An open inspection period with a refundable deposit hands the buyer a free option. Set deadlines and a hard date.
Who is buying industrial in Orlando
Four pools. In July 2026 Midtown Capital Partners bought Cypress Park, 256,838 square feet in Southeast Orange, for $56.1 million, and Speed Bay Warehouse Solutions bought Silver Star Commerce Center in Northwest Orange, according to JLL.
- Owner users. Distributors, contractors and suppliers to the construction and tourism trades buying their own premises, often with SBA financing.
- Private investors and 1031 buyers. Looking for stable income on a deadline. Small bay buildings close to the city draw them.
- Funds and institutional capital. Buying distribution near the airport, the Turnpike and Orlando Central Park.
- Yard and truck operators. Buying ground near the interchanges. On an older building with a big lot, they can outbid everyone.
What a valuation needs from you
Six things, all free to gather.
- The address and the parcel number, so the governing code can be read off the county record.
- Building size and lot size, with usable yard separated from the total.
- Clear height, door counts by type, and the electrical service.
- The leases, with term, rent, escalations, options and who pays what.
- Roof age, paving, sprinkler and HVAC, and the permit history.
- Anything recorded against the property. Covenants surprise everyone late.
Phil concludes every valuation himself after he has seen the site. It costs nothing and carries no obligation to list.
Read next: What is my industrial property worth, then how to sell an IOS yard in Florida if your lot carries more value than the building.