Some of the largest proposals seeking chunks of Orange County’s lucrative bed tax got the final crack Wednesday at convincing a task force to advance their ideas, which combined would cost billions of dollars.
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The pitches included nearly $1 billion toward a professional baseball stadium — a proposal coupled with a reveal of new renderings of a stadium in the tourism corridor — a $750 million expansion of the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts and substantial enhancements to the Unviersity of Central Florida’s athletics facilities.
Also pitched was a children’s museum in Winter Garden, an African American history museum in Eatonville, a proposal by the Town of Eatonville to create a “heritage tourism district,” a hospitality building and plaza at a golf course in Ocoee and theater technology and infrastructure attached to a proposed arts and technology public school.
But questions remain on how many of the projects will proceed and even how much money is on the table. The county so far hasn’t provided task force members with a figure, as they weigh projects with pricetags ranging from $20 million to nearly $1 billion.
Now the task force will score the nearly 20 proposals they’ve been presented during three meetings over the past two weeks. At a meeting Tuesday, the task force will rank the ideas and make recommendations on what should be considered for funding.
The Board of County Commissioners has final say on which, if any, projects are funded. Here are details on the three biggest pitches from Wednesday.
Dr Phillips Center
President Kathy Ramsberger said a $750 million infusion of TDT would jumpstart the performing arts center’s $1.4 billion expansion master plan, which brings 1,000 free events to its front yard, grows the campus from nine to 20 venues, and adds a parking garage to the east of its existing building.
Also, north of the theater, it wants to build a seven-floor building with a 750-seat theater, a 200-seat theater, an 180-seat theater and a banquet hall, which Ramsberger said would meet the demand for more theater space, as well as venues for small-and medium-sized organizations.
The total project would be a signature attraction in downtown Orlando — which already has drawn visitors from 50 states and 80 countries, center officials say.
Dr. Phillips Center is ready to move forward on construction, and the few facilities could roughly double its activities. The center expects to have more than 1,200 performances this year, according to its presentation.
“The more we can start now, the more results we’ll have sooner,” she said.
Orlando Dreamers
The Orlando Dreamers don’t have stadium land, nor a team on the way, but they hope the county will play ball anyway.
Specifically, they asked the county to “quarantine” until 2029 a 35-acre site along Internatioanl Drive for use as a potential baseball stadium, if they can deliver a franchise to the county. The county owns the mostly undeveloped plot of land next to Aquatica.
And they also detailed how they envision a community benefits package taking shape, an effort to send hundreds of millions of dollars of their revenue to the county to be spent on workforce housing and transportation.
The investor group has been in pursuit of a Major League Baseball franchise, whether that be the Tampa Bay Rays, another franchise that could relocate, or an expansion team in the coming years.
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They plan to sink more than a billion dollars of private funds into a county-owned stadium, but want the help of $976 million in TDT funding bonded by the county.
They plan to build a 45,000-seat domed stadium, essentially in a tear-drop shape east of International Drive and south of State Road 528. Renderings released by the group show a rail station on the proposed Sunshine Corridor, with a bridge over the highway connecting the station with the stadium.
“We’re confident we’re going to see more than a million rides annually to that local rail station,” co-founder Jim Schnorf said.
UCF
UCF President Alex Cartwright asked the panel for $119 million to build three new sporting venues on its east Orange campus, along with more than $50 million to substantially improve the broadcast capabilities of its football stadium, the Acrisure Bounce House.
Specifically, the university wants to build standalone facilities for its track and soccer programs — which currently share a venue — and a new softball stadium.
Athletic Director Terry Mohajir said the track & field complex would be constructed where its softball stadium currently is, the softball stadium would move just east of the baseball stadium and a soccer stadium would be built on the existing track and soccer complex.
The largest line item is $51.1 million toward infrastructure improvement at the stadium, which officials argue will help the university bring more events with out-of-town fans to the campus.
“When we’re asking to attract events … broadcast capabilities is paramount when they’re looking to host events,” he said. “We broadcast over 150 [games] — we’d probably double that.”
Its presentation projects it would cost $43.6 million to build standalone soccer and track facilities, creating opportunities to host championship events and year-round competitions.
A new softball stadium with a $24.3 million investment would allow the school to host tournaments, youth sports, professional competitions and larger crowds for home games.
Cartwright contended UCF was a viable contender for TDT money because when the county funded a project at the football stadium in 2023 — an expansion to the Roth Tower at the football stadium — the school delivered a project on time and on budget. It’s slated to be ready when its season starts next month.
“We’re not just asking for you to create a destination,” he said. “We’re asking for you to help us expand one that is already delivering measurable value for Orange County.”
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