Lost financing, silent principals and bureaucratic tangles spell uncertainty for development of the World Expo Center.
A sure thing a few months ago is now in danger of falling apart, as the developer of the massive World Expo Center along Osceola Parkway in Osceola County tries to patch the leaky financial foundation on the $1 billion project. Compounding the financial problem are serious bureaucratic complications.
Last fall's currency crisis in Asia shattered financing for the $180 million, 2.4 million-sq.-ft. exhibit hall designed to anchor the project. Miami-based commercial mortgage firm Capital Company of America, a subsidiary of Nomura Securities of Japan, suffered heavy losses when world financial markets imploded in August, and it has backed off making loans. Managing Director Ray Anthony, who had committed to the project, has left the company, and Capital, which acknowledges it is part owner of the tract of land earmarked for the expo center, refuses to comment on the status of the project's funding.
If that weren't enough, the State Attorney's Office has appealed to the Florida Supreme Court a judge's decision to OK a bond issue that could pump $35 million into the deal. The chief prosecutor must sign off on all bond issues, and State Attorney Lawson Lamar contends that the World Expo Center runs counter to Florida law, which, Lamar says, allows the county to build a convention center, but not to buy one. The current plan is for Osceola County to buy the completed center from the developer, and then contract with a private company to operate it.
Another complication: The state's Department of Community Affairs (DCA) has challenged Osceola County's development order for the project. The DCA challenge stems from a dispute over who should pay what to improve roads around the project. The developer, Osceola Trace Development Project, says it should pay $10 million, but the Department of Transportation puts the developer's tab at $25 million. After months of negotiation, DCA approval was expected in January, which would pave the way for Osceola County to issue another development order in February, says Tom Beck, chief of the Bureau of Local Planning for the DCA. "We have a state transportation rule, and they just were not complying with that rule," Beck says. "During the review, we really strongly recommended that (the developer) phase the project instead of putting it all together at one time."
The developer agreed to split the project into two phases, but Phase I remains the lion's share of the project. While problems with such a large undertaking shouldn't surprise anyone, the troubles seem to have sapped the developer's early enthusiasm. Telephones at the World Expo Center offices, for example, are answered with only the seven-digit phone number -- a murky message to those wondering just what's going on with the project. Another cautionary sign: Principals who were once eager to promote the project have been unavailable for comment. Meanwhile Orange County's rival plan to expand its own convention center is moving ahead, and many are starting to wonder if two giant exposition centers so close together isn't a bit of overkill.
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Melbourne -- Harris Corp.'s Quorum/Lanier subsidiary announced plans to build a legal support service center in Melbourne that will be staffed by about 100 new hires. The center will be used to scan legal documents into a searchable electronic database and will serve as a repository of the stored information. Harris (NYSE-HRS) also formed a new space/defense business unit to provide memory devices, microprocessors, switches, data converters and other hardware to satellite programs.
Orlando -- Americana Villas, once one of Orlando's premier large apartment complexes, has been sold to a nonprofit group and will be rehabilitated into affordable housing. About 160 of the nearly 900 units are considered unsalvageable and will be demolished. When redevelopment of the South Orange Blossom Trail community is completed, 75% of the units will be rented to low-income families.
Creditors have forced Planet Hollywood (NYSE-PHL) to sell its new headquarters, less than a year after it moved into the 100,000-sq.-ft. property. The theme restaurant company will not move, but will lease its space back from whoever buys the building.
Nickelodeon is launching a new cable network channel in March that will be produced at Nickelodeon's studios in Universal Studios Florida. Nickelodeon GAS -- Nickelodeon Games and Sports for Kids -- will feature game shows, programs about video games, interviews with professional athletes and other original programming.
ECC International Corp. has won a $90 million contract to supply the Army with small-arms combat training simulators.
Lynx, an interurban bus service operating in Seminole, Orange and Osceola counties, reports that ridership set a new record in October, with all Lynx services handling a total of more than 1.9 million passengers.
Red Lobster, a unit of Orlando-based Darden Restaurants (NYSE-DRI), closed its last restaurant in the state known for lobster. Maine is now the only state in the Lower 48 without a Red Lobster.
Lockheed Martin Corp. has reorganized its naval electronics work into a new billion-dollar division and tapped Joe Antinucci to head the Moorestown, N.J., group. Antinucci had been head of Lockheed's Electronics & Missiles group in Orlando. In addition, the company's Information Systems subsidiary has received a $48.4 million Navy contract to build advanced diagnostic equipment for testing electronic systems on ships.
Timeshare upstart Tempus Resorts International and Carlson Hospitality Worldwide are teaming up to create a new vacation club. The deal allows Tempus to develop properties bearing Carlson brand names, including Radisson Hotels. The first property of the new Carlson Vacation Club will be the Palms Resort in Orlando.
Siemens Westinghouse Power Corp. reports it has won six deals, valued at $480 million, to provide generators to power plants. Two plants, one in Oklahoma and one in Georgia, provide the lion's share of the work, with contracts totaling $370 million.
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Magnetix Corp. and its Connextions subsidiary announced plans to hire 50 new workers over the next several months. The expansion comes on the heels of relocating from Winter Garden to Orlando's Center of Commerce. The companies' production plant provides mass media duplication services for clients such as Scholastic Books.
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