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We previously shared the big news that The Walt Disney Company is moving to Florida! Disney is constructing a new Disney regional hub in Orlando’s Lake Nona community. The move means roughly 2,000 Disney officials are relocating from Southern California to Central Florida. With the average wage for the positions being $120,000 annually, this move is a big boost for the Lake Nona area. The next chapter seems to be turning as now Disney and a Lake Nona developer are in talks for a new age-restricted community.
Why the big move in the first place? Despite the price tag of the move being an $864 million investment for Disney, it seems like the move simply makes sense for Disney Imagineers and the community to experience Florida’s business friendly climate and more. Orlando Sentinel previously shared a quote from Dennis Speigel, founder, and CEO of Cincinnati-based International Theme Park Services. Speigel said Florida is a better state for a corporation than California. “Florida is a friendlier work-environment state than California is,” Speigel said. “That’s what it comes down to.” On top of that, Disney will likely be receiving somewhere around a half a billion-dollar tax break for relocating to Lake Nona. With so many Disney Cast and employees on the way to Lake Nona, development is necessary, and Disney has reportedly been talking with a huge Lake Nona developer.
As reported by Orlando Business Journal: “Burbank, California-based Disney (NYSE: DIS) is in talks with Tavistock Development Co. to develop an age-restricted community as part of the roughly 27,000-acre Sunbridge development near southeast Orlando’s Lake Nona community. More details on the size, scope, and construction timeline for Disney and Tavistock’s age-restricted community wasn’t known. The planned new community would be like a smaller version of The Villages, a huge age-restricted community northwest of Orlando, sources told OBJ.”
The Villages ranks as America’s top-selling, a master-planned community for active adults who are 55 years old and over. In 2020, The Villages was recognized for the 11th consecutive year as the number one active, adult community in The United States. Plus, who wouldn’t dream of living close to a Disney Park?
You may be thinking that since Disney’s audience is all ages, what are they interested in developing an age-restricted community? Well, OBJ goes on to report that the “demand for local senior care housing and services is forecast to boom in the next decade. Orlando is expected to reach about 1 million people age 65 and older between 2025-2030, for the first time outnumbering the younger demographic of those up to age 17. That means more elder services will be needed in Central Florida by 2030, including independent-living communities, memory care, and skilled nursing homes, as well as developments that cater to active seniors.” It sounds like an excellent and much-needed investment.
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With Disney moving into Lake Nona joining forces as the location of Disney’s new Lake Nona Campus, we can’t help but wonder if this possible age-restricted development is just the first of developing “talks” we’ll be hearing about.
