Development Planned Near CC in Orlando

Orlando's Orange County Convention Center is on the verge of making itself even more competitive than before with the announcement of plans for an adjacent 80-acre development that will include hotels, attractions, entertainment, restaurants and retail.

“We're putting together a plan of what we would like to see happen,” said Kathie Canning, deputy general manager of the convention center.

She added that five parties – The Peabody Orlando, the OCCC, The Hilton Orlando, Rosen Hotels & Resorts and Universal City Property Management, which owns the land around the convention center – are working together on the plan.

“We are in (the) design and permitting stage of development of the first phase of the Convention Center Urban Plan,” said former Universal Orlando executive Marc Watson, president of UCPM, a development group he leads with Atlanta developer Stan Thomas.

Watson said the plan so far includes a 1,400-room hotel – with the brand to be announced this summer – plus attractions, entertainment, retail and a large outdoor entertainment area that will be connected via a waterway concept to create “additional venues, spaces for entertainment and show performances.” The development will be north of the OCCC's North/South Building and connected to it by pedestrian bridges.

It's just the latest proposed development for the area surrounding the convention center. The Hilton Orlando, which broke ground last year, will be the first hotel connected directly to the OCCC by pedestrian bridge when it opens next summer on the east side of the North/South Building.

The Peabody Orlando's expansion, expected to be completed in winter 2010 or spring 2011 with 750 additional guest rooms, will connect the then-1,641-room hotel to the west side of the North/South Building by pedestrian bridge.

Watson said it's all part of the Universal Boulevard Planned Development, 2,150 acres of mixed-use tourist commercial development that includes the OCCC and adjacent connected hotels.

Rosen Shingle Creek Resort, which opened in 2006, also is part of that plan, Watson added.

Another portion that has yet to see the light of day is the Village of Imagine, planned for a parcel across Universal Boulevard from the OCCC, which was to be a mixed-use complex of shops, restaurants and residential units. It was planned to surround The Westin Imagine Orlando, which has already been completed. The Village of Imagine project, led by Intrawest Corp., a Canadian developer known for ski resorts, has been put on hold.

“From our viewpoint, it's stalled, and we're trying to figure out how to get it going again,” Watson said.

For the convention center, the urban plan under development would answer appeals from visitors to tradeshows and meetings in the area.

“Quite honestly, it gives us the infrastructure that we and our clients have requested to go along with (the last expansion),” Canning said.

UCPM and Orange County have worked together on the master plan for the area since the county bought the convention center expansion property from UCPM in 1998, Watson said.

“At that time, we envisioned a public-private initiative that allowed UCPM to develop the private components and Orange County the public components,” he added. “The goal is to deliver the seamless, integrated and immersive environment in the convention district similar to what our guests experience at our world-class theme parks.”

Watson said the urban plan's first phase will open in fall 2011.

“We anticipate at least one more phase,” he added. “There could be more after that, but we're doing at least two phases.”

Watson said the second phase would probably open in 2015.