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Lake Cecile Inn and Suites, Lakefront Resort and the Star Motel on West U.S. 192 are scheduled for a bankruptcy auction on Sept. 1.
Osceola County has adopted a temporary moratorium on conversation of hotels and motels, like the dozens lining West U.S. Highway 192, to multi-family residential uses, such as apartments.
County commissioners approved the moratorium, which lasts through Oct. 18, at their last Commission meeting last week.
While on paper this move looks to prevent the production of low-income housing, a desperate need in Osceola County, county leaders say the motive is to pause while drawing up standards and best practices for those conversions.
And the resolution was amended to be in place for just 60 days, rather than the end of the year as originally proposed.
For the next 60 days, there will be a hold on permits or development orders for hotel conversions while the county reviews its own standards and makes any amendments to the county’s Land Development Code to address these new regulations.
“This is not to stop conversions,” said Grieb, who is in the real estate industry for her “day job”. “This is to allow us to put standards in place.”
She noted that the West 192 Redevelopment Authority has identified hotels on the corridor, smaller facilities that may have outdated utilities issues, which are “beyond their useful life” and would be ripe for such a conversion. Three in particular — Lake Cecile Inn and Suites, Lakefront Resort and the Star Motel on 192 just east of Vineland Road — are slated for sale at a U.S. Bankruptcy Court auction on Sept. 1.
“We want to make sure they’re done properly,” Grieb said. “We need to make sure changes we make complement the tourist corridor. Companies do a great job with these and we welcome them.”
Peggy Choudhry, who once owned a hotel on the West 192 corridor with her family, was also part of the unanimous vote, saying it’s proper to both be able to transition old motel rooms into apartments, while making sure it’s done properly.
“There are firms and investors who are doing this right,” she said. “Let’s bring proper products and standards into place. We want the tourist corridor to look good and clean for everyone.
The 192 corridor is a popular spot for these transitions because of the number of hotels along it that no longer function well in that role, the number of families already living in them and treating them like apartments, and its location right on a major bus line, providing transportation access.
In 2013 the County partnered with The Transition House, who received state and federal grants, to retrofit the former Four Winds Motel and open Victory Village featuring unfurnished one, two and three-bedroom units, one of the first such hotel-to-low income apartment transitions. To move in, families were required to meet income and background qualifications.
County Manager Don Fisher said this move is an acknowledgement by the county that many businesses along 192 are in transition.
“It’s a prudent time to pause to monitor how that happens,” he said.
