Rollins College delays
Rollins College delays expansion on cost, parking factors
two construction projects, including expansion of the Alfond Inn, because of parking and cost factors.
Rollins College has delayed two construction projects, including an expansion of the world-renowned Alfond Inn because of parking and cost factors.
The Winter Park college pulled proposals due to be considered at upcoming zoning hearings about the downtown hotel adding a parking garage to the Lawrence Center — an office building on campus — to allow more time to evaluate its planning options.
“With so many exciting and mission-critical projects taking shape at Rollins, we are putting a temporary hold on our Lawrence Center and Alfond Inn expansions in order to explore and evaluate some cost-saving and project-sharing opportunities that will benefit the College and the community,” Rollins said in a statement.
The Alfond Inn expansion called for an additional 70 hotel rooms — bringing the total up to 182 — along with a 7,000-square-foot spa/ health club, a 4,000-square-foot meeting space/gallery and 323 square feet marked as a retail space. At least 152 parking spaces also were slated to be added to the property.
Winter Park City Manager Randy Knight was notified in an Aug. 29 letter that the college was withdrawing its hearing requests so “that we may investigate other potential parking locations to better meet the needs of the College and the residents of Winter Park.”
For the Lawrence Center project, the adjacent Pioneer Building was expected to be replaced with a parking garage. Rollins proposed a twostory, three-level garage with about 184 parking spots.
But city officials recommended either a four-story, five-level garage that would provide an estimated 304 spaces or a five-story, sixlevel garage that would supply roughly 364 spots.
Besides expansion of the boutique hotel, the college also was looking to build a new facility to house the Cornell Fine Arts Museum
and relocate the Crummer Graduate School of Business, an endeavor dubbed by Rollins officials as the “Innovation Triangle.”
The inn, which has been included on Travel + Leisure magazine’s list of 100 best hotels in the world, showcases a rotating display of 300 pieces of contemporary art that was donated to the Cornell Fine Arts Museum by Rollins alumni Barbara and Ted Alfond.
The $32.5-million hotel opened in 2013 and was partially funded by a $12.5 million grant from the Harold Alfond Foundation. A portion of its profits goes toward funding a full scholarship for students through the Alfond Scholars program.