Organizations ranging from a would-be baseball team to the proprietors of downtown’s world-class music and theater venues to the Orange County school system are pitching $3 billion worth of ideas on how to spend tourist tax dollars as a staggering amount of money flows from the region’s visitors into county coffers.
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Starting next week, a 30-member task force will begin reviewing 24 proposals for a cut of Orange County’s Tourist Development Tax proceeds, which state law dictates must generally be used to promote tourism. Their choices could be transformative for the region if they can find consensus amid so many needy interests.
The tax, generally considered a barometer of the tourist industry’s health, has been on a 14-month tear, shattering all monthly revenue records and outpacing the rosiest of predictions by its closest followers. But revenues have been volatile in the past, and officials will be reluctant to make promises they may not be able to keep.
The special task force was formed in recent weeks by Mayor Jerry Demings to decide how the largesse could be spent, though the exact amount of funds it will allocate remains unclear and is likely far less that $3 billion.
The ideas pitched include $975 million toward a professional baseball stadium, $750 million for a massive expansion of the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, $523 million for another new hall at the Orange County Convention Center, and tens of millions among several proposals for history museums in the Town of Eatonville.
Also in the mix are a $21 million restoration of Lake Apopka, a $20 million ask by Orange County Public Schools to convert the former Cherokee School into an arts and immersive technology school, and a $48 million pitch to create a 95,000 square foot Florida Freshwater Discovery Center in the tourist district.
The task force, co-chaired by former Orange County Mayor Linda Chapin and Lift Orlando President Eddy Moratin, will ultimately make recommendations to county commissioners who will decide how – and if – to fund any of the ideas.
Although the tax is on pace to raise more than $400 million this fiscal year — the most ever — most of it is already spoken for, committed to pay off debts for projects currently in progress, including a previously approved convention center expansion and improvements to Camping World Stadium. But the task force can also choose to divvy up future revenues, giving it some control over the total amount spent as well as who gets what.
Visit Orlando also gets a 30% share of revenues to promote the region, regarded as the nation’s top tourist destination.
Decisions will be fast-paced, with only four meetings scheduled so far spanning the next two weeks.
The largest pitch comes from an investment group called the Orlando Dreamers, who for years have worked toward bringing Major League Baseball to the county.
They’re seeking nearly $1 billion toward building a 45,000-seat domed stadium on a plot of county-owned land north of Sea World in hopes of luring an expansion team or possibly the Tampa Bay Rays. The group intends to offer to reimburse the county hundreds of millions of dollars to be used on transportation, workforce housing and community priorities if it wins TDT funding.
Barry Larkin, the Hall of Fame shortstop and ambassador for the group, said in a statement the application is a crucial chance for the region to make its play for a franchise.
“Orange County has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to step up to the plate and attract an MLB franchise,” he said. “The Dreamers are financially ready from our side, having in place in excess of $2 billion combined for team acquisition and stadium financing. Now we need our local elected officials to make a statement to Major League Baseball that Orlando is ready to be a Major League city.” The group has not publicly detailed where the claimed $2 billion is coming from.
The Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts is seeking funds to develop what it’s calling the North Block, which includes a 750-seat theater, a 200-seat black box theater, an 180-seat second-stage theater, and an 800-seat banquet space. The plan also includes an East Block, featuring what it calls a flexible performance venue, education studios, areas for arts and wellness programming and 1,150 parking spaces.
“The requested Tourist Development Tax investment would advance the next phase of the Master Plan, growing the campus from nine to 20 venues and creating new opportunities to attract visitors, touring productions, conventions and destination-driving events,” CEO Kathy Ramsberger said in a statement.
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The Orange County Convention Center applied for $523 million toward a 200,000-square-foot multi-purpose hall added onto the North-South Building. It had already been initially funded and had an approved construction contract by the Board of County Commissioners, but was canceled in August 2020 as hotel tax collections collapsed amid the pandemic. The Center’s application stated the project would “complete the vision” for the building.
The University of Central Florida applied for $119 million for a trio of athletics facilities: about $51 million for broadcast and infrastructure upgrades at the Acrisure Bounce House football stadium, $43.6 million for a new and expanded Soccer Stadium & Track and Field Complex and $24.2 million for a new softball stadium.
“UCF requests Tourist Development Tax funding to advance three complementary capital projects that will expand Orange County’s capacity to host year-round sporting events, entertainment, championships, and visitors while strengthening one of Central Florida’s premier sports and entertainment destinations,” its application reads.
Dr. Phillips Charities is seeking a $60 million share for a two-story, 30,000-square-foot Eatonville Museum of Culture & History, which it says “will be the centerpiece of a new African American heritage tourism destination” at the Hungerford Property it purchased from Orange County Public Schools for $14 million earlier this year.
Former Eatonville Mayor Angie Gardner told Growthspotter that the museum proposal is a sign of the charity keeping its word to America’s oldest African American municipality, and will allow locals to have a say in what is presented.
“If we would have gotten the state museum, then we would have been under the state museum requirements,” she said of the rejected proposal for a state-funded Florida Museum of Black History, which was awarded to St. Augustine. “But to have an African American museum that does not use state money means that autonomy will remain local.”
Two other local Eatonville groups have also put in bids for money, though it is not clear how their proposals fit with the larger project.
Some unusual requests among the two dozen applications include $20.5 million sought by Eustis-based Arching Oaks Japanese Art & Cultural Center to attract delegations of Japanese tourists to the Orlando area through anime, martial arts, performing arts and other cultural events and competitions.
Through eight months of fiscal year 2025-26, tourist tax collections have topped $291 million, $7 million better than the best-ever pre-pandemic year of 2018-19 when receipts totaled $284 million.
The tax, a 6% surcharge on hotel rooms, home-sharing rentals and other short-term lodging, is on track to soar past $400 million in a fiscal year for the first-term ever if tourism numbers continue close to the current pace.
An estimated 76.7 million people visited Orlando in 2025, the most ever, Visit Orlando leaders say.
“Tourism in Orange County has remained strong over the last three years,” Demings said when he announced June 30 he would reassemble a panel to weigh funding requests for as yet uncommitted TDT funds.
State law allows TDT dollars to be used to build, maintain and operate convention centers, stadiums, arenas, and other arts and cultural facilities and events that lure visitors.
It’s unclear how much money will be up for grabs, and decisions could be further complicated by the Board of County Commissioners having only six members currently due to a vacancy.
As of May 31, Orange County had $433.6 million in its TDT reserve, although $300 million is considered untouchable, set aside to guard against a tourism market downturn that could interfere with the county’s ability to pay its bond obligations.
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