Disney-area site attracts developer
The Orlando Sun Resort, which for years has blighted Osceola County’s busiest tourist corridor, could finally be moving toward a sale that would bring major change to the area.
Aventura-based Meyers Group Vice Chairman Robert Shapiro confirmed to GrowthSpotter that his company has a purchase contract on the 77-acre site and has pulled together a conceptual master plan for a massive new mixed-use entertainment district. The plan was displayed at the ICSC @Florida conference last week in Orlando.
Owned by Fortuna Realty in New York, the one-time Hyatt resort is in a prime location at the northeast quadrant of I-4 and U.S. Highway 192. Built in 1974, the sprawling two-story motel sits right across from Celebration and minutes from Disney.
It’s the kind of location for which Osceola’s W192 Development Authority created its catalyst site-incentive grant, and this one could be eligible for $1.5 million from the authority.
Meyers Group is calling the project “Park Place” and working with RSP Architects on the master site planning. The plan calls for 1,150 residential units spread among four buildings — each eight stories tall — with another 120,000 square feet of retail and restaurants.
There’s also a 46,000-squarefoot movie theater, 15,000-squarefoot food hall and seven-story, 348-key hotel with retail and dining on the ground level. The plan shows a 30,000-square-foot office building adjacent to the hotel complex, with a shared parking garage.
Shapiro said the plans are still very preliminary and that he is in discussions almost daily with the seller. The biggest hurdle seems to be traffic circulation, as the site has just two access points at Parkway Boulevard and Arabian Nights Boulevard.
Last year New York-based CSC Coliving co-founder Sal Smeke said he was in negotiations to buy the asset for $35 million and planned to convert all 960 rooms into studio apartments. Smeke backed out of the deal over the county’s $12,165-per-unit school impact fee, which would have added $12 million to the cost.
Orange to examine apartment approvals
Orange County commissioners say they want to explore policy changes that will help multifamily development projects get through the county review process quicker.
The move in this direction comes amid demand for multifamily units and complaints by local developers that the slow permitting process adds costs and contributes to the high rent rates charged to tenants.
Commissioners directed staff to bring back ideas for improvement after hearing a presentation full of data about ongoing residential development activity and the wait time that goes along with it.
Across unincorporated Orange County, 8,456 apartment units are under construction while another 17,914 are in the pipeline awaiting final approval.
But it could be as long as five years before these multifamily projects in the review process are actually added to the county’s housing inventory when you take into account the steps in the county approval process and the 50 vacancies across county departments that handle development proposals.
Scott Skraban, the county’s manager of planning, environmental and development services, told commissioners Tuesday that the county wants to see a total of 10,000 single-family and multifamily housing units added a year for the next five years to meet growing demand.
The goal calls for the construction of at least 10 new apartment communities per year.
Through the first seven months of 2022 the county had issued permits for 3,176 multifamily units, 1,077 single-family homes and 360 townhome units.
“I think if we really want to increase the production of affordable and attainable housing, we are going to have to change public policy,” Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings said during Tuesday’s commission meeting.