Disney Dropping $1 Billion Florida Campus May Screw Over Other Developers
Disney's decision to scrap its $1 billion campus could affect projects nearby.
CoStar Group told The Wall Street Journal that thousands of homes were built after Disney announced its campus in 2021.
However, the development group that owns the land says that Disney's decision will not affect it.
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Walt Disney's decision to scrap its $1 billion campus in Orlando, Florida this month could leave many surrounding development projects in the Lake Nona community scrambling, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Walt Disney purchased the land to build the campus in the Lake Nona community in 2021, but ultimately decided they would not follow through with this, the Journal reported on May 18. Hundreds of employees set to work at the new campus had already moved to Lake Nona before Disney announced they would be abandoning the plan.
Lisa McNatt, a director of market analytics for CoStar Group, told the Journal that when Disney initially announced plans to build in Lake Nona, 2,100 new apartment units were built as a result, with 1,200 units currently being constructed. In comparison, McNatt told the Journal, only 750 units had been built in the preceding 3 years.
Representatives for Tavistock Development Co., the group behind Lake Nona, told the Journal only that it had been "intentional in curating the selection of organizations, innovators, and entrepreneurs that fuel our ecosystem."
They also told the Journal that 95% of the multifamily housing at Lake Nona is currently being occupied.
McNatt said that Disney's presence "would have resulted in a strong uptick in higher-income jobs that could have benefited the Orlando area at large."
The decision to scrap plans was part of the company's quest to cut down on costs, the Journal previously reported, as well as its ongoing political battle with Governor Ron DeSantis, which began after Disney spoke out against a law backed by the governor that would limit discussions on sexual orientation and gender in public schools.
Insider's Kelsey Vlamis previously reported that if the feud continues, the state of Florida could see significant financial loss should Disney, the second largest private employer in the state, decide to tap out of more projects in the state — although that is not quite happening yet, Deadline reported.
"I think DeSantis has more to lose, as this incident made apparent, depending on whether, as a fairly skilled politician, he can somehow put a good face on this," Richard Foglesong, a leading expert on Walt Disney World's history and politics, told Insider.
Representatives for Disney, Tavistock Development Co., and DeSantis did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Source: Business Insider
