Disney begins pre-sales for luxury residential development
Jason Garcia, News — By Jason Garcia on June 23, 2010 at 7:35 am
The entrance to Golden Oak (Walt Disney Co.)
Walt Disney World today begins pre-sales for homes in its “Golden Oak” residential development, a community of luxury homes being built on the northeast corner of the vast resort.
Prices for homes within exclusive enclave, which will be anchored by a Four Seasons luxury hotel, will range from $1.5 million to $8 million. The resort says it will put less than 30 sites for sale this year, though it projects Golden Oak will ultimately include approximately 450 homes.
Disney says interested buyers will have to make a refundable $25,000 deposit. Golden Oaks is being built on the former Disney’s Eagle Pines golf course.
Check out renderings and a map of Golden Oak in this gallery.
The project is Disney’s most significant foray into residential development since it developed the town of Celebration. It will also serve a test of the appeal of luxury homes after a brutal slump – particularly in Central Florida – in home prices and sales.
For more on the project, click here for a Sentinel story from March 2008.
You can also visit the Disney website for the community here.
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25 Comments
Jason,
Quick correction. The property is at the northEAST corner of the Disney World property, not the northwest corner.
Marc
(Editor’s Note: This has been fixed. Thanks for the catch)
Right you are. Thanks for the catch.
– jason
ah, 1.8-8 million…. i think ill take two of them……
Me too
Wow this is a first for Disney. Vacation homes on Disney property. Dispite the price these will sell quickly and be very sought after by travelers.
These will be second homes only as no vacation rentals will be allowed.
I am confident with Disney’s resources and database they will have no problem selling them despite that.
It saddens me that Disney couldn’t come up with a more creative use for this land. Any fool can sell land; it takes talent to use the land to earn money without selling it.
Wish us little guys could afford one. Why only for the rich??!!
Three common-sense reasons (among others):
1. There’s already plenty of available housing for low- and middle-income folks. There’s not as much housing available in Orlando (believe it or not!) at the upper end of the price scale.
2. Land outside of Disney is unlimited. Land ON Disney is extremely limited. That suggests basic supply and demand.
3. Wealthy folks have more money to spend at Disney once they’re there.
I HIGHLY AGREE! Any moron can sell “luxury homes.” Just look at all the timeshares in Central Florida, Baldwin Park downtown, etc.
What we need are higher-paying jobs. Exactly how many well-paying jobs will these 450 luxury homes create?
Once again, thanks Disney for screwing the rest of us.
Since building homes is about 1/3 labor…
Say 3 million average per home… that would be $450,000,000 in labor. That’s a lot of jobs…
Where is the actual location? Can you drive by there now?
WEB: http://disneygoldenoak.disney.go.com/ is somewhat vague.
It says we can live in the realm reserved for just a fortunate few.
Looking over the pictures that looks like white and rich
I would like to see Disney use the money for something else. This is not something the most common Disney visitor will be able to enjoy because of the cost.
The only thing Florida needs more than additional empty new residential space is additional empty new retail space. Therefore I expect Disney to announce a new shopping plaza any second now. /sarcasm
That being said – will the residents have the right to vote on town matters, and wouldn’t that be opposed to Disney’s desire for autonomy? I thought that was the whole reason no one could live full time within the Reedy Creek Improvement District… color me confused!
Erin
I will never be one lucky enough to have a home there. But I do not begrudge those who have worked hard to be able to afford a home on Disney property. So I think it’s great that some people will have the opportunity to have their dream home in a wonderful location such as Dinsey. I’m not one to buy into the class envy or let’s spread the wealth of those who have worked hard for it. If you’re jealous of this, then get off your butt and go back to school and get a better job.
Nelson Rockefeller when running for President tried to come up with a tax plan based on the “average” worker earning $500K a year. He didn’t win–I believe the original concept of Celebration was the same concept–the “average” Disney employee would make $100K a year. And then 2 years ago ANYONE could buy a house of any cost (I believe they called them, no income, no jobs, no assets loans NINJA) The points are: The rich are out of touch; the “average” employee anywhere doesn’t make $100K a year, and the government went stupid too. So maybe there are enough stupidly rich people who would buy million dollar homes in a depressed swamp–ok, I know Walt was right about the swamp–but Disney is WRONG about the houses.
@ Ridge Family – I google mapped the area in which the artist rendering has this placed. It appears it will be in the area b/t Ft Wilderness and the STOL Port parking lot. Bay Lake will be to the north and Vista Blvd will curve around the southern end of it. World Drive would be to the west and Ft Wilderness would be on the east. (well, that’s what it looks like to me anyway!)
Oooo! I wish I could live in a watercolor painting.
Unfortunately, these people will be cursed with having to go into the slums of Kissimmee to shop for the basics. Just like the poor people of Celebration. A beautiful idea, surrounded by ghetto.
A couple of points. 1- It is a damn shame to get rid of a good golf course. 2-If I am paying million plus for a house on Disney property Mickey and the gang better be coming over everyday to clean my house.
Doesn’t anybody here (or at Disney corporate) remember Arvida? Hello?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arvida_Corp doesn’t begin to tell the story of this sordid mess. SOMEbody is going to be making big money…
Looking at the official website has some interesting revelations. Look at the section called neighborhoods and you will see one of those $1000 a day Disney guides delivering a ballon to a child.Under the lifestyle button Snow White calling upon another rich child? How about the Golden Oak Concierge?
This neighborhood will certainly cater to the monied elite.
All others need not apply
Cool! Do cast members get a discount??? I’ll take two if so……..
Conventional wisdom is rarely correct. Most blogs have been very negative on this. Disney knows what they are doing. The best opportunities are often at the bottom of a cycle, but of course we may not know that for several years…
Disney has 1.5 Billion in upcoming debt to pay off for the Cruise Ship binge it had 5 years ago when things were booming. Now that the built ship inventory is being delivered expect to see more Disney assets sold (Miramax,ABC) to service that debt.
I think it is funny that Disney pays their cast members starting out at $7.45 an hour, they layed off people but they spend money to build useless homes. What happens when Disney gets tired of this community or is not making money? Will they sell it like they did Celebration? I can understand the expansion at Magic Kingdom but this community seems to be a waste.