CVB office relocation still a work in progress

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CVB office relocation still a work in progress

County News

Wednesday, 13 October 2010 15:00

By Marvin G. Cortner
Editor
While a lack of funding will limit Osceola County government’s choices on where to relocate the county’s tourism bureau, county commissioners like the idea of putting it somewhere in downtown Kissimmee.

The Kissimmee Convention & Visitors Bureau must relocate because its current home at Bill Beck Boulevard and West U.S. Highway 192 will be occupied by the new museum of military history. The County Commission several months ago approved funding for the Veterans Tribute and Museum’s move into the facility; that museum is now housed inside Osceola Square Mall.
County Manager Don Fisher at Monday’s County Commission meeting said staff is recommending the visitors bureau move most of its staff into either the county administration building or the Historic Courthouse, both at Courthouse Square. Fisher also recommended that between two and five bureau employees should work out of the new nature and visitors information center at Shingle Creek Regional Park on West U.S. Highway 192 to have direct contact with tourists.
Fisher said there “really is no money” in the tourist development tax fund to build a new facility or renovate a building for the bureau, especially in light of tourist tax reserves continuing to be tapped to cover $2 million of annual operating expenses for the bureau.
“Here (in the administration building) we have 50 vacant office spaces and we have room at the Historic Courthouse,” Fisher said, adding that the Historic Courthouse would be a “good connection with West 192” as a way to promote both local history and eco-tourism.
Fisher also said relocating the bureau into the Historic Courthouse would displace the county economic development department.
Local business owners along with members of the Downtown Kissimmee Area Council, a subgroup of the Kissimmee-Osceola County Chamber of Commerce, attended the commission meeting to promote moving the visitors bureau to a location in the heart of the downtown area as a way to capitalize on other improvements there.
Dale Parsons, past council chairman and a partner in Parsons Design & Development, said having the visitors bureau at the heart of the downtown area would be a good fit, with easy access and easy parking.
Ray Parsons, a partner in Parsons Design & Development, said having the visitors bureau downtown would mesh with the area’s new streetscape, the Hansel power plant project and the planned commuter rail and bus station. He also said the KUA building at the corner of Ruby Street and Broadway – which Parson family members own – would be available for relocation of the visitors bureau.
“Let’s talk about using our community as a tourism base,” he said.
On Tuesday, Parsons said it was Tom Lang, the visitors bureau executive director, who contacted his company about exploring the possibility of moving to the former KUA building, which originally was a bank. Parsons said the price discussed with the county was $70,000 annually to house the bureau.
Michael I. Cambron, owner of Cambron Commercial Real Estate in downtown Kissimmee, said the core of the city would take on more prominence with the arrival of commuter rail, the completion of Lakefront Park improvements and people visiting Lake Tohopekaliga.
“Having the tourist center downtown is one step in making the core more successful,” Cambron said. “Downtown is where the cash registers are.”
Randy Sheive, developer and former county commissioner, urged the county to relocate the bureau to the downtown core, given current parking problems at Courthouse Square.
County Commissioner Michael Harford said having bureau staff available at the Shingle Creek park site is a good idea along with a kiosk perhaps somewhere in the core of the downtown Kissimmee area. He also urged the county to look closely at the various functions of the bureau to see which ones operate without direct contact with the public. Those operations, like administration, he said, could easily be housed away from where tourists might visit.
Commissioner Ken Smith said he is in favor of moving the visitors bureau somewhere into the downtown area but not the Historic Courthouse. He also urged the Kissimmee Community Redevelopment Agency to get involved with an eye toward helping to fund a relocation downtown.
“It would be a plus-plus for Osceola County and the city of Kissimmee,” Smith said.
Commission Chairman Fred Hawkins Jr. said that where the visitors bureau would go “comes down to dollars.” He also said that if a private developer can offer a site that meshes with what funding would be available, then the county should consider that option as well.