Company Overview
Media Exposure
Miller, others see economic upside from Legacy Resort: Costs for five-year buildout of Osceola project range up to $4 billion. - December 2005 (Orlando Business Journal)
By: Bob Mervine, Staff Writer
KISSIMMEE -- Developer Robert Miller admits there are a few "i"s not dotted and "t"s not crossed in his massive multibillion-dollar Legacy Resort project that broke ground Dec. 6.
But with a project this big, Miller considers those details rather minor.
After all, Miller says he is still a few weeks away from closing a deal with the Bronson family to buy a 600-acre, land-locked parcel adjoining his 1,000-acre Legacy Resort. A pending deal with WCI Communities Inc., if finalized, will develop another 2,000 units in an adjoining project called the Reserve at Legacy Resort. Even the dollar amount of the entire project varies from $3.3 billion to $4.1 billion, depending on who is doing the math.
Osceola County Commission Chairman Paul Owen, within whose district the project will be built, notes the five-year project will add to the county's ad valorem tax base, keep residents' taxes lower and create a large number of jobs both during the construction and operating phrases.
Miller, who owns a Tequesta, Fla.-based real estate company, has had a sometimes-rocky relationship with Osceola County that goes back a decade.
In the late 1990s, for example, he proposed an expansive convention center complex called World Expo that he claimed could be seen from space. He's been actively involved in developing a site for the currently moribund county convention center. And he's the target of a lawsuit by a former partner in the convention center deal, Austin, Texas-based FaulknerUSA.
As described to the Orlando Business Journal in an Aug. 19 article, Legacy Resort would have an enormous impact on the county.
The 1,600-acre, mixed-use development will include nearly 10,000 mostly vacation rental units at the end of a five-year buildout.
Project plans also include a hotel, retail and restaurants, and an 18-hole golf course along with an expansion of the existing facilities used by the U.S. Specialty Sports Association.
Miller estimates that, at buildout, the resort will generate $66.2 million in county tax revenue a year.
Ceremony & catering
Developers seldom stage an elaborate ceremony these days to mark the start of construction.
In his effort to showcase local government's current infatuation with his project, Miller and his Winter Park public relations agency, Pecora &s Blexrud, this past week erected a tent on the vast, vacant site of the development, catered hot sandwiches and petit fours for his 100-plus invited guests, and staged heavy equipment and shiny shovels for a photo-op that drew all four local TV stations.
A half-dozen dignitaries made remarks to the seated guests in a carpeted tent. A van-load of snakes, tarantulas, alligators and a Florida panther, supplied by Safari Todds' Wildlife Productions -- the company commissioned to build and operate a 5-acre eco-friendly educational facility at Legacy -- added a warm, fuzzy note.
Finally, shiny miniature gold shovels commemorating the day were distributed to departing guests.
What's next?
By spring 2006, Miller says he'll move ahead with a 50,000-square-foot entertainment center on land north of the Osceola Parkway and east of State Road 535. He's in discussion with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide about a Sheraton or Westin flag flying there.
Conceptually, Starwood is moving away from a convention hotel and more toward a leisure-oriented property with about 800 rooms and no more than 100,000 square feet of meeting space, Miller says.
In addition, Miller says the proposed development of a site to house the U.S. Specialty Sports Association's soccer and baseball field expansion needs his personal guidance to resolve some permitting issues.
The group, which oversees a variety of amateur sporting activities, located its national headquarters in the county's Heritage Park complex two years ago. The expansion would add 10 baseball and four soccer fields.
A 10,000-seat aquatic center also would be developed there. Parking spaces for nearly 2,000 cars would support events at the center.
Adjacent land, owned by the city of Kissimmee, also would provide additional park space in Commissioner Owen's district, which presently has no county parks.
Adds Miller: "If you're asking me if getting it done will require my involvement, the answer is yes."