The owner of a 1980s strip plaza on Semoran Boulevard has had the same property policy for years, renewed without much thought because Orlando isn’t Miami and the building had never had a serious claim. Then a tropical storm stalls over Central Florida. Wind lifts part of the roof membrane, rain pours into two units for most of a night, and the restaurant tenant is closed for months. The policy pays to repair the roof, but the county requires the replacement section to meet today’s building code, and the upgrade cost isn’t covered. The policy also never included loss of rents, so the plaza collects nothing from the closed units while the work is done. Inland location helped with storm surge. It didn’t help with any of that.
That’s the right way to think about commercial property in Orlando. Distance from the coast changes some exposures and leaves others exactly where they are, and the gaps that hurt owners here are usually the same ones that hurt owners anywhere in Florida: older buildings, rainfall flooding, code upgrades and lost income.
What being inland actually changes
Orlando sits well away from the coastline, which largely removes the storm surge exposure that drives so much of coastal Florida’s property underwriting, and puts the area outside the High-Velocity Hurricane Zone construction requirements that apply to Miami-Dade and Broward. On a comparable building, that can mean more carrier interest and better wind terms than the same building would get on the coast.
It doesn’t remove hurricane wind. Storms that cross the peninsula still reach Orlando with damaging winds, and the hurricane deductible on a commercial policy is a percentage of the insured value, just as it is on the coast. Convert it to dollars and make sure it’s an amount the business can actually absorb. Property in Florida is placed mostly in the surplus lines market, inland or not, so expect specialty carriers rather than a standard admitted policy.
Flooding comes from rain, not the ocean
Central Florida’s flat terrain, high water table, lakes and retention ponds mean heavy rainfall can flood areas far from any mapped high-risk zone. Hurricane Ian showed that in 2022, when businesses and neighborhoods in Orange and Seminole counties flooded from rainfall alone. A commercial property policy doesn’t cover flood, regardless of distance from the coast, and a lender not requiring flood coverage isn’t an assessment of risk. Our guide on whether you need flood insurance for commercial property in Florida covers how to evaluate it based on the building’s actual elevation and drainage.
Newer buildings and older ones
Orlando’s commercial growth has produced plenty of newer construction, especially warehouses and distribution buildings along the I-4 corridor, around the airport and in the southern industrial parks, along with newer retail and medical office in growth areas like Lake Nona. Newer roofs and systems make those buildings easier to insure.
But the established corridors are full of older buildings: strip plazas on Semoran, Colonial and Orange Blossom Trail, older offices downtown and in Maitland Center, and light industrial buildings from the 1970s and 1980s. Those face the same questions as older buildings anywhere in the state: roof age and condition, electrical and plumbing updates, and whether the building is insured at its true replacement cost. Our guide to buying an older commercial building in Florida walks through the due diligence, and our article on replacement cost vs. market value explains why the insured value isn’t what the building would sell for.
Code upgrades after a loss
Florida’s statewide building code applies regardless of location, so an older Orlando building carries the same code gap as an older building anywhere else. When part of the building is damaged, the repair has to meet current code, and if the damage is extensive enough, the undamaged portion may have to be brought up to code as well, or demolished. A standard property policy doesn’t pay those costs. Ordinance or law coverage does, and for older buildings it’s one of the most important additions to the policy. Our article on ordinance or law coverage for Florida commercial property explains the three parts of the coverage.
Sinkholes
Parts of Central Florida have sinkhole activity that South Florida doesn’t. Commercial property policies typically cover only a narrowly defined sudden sinkhole collapse, while settling, cracking and other earth movement are excluded. Broader sinkhole coverage, where it’s available, is a separate decision. Our article on sinkhole coverage vs. catastrophic ground cover collapse explains the difference.
Lost rents and business income
For a landlord, loss of rents coverage pays the rent tenants stop paying while a damaged building is repaired. For an owner-occupant, business income coverage pays lost earnings and continuing expenses. Both depend on a realistic restoration period that accounts for permits, contractor availability after a storm and, for tenants like restaurants, equipment lead times. Our guide to business income insurance for Florida commercial property covers how to set the limit.
Equipment breakdown is the other common gap. Rooftop air conditioning units, electrical panels and elevators fail without any storm involved, and those failures aren’t covered under the property form. Our article on equipment breakdown insurance explains what it covers.
Tenants and vacancy
For multi-tenant buildings, the tenant mix affects both price and eligibility. A plaza with a restaurant, a nail salon and a smoke shop is rated very differently from one with offices and retail, and underwriters ask. Our article on lessor’s risk and tenant mix explains how. Vacancy matters too: many property policies restrict coverage when a building or a large part of it sits empty for an extended period, which has become more common in Central Florida’s office market. Our article on vacant commercial property insurance covers the options.
Worth confirming on your policy
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Insured values based on today’s replacement cost, not market value
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Hurricane deductible calculated in dollars
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Flood coverage evaluated on the building’s elevation and drainage
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Roof age, condition and permits documented
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Ordinance or law coverage on older buildings
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Sinkhole coverage reviewed if the area has a history of it
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Loss of rents or business income with a realistic restoration period
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Equipment breakdown for HVAC, electrical and elevators
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Tenant mix accurately described on the application
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Vacancy conditions reviewed if any part of the building is empty
For more, see our commercial property insurance page, commercial property insurance requirements in Florida, what commercial property insurance doesn’t cover, and our Orlando pages on apartment buildings and wholesalers and distributors.
Talk to us
Prestige Insurance Group works with commercial property owners, landlords and investors across Orlando and Central Florida, from older retail plazas and offices to newer warehouses and medical buildings. We’ll review your current program against the building you actually own and compare options with the carriers and surplus lines markets that write Florida property. Call our Orlando office. Se habla español.
Orlando: 407-993-2331
This article is general information, not legal advice. Coverage forms, exclusions and carrier appetite vary and change over time; refer to your actual policy for the terms that apply to your property.
