Sagging economy slows plans for ‘Flamingo Crossings’ at Disney
Featured, Jason Garcia, News — By Jason Garcia on November 6, 2009 at 5:02 pm
In this view from the Western Beltway, S.R. 429, landscaping continues at the entrance to Flamingo Crossings, on the western edge of Walt Disney World, along the S.R. 429. (Joe Burbank, Orlando Sentinel)
Just beyond the western entrance to Walt Disney World, construction crews are putting the finishing touches on a new network of roads complete with utility lines, street lamps and palm trees — but not a single building.
The empty streetscape is all that exists so far of “Flamingo Crossings,” a 450-acre lodging-and-shopping district that Disney World announced more than three years ago as a way to capture more spending from the legions of price-sensitive tourists who visit the resort’s theme parks every year but bypass its premium-priced hotels in favor of cheaper, off-property accommodations.
>> See pictures of construction at Flamingo Crossing
Disney has been actively marketing the property to developers of hotels, restaurants and shopping centers for two years. It has yet to close a sale.
The stalled project is a high-profile victim of the global recession and credit freeze, which has made financing for many commercial construction projects exceedingly hard to obtain. It is also emblematic of a broader construction slowdown at the giant resort: Records show that building-permit activity at Disney World has dropped 25 percent during the past year.
“There seems to be a lot of interest in the site. It’s just putting together financing today is difficult,” said Ray Maxwell, district administrator for the Reedy Creek Improvement District, the semi-autonomous government that oversees Disney’s vast property.
Disney says it remains committed to Flamingo Crossings, which it ultimately envisions as having between 4,000 and 5,000 hotel rooms and between 300,000 and 500,000 square feet of retail space, anchored by a village-like town center. Although the resort had hoped initial hotel construction would have begun by now, it has always expected the development would take eight to 10 years to complete.
“We still feel that’s on track in terms of time frame,” said Marilyn Waters, a spokeswoman for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. “There are a lot of different factors that can affect the timing.”
Designed to compete with moderately priced lodging, dining and shopping options such as those found just off property in Osceola County or on International Drive, Flamingo Crossings is to be much different than a typical Disney development. Instead of large, elaborately themed hotels and eateries, it is to include low- and mid-rise hotels and motels, fast-food and casual-dining chains, and stores selling staples such as groceries, toiletries and basic clothing.
Disney said it expects that, in addition to tourists, many of its 60,000-plus employees will eat and shop in Flamingo Crossings.
Although the land is to remain within Reedy Creek and be subject to its more-stringent design standards, Disney intends to sell parcels of land to third-party builders to construct the businesses. Disney began shopping the property in November 2007 with promotional materials that displayed a flock of plastic pink flamingos positioned as if running and urged developers to “Beat the stampede!”
Vertical construction has languished, but site work is nearly complete. Maxwell said Reedy Creek has laid all the necessary utility lines for the project’s first phase and expects to complete the roadwork and landscaping by the end of the month.
The delay has not been a surprise to some people. Tom DeWolf, who chairs Reedy Creek’s board of supervisors, said he was skeptical of Flamingo Crossings when it was announced because there were already signs that the real-estate market was overheated.
“I could see things had reached a point where I just personally had the feeling that it’s going a little too far,” DeWolf said.
Disney says it continues to negotiate with potential developers. Waters said the project should get a lift when district workers complete a road-extension project that will connect the Flamingo Crossings site to an unrelated time-share development.
“I can tell you we continue to have significant interest from hotels, retailers and restaurants,” Waters said. “As the economy recovers, we’re in good position.”
Flamingo Crossings is not the only construction project that has slowed. Records at Reedy Creek show that building-permit activity dropped 25 percent during its 2008-09 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, compared with a year earlier.
The total construction value of projects permitted during the year plummeted 61 percent, from $409.4 million to $158.7 million.
Disney and Reedy Creek say the results aren’t purely the result of the poor economy, and that building activity fluctuates from year to year. Construction values, for example, have also been affected by falling prices for materials and labor. And the year-ago totals were boosted by three large time-share projects that Disney completed earlier this year.
Construction activity could rebound in the coming months. Disney will break ground this spring on an overhaul of the Fantasyland section of the Magic Kingdom, which the resort calls the biggest expansion in that theme park’s 38-year history.
Jason Garcia can be reached at jrgarcia@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5414.
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27 Comments
Damn Disney has to have their stinky nose is everydamn thing enough is enough already!
If you “HateMickeyMouse” so much, why in the world are you on this site? Maybe you didn’t notice, but this site is 100% focused on all things Disney.
If you go, we’ll try not to miss you. If I drive by you on the highway, I can’t promise the same.
Maybe Disney should put this kind of project in other locations around the state. Turning more land into Disney retail space in the current situation is a huge waste. They have the money and expertise to turn this into a lucrative business, designing retail structures, parks, and malls for other regions. And, they’d sell.
I realize Disney represents “Big Business”, but they have such a greedy attitude towards owning everything they can get their hands on! And when it comes to their “cast members”, they give the LEAST they can.
I remember when Walt Disney World wasn’t a gift shop. It was really a place to meet imagination and creativity. Over the years, I have seen more and more emphasis on retail and over steamed “experiences” rather than the imaginative and inspiring fantasy it once had in the 70’s & 80’s. This is from my own experience, my family went to Disney World more than I could count in the 80’s and 90’s, I we all had to witness the crumbling of places within the parks go to retail space and or turned into some trendy junk ride with no real Disney imagination apparent. Oh course it is a business ..eh hem..corporation but I do believe they have lost their values and heart.
