YouTube content creators have toured the property, showing its years of neglect and damage from fires, squatters and graffiti artists. PHOTO/THE DAILY WOO
At Monday’s Osceola County Commission meeting, commissioners approved a plan for the South Florida-based Meyers Group to develop a 77-acre plot at the busy interchange of Interstate 4 and U.S. Highway 192 in northwestern Osceola County into a mixed-use district that would include as many as 675 upscale hotel rooms, dining retail and entertainment venues.
A full buildout, “Ovation” creates a potential $192 million in development, according to Meyers Group and County documents.
A vast hotel complex was originally built at the busy intersection, right outside of Disney World, in the 1970s, as the theme park was coming into its own. It operated as a the Orlando Hyatt House and under other hospitality umbrellas, and while initially popular as a sort of “doorway” to both Disney and Osceola County and Kissimmee’s West 192 corridor, it closed in 2012 and fell into disrepair over the last decade, when it was called the Orlando Sun Resort—becoming more of a doormat.
The land has been a shell of a blighted area for years—the term “eyesore” is fitting. At least two YouTube content creators have toured the property within the last year, showing evidence of damage from fires, squatters and graffiti artists.
“This will be such a shot in the arm,” County Chief of Staff Beth Knight said. “The property serves as a gateway to Osceola County on eastbound 192, and I’m sure people have looked at that and wondered if it got any better the farther you go. County fire and rescue are probably going out there every six months.”
Monday’s agreement follows up on a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) previously approved by the county in September 2024, after the Meyers group purchased the property from its New York owners.
The agreement includes a number of incentives from the county in exchange for developing the property. They include reimbursement of up to $10 million of the new Tourist Development Taxes it generates over 20 years, mobility and fire impact fee credits (which have become standard on large building proposals), and reimbursement of up to $6.5 million for demolishing the property’s unsafe structures.
In the agreement, the county acknowledges it can acquire property through eminent domain in order to improve transportation and traffic access points to Ovation.
Original plans drawn up as the project went from concept to blueprints included a number residential units on the property, but there are no references to them in the agreement approved Monday.
Also at Monday’s meeting, the Board voted 3-2 to adopt the titles county “Mayor” and “Vice Mayor” as alternative designations to Chair(man) and Vice Chair(man).
The resolution provides that the alternate and interchangeable use of the new designations are simply ceremonial and ministerial and do not place any additional authority on those positions.
Those who supported it, like Cheryl Grieb and (current chair) Viviana Janer, who cast the deciding vote, noted that in travel to other locales, people there understand the duties of a mayor, but not necessarily a commissioner.
Discussing their two ‘no’ votes, Commissioner Ricky Booth expressed possible confusion since a traditional mayor is an executive elected position, and Peggy Choudhry questioned how a mayor would be represented in and beyond Osceola County, noting while this was first directed in November, it was never workshopped.
