Florida's Space Coast Embarks on New Development Trajectory
Private Space Companies Bring Resurgence to Area

By Staff Report
CoStar
Published: Sep 12, 2019

Eight years after the nation's space shuttle program ended, Florida's Space Coast is undergoing an unexpected real estate revitalization.

The transformation is providing a boost for the region in Brevard County that includes NASA's Kennedy Space Center, where about 10,000 employees lost their jobs when the agency ended its 30-year space shuttle program in 2011, at a time when Florida was still dealing with the effects of the Great Recession.

Private space companies such as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' rocket company Blue Origin have filled the void, leasing launch pads from NASA, creating jobs and building industrial plants near Cape Canaveral. Now other developers are following suit with MultiVerse Global buying 170 acres for a mixed-use project in West Melbourne, Florida, about 20 miles south of Kennedy Space Center. The area also is known for its manufacturing of drones.

"It's more than a recovery,” MultiVerse Global Principal Edgar Jones said of the area's resurgence. "It's off on a new trajectory.”

Investment bank Morgan Stanley projects the commercial space industry could grow to $1.4 trillion by 2040. Space developments have spread across the country, with major projects also underway in Alabama and California. Blue Origin wants to reach the moon by 2021, while Tesla founder Elon Musk's SpaceX company also leases launchpads from NASA at Cape Canaveral and plans to fly around the moon by 2023. President Trump has set a goal to get U.S. astronauts back on the moon by 2024.

The Space Coast is east of Orlando and about halfway between Palm Beach and Jacksonville, stretching more than 70 miles along the Atlantic Ocean. Brevard County has a population of more than 588,000 people, many of them attracted to the area for its beaches and relatively affordable housing.

The MultiVerse Global project is close to Interstate 95, and there is more growth potential near the highway, analysts said. Unlike South Florida, which has a severe land shortage because of its unique geography between the Atlantic Ocean and the Everglades, Brevard County offers more development opportunities on now-vacant land, joining nearby Osceola County south of Orlando as markets on the rise across the Sunshine State.

"There are certain areas of Florida that are real growth centers, and certainly the Space Coast is at the top of the list," said Jack McCabe, a Florida real estate consultant.

Like much of the state, Brevard County's multifamily demand is growing, with new construction targeting young professionals moving to the area for high-wage tech jobs, according to the latest report from CoStar Market Analytics.

"With construction at its highest point in years at roughly 2,500 units under way, demand will continue to be strained over the near term,” the report states. "However, job growth is expected to remain above the national average and there are a number of major employers that are expected to buoy demand with upcoming expansions and new entries into the area.” In addition to the Bezos and Musk projects, Boeing plans to relocate its Space and Launch division headquarters to Brevard from Arlington, Virginia, by the end of the year, saying the move will change the "center of gravity” for the aerospace giant's space programs. Chicago-based Boeing said the new division headquarters will help the company expand its human spaceflight, military and commercial space programs.

"Currently, we are building our CST-100 Starliner commercial space capsule at Kennedy Space Center, supporting the Space Launch System program for the return to the Moon and then on to Mars,” spokesman Dan Beck said in an email. Meanwhile, MultiVerse Global bought the land at St. Johns Heritage Parkway and U.S. Highway 192 for the mixed-use project called Space Coast Town Centre last month for $23.39 million, according to public records.

MultiVerse Global is planning about 2,000 apartments, 250,000 square feet of retail space, two hotels and 300,000 to 500,000 square feet of offices. MultiVerse hired Orlando-based Foundry Commercial to market the retail, office and hospitality sites for sale within the project. Integra Land Co. of Lake Mary, Florida, is building the first phase of the apartments, about 300 units. Construction is expected to begin early next year, with buildout of the entire project taking five to seven years, said Jones with MultiVerse Global.