The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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Margaritaville is getting a skyline. A high-roofed hotel for Margaritaville Resort Orlando is taking shape in Osceola County, Fla. The 187-room establishment will operate near the center of the 320-acre resort that also will feature rental homes, time-share units, apartments, restaurant-retail space and a water park.
“We look at it as a destination resort business,” said Jim Bagley, project developer, after a recent media tour of the Kissimmee property.
The hotel’s rooms will have kingand queen-sized beds, and the resort will offer 1,000 larger “vacation homes,” that sleep up to 32 people under one roof.
“Orlando’ s becoming a big multi generation al market. Grandparents, parents and kids all want to vacation together,” Bagley said.
“To accommodate those groups we started with the four-, five-, sixbedroom houses,” he said. “But then we got into the reunions … and now we’re at the 15-bedroom houses.”
The rental houses will be arranged into six neighborhoods with different architectures. The current model homes are built in the Key West area, but other districts will reflect the look of coastal Carolina, the Caribbean and other tropical spots.
The rentals will sport 1,000 distinctive exteriors, Bagley said.
“No home should look alike. That is our goal,” he said.
The first rentals will be available this summer, and 250 structures will be rolled out during each of the next four years, Bagley said. Margaritaville’s apartments now have about a 75 percent occupancy, he said. Some of the resort’s sectors, including the hotel and the retail segment, are scheduled to open late this year.
Passers-by on U.S. 192 primarily will see the retail and the adjacent 12-acre water park. Bagley said 50,000 cars pass the site daily.
“Obviously, we want them to pull in and go to the water park,” he said. “The water park then provides us leverage to the retail.”
He expects between 3 million and 4 million attendees at the property annually. Part of the Margaritaville pitch will be having all amenities, including beaches and pools, in one location.
“We’re trying to get everybody where they can park, be done with their car for the weekend, then transport themselves around by bike or tram so no cars have to move once they get there,” Bagley said.