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Executive Lifestyles
Travel Briefs - May 2006
» In Walton County, St. Joe Co. is developing WaterSound Beach, a 256-acre resort and residential community along the Gulf of Mexico on Highway 30A between Camp Creek Lake and Deer Lake State Park. A sister property of WaterColor Inn & Resort, it will offer 499 homes for daily and weekly rental.
» Luxury homebuilder ICI Homes has broken ground on the first fractional ownership development of its kind in the Orlando area. Lighthouse Key Resort & Spa, west of Walt Disney World on U.S. 192, is aimed at vacation home buyers and will include 600 upscale condominiums that sell for one-month fractions at $40,000 to $65,000 or complete ownership at $370,000 to $480,000. Each comes with concierge service and use of community amenities, including a spa, exercise facilities, pools, a community center and a 52-seat movie theater.
» Construction is set to start this fall on central Florida's first InterContinental hotel, the chain's largest worldwide, on the shores of Lake Bryan near the Orange County Convention Center. Hospitality Development Group of Fort Lauderdale is developing the $800-million luxury resort, which will include Palazzo del Lago with 1,260 hotel and hotel-condo units and 114,000 square feet of meeting space and The Villas at Palazzo del Lago, a 994-unit residential condo development with five 18-story towers. The resort's opening is planned for early 2009.
» Also near the convention center, Intrawest's Village of Imagine has broken ground on the Westin Imagine Orlando Residences, part of a condo-hotel complex with 470 units expected to open in early 2008.
» Vantage Hospitality Group has been renovating the former Holiday Inn at Interstate 4 and Colonial Drive in downtown Orlando, scheduled to open this month as The Lexington, a 14-story, 227-room luxury hotel within walking distance of the T.D. Waterhouse Centre and the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre. Part of the planned Orlando CityPlace development, the hotel is expected to open a signature restaurant and lounge and a world-class spa, pool and fitness center next year.
» Miro Hospitality Properties of Winter Springs plans to start construction this year on a $10-million five-story hotel with 120-plus rooms expected to open in 2008 at Orlando Sanford International Airport. The facility is part of a $40-million complex that eventually will include a second hotel and a full-service restaurant.
» Mona Lisa at Celebration, a five-story, 240-unit luxury condo-hotel under construction in Celebration, is expected to be completed in summer 2007 and will include an upscale restaurant. It features an environmental-friendly architectural design.