Disney is a business and they are following a business model that works and it works very well. Business has to evolve or they become extinct. What entertained me as a young adult will not entertain a young adult today. I love the Lucy show and still watch reruns and yes I still laugh. They did not resort to sex, violence, profanity, drugs. It is sad that what passes as comedy today has to be so vulgar. I love when the mouse haters come online; I just wish that they would show as much interest in Citizens Insurance and how the state is making every resident pay home owners insurance for beach front properties. I don’t live on the beach or near the coast because of the weather calamities. Yet I still pay for people to live there even though it is not my choice.
They should build another park, not more shopping.
Some of the posts here are typically representative of a anti-Disney whining.
If you don’t like WDW anymore, please stay away, we don’t want you around anyway.
And while you sit home, have someone change your diapers……. you pathetic crybabies!
“We don’t wat you?”
Typical speak from a 6 dollar an hour disney automaton who think he’s “part of the magic”…an doesn’t realize what he is: low paid non-descript labor who is thrown into a uniform with little or no education/ training to serve a billion dollar cash generating machine….
How about WE DON’T WANT YOU. Don’t as the contraction for “do not”. Just because America has a freedom of speech doesn’t mean we really want to hear you exercise that right.
How sad that you are so bitter and harbor so much anger……… that person you describe maybe very proud of the work they do and try really hard to achieve their goals, not everyone can blessed with your levels of perfection
Soooo…Now Disney will have an empty entertainment complex (Pleasure Island), which closed while still a viable business/product and the “bold new vision” which has thus far failed since the third party participants they wanted to inhabit the venues which still stand vacant have all since backed out…but now they will have an empty, developed mini-town which will probably stand vacant for ten years. Considering the market and the economy prior to these two bad ideas getting underway, I am surprised Disney didn’t do a 180 degree turn and put these rather large projects/changes on hold. It would be really sad to see a completed project like “Flamingo Crossings”, with its empty storefronts and lacking foot traffic while Pleasure Island sits derelict with its huge potential. If you can’t sell an existing venue, why create another one?
You can complain about Disney, but can you name another company that even comes close to their levels of quality?
Quality what quality the parks are falling apart.
The parks are not falling apart at all.
Go walk thru a developed city or suburban track in the us right now.
Disney is still maintaing their property even with the horrible economy, buildings are still being refurbished, paint is still being applied, and things are still being fixed.
Huge rehabs are still happening and big construction projects are taking off at WDW, which in turn will create jobs for sometime to come.
You mention ‘parks are falling apart’ – have you visited Universal lately? Special effects often are not working, paint peeling, rides broken – that is falling apart!
Perhaps Disney should be a little more concerned about their employees than spending 4 billion on Marvel and projects like the above. Instead they simply lay off to save $ so they can spend….
Your comment can be used against all the major companies in the world right now, not just Disney. As a percentage the numbers of cast laid off is very small, come to the UK and see whole factorys closed with the loss of thousands of workers, British Airways just this week announced another 1,500 people to go. Disney has to look long term and seize opportunties like Marvel to secure its revenues and development opportunities maybe not for this year or next but perhaps in a decade time. I think we all forget that Disney is a business it has exsisted so long because people are happy to pay to see their products, however if they don’t keep evolving people won’t return. However, without its Cast the show would not go on so they do need to strike the right balance.
As a past castmember and now a tourist from overseas it is very interesting to read the comments posted here. One should remember that without the vision of Walt Disney, Orlando would never have become the huge thriving community it is today, in all probability it would have remained an area dominated by orange groves. I have travelled from the UK to Disney twice this year and even with my critical eye I have seen no visible signs of things not being properly maintained, on the surface Disney is as it has always been close to perfection. However, we live in a time of huge change, Disney has to move with those times, it is a business, a huge employer, generates vast revenues for not just itself but businesses that border its property and it quite rightly has to look to capture as much of the market as possible to survive otherwise someone else will. It does baffle me that Pleasure Island was closed, I have many happy memories of the place, it seems strange that Disney closed a venue specifically aimed at Adults, where do they go now? Universal City Walk? I believe that Disney should concentrate on what it does best create Magic, we all need to escape from the realities of this scary world, now more than ever we need somewhere we can check our worries in at the gate. Development wise, I see a 5th Theme Park, something along the lines of the California Park, thrill rides, coasters, high octane excitement, the lucrative teenager / early twenties market is escaping them to Universal. In closing, I would say to everyone support Disney, for all their faults they have brought prosperity and jobs, there is room for everyone if you offer a quality product. Disney listen to your guests, don’t drop your standards raise them and be true to the vision of your creator.
I couldn’t see why Disney thought this would sell when they originally announced it. After all its as far away from Universal and downtown Orlando as you can get. The only draw is Disney…and the plan was to create a non-Disney experience. They’dve done better to build a new small draw of some kind.
gotta tell ya, i think i know why the boom lowered on pleasure island: the people going to the clubs were gettin’ outta hand! really, i can’t say how many times i (female) went into a ladies room and it was wall-to-wall gays in drag and sometimes, not in drag. come on! all we want is our own bathroom! can’t they be men long enough to pee?!?! it was seriously becoming an issue as the flamers couldn’t control themselves on the dance floor or at the tables. get a room already!! i’m sorry it came to that, but i think disney did the right thing, word was out how un-friendly those clubs were becoming for those who just wanted a drink and to dance. it was the right decision. and don’t start your reply to this about me hating gays, that’s totally not true, just sometimes the truth is the truth.