By Marvin G. Cortner
Editor

Using tourist development tax funds, Osceola County is moving forward with buying the former World of Denim store at 5210 W. U.S. Highway 192 as the site for the relocation of the local veterans museum.

Shelley Maccini, interim director of the Kissimmee Convention & Visitors Bureau, Tuesday at the county Tourist Development Council meeting said the negotiated price for the property is $960,000. This amount would be deducted from the $1.8 million in financial support committed to Veterans Tribute and Museum of Osceola County Inc. last summer by the County Commission over three years to help the group get its museum of military history started at a new location. The commission still must approve the World of Denim purchase.

The museum currently operates out of a space at Osceola Square Mall and is relocating mainly because the area there is inadequate and because the veterans group wants the museum in a more prominent location in the West U.S. Highway 192 tourist corridor in order to attract more visitors.

Maccini said the county would deed the property to the museum organization with a reverter clause, specifying that the site would have to be returned to the county if it were no longer used as a museum. In addition, the veterans group would be responsible for all maintenance of the site and building as well as utilities.

According to county property and tax records, the site’s current owner is Steinfeld Properties, of Winter Park; the company purchased the property in 2001 for $1.7 million. The one-story building on the site has 10,260 square feet under roof and was constructed in 1997. The appraised value assigned to the property as of June 15 was $753,100 and the latest property tax bill was for $14,639.

The veterans group previously considered relocating to the building now occupied by the visitors bureau at Osceola Heritage Park off Bill Beck Boulevard but dropped that plan in favor of one over which it would have more control. In addition, moving into the visitors bureau site would have forced that county department to relocate.

Other sites considered or looked at by the veterans along the way were the former Coggin car dealership and the former Sonny’s barbecue restaurant, both on West U.S. Highway 192, and space associated with the Kissimmee Air Museum at Kissimmee Gateway Airport.

Since seeking to relocate, the veterans group has had many discussions with county officials and staff and even conducted a study about its capacity to generate enough revenue to continue operating. Not all commissioners were for the group moving to a site other than Osceola Heritage Park.

In December, the commission gave the museum an additional $75,000 in tourist development tax funding to cover operating expenses from October to the beginning of June. Don Smith, chairman of the veterans group, at the time told commissioners the museum’s operating costs were $8,000 per month and that reserves were being used to keep it afloat.

Commissioners approved the funding because the veterans group was not able to move its museum into the space promised at Osceola Heritage Park. The original goal was for the museum to relocate by October but the county did not develop a plan to relocate the visitors bureau.

The County Commission giving the museum relocation a high priority as far as spending of tourist tax reserves did not sit well with some tourist council members and still does not have the council’s full support. In addition, the council was not given the opportunity to vet the proposal.

“Why are we spending money on a museum when it is more important to generate job opportunities?” Council Chairman George Chen asked. “We want to spend our money (tourist tax revenue) judiciously; we should have debated this much more openly.”

Chen in the past has said he is not opposed to the veterans group or its museum, only that its relocation should be funded by private sources.

Historical Society update

Maccini also updated council members on the relocation of the Osceola County Historical Society Museum to the former Roadhouse Grill property at 4155 W. U.S. Highway 192. The county bought the site several years ago to serve as a gateway to Shingle Creek Regional Park.

The previous plan was for the county using tourist tax reserves to renovate the former restaurant and use it to house a nature center related to Shingle Creek and a county welcome center; a new building behind the former restaurant was to be constructed for the Historical Society to house its collections and offices, which are now at its Pioneer Village site off nearby Bass Road.

The latest plan is for the organization to move into the existing building once it is renovated and to staff the welcome and nature centers, with the county paying the society $200,000 annually for five years for that service.

According to Maccini, the society would cover the cost of maintaining the interior of the building while the county would maintain the site overall and the exterior of the building as well as pay utilities.

“We’re exploring ways for the Historical Society to generate revenue,” Maccini said, adding that the society could operate a gift shop, have ticket sales for area attractions and sell tickets for a canoe and kayak concession for Shingle Creek.

By not putting up a separate building for the society, Maccini said the county would save approximately $1 million in capital outlay. The commission must approve any lease or spending agreements with the Historical Society.

Oren Brown

Community Park

The council Tuesday also unanimously recommended the county spend $170,000 in tourist tax funds to upgrade Oren Brown Community Park, which is off Hoagland Boulevard in south Kissimmee. The improvements would allow the facility to be used for additional overflow Rebel Spring Games softball tournaments.

The money would be used to bring the outfields up to tournament standards as well as to install an irrigation line, giving the county in the future the capability to convert a soccer field into two softball fields.

The facility is now comprised of two large soccer fields and three softball fields. The soccer field that is now lighted would remain if a conversion of one of the fields were to occur.

Making the improvements, Maccini said, would allow the county to renew the Rebel contract for use of the softball fields for another 10 years. Use of the softball fields would not be limited to the Rebel games, however. The County Commission is set to consider this spending item Monday.

Tourist development funds are generated by a 6 percent tax collected on all lodging of 180 days or less. The funding is earmarked for purposes that will generate overnight stays in the county.

SMG contract extended

Maccini also reported that the county had negotiated a two-year extension to the current contract with Philadelphia-based SMG to manage Osceola Heritage Park.

According to Maccini, SMG has agreed to reduce its annual management fee by $50,000 down to $100,000; restructure its incentive package to make it contingent on how much the facility’s annual operating deficits are reduced; that its share of concession receipts would be 20 percent of net rather than 20 percent of gross amounts; and that its share of concessions at spring training games at Osceola County Stadium would be 11 percent.

Toward the end of the two-year period, the county will put out a request for proposals for new management of OHP and SMG would be allowed to proffer a proposal at that time, Maccini said.