Orlando Magic set new timeline for $500M downtown entertainment district

[thelakelander]

The Orlando Magic's long-awaited $500 million sports and entertainment complex across from the Amway Center downtown has a development team and an anticipated start in 2024, according to a report in GrowthSpotter.

Developers JMA Ventures LLC and Machete Group Inc. have been appointed to spearhead the project alongside SED Development LLC and the Orlando Magic.

The details were first reported by the Sports Business Journal, which quoted Magic CEO Alex Martins describing the mixed-use complex as a much-needed "shot in the arm" for downtown Orlando and critical to the team's success.

The article cites an anticipated start date "before the end of 2024" though there was no timeline in a news release the development team issued.

"JMA Ventures and Machete Group are simply the best of the best. We are thrilled to have them take the reins and guide the sports and entertainment district into something Orlando will be proud to have in the heart of downtown," Martins said in the release on Monday.

The project is slated to include a 260-room full-service hotel with 16,000 square feet of meeting and conference space, 270 residential units, 200,000 square feet of Class A office space, 125,000 square feet of retail, a 3,500-capacity live event venue, an urban town square, and more than 1,100 parking spaces.

Full article: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2023/10/18/orlando-magic-to-break-ground-in-2024-on-sportsentertainment-district/?utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=https%3a%2f%2fwww.orlandosentinel.com%2f2023%2f10%2f18%2forlando-magic-to-break-ground-in-2024-on-sportsentertainment-district%2f&utm_campaign=Breaking+News%3a+Orlando+Magic+set+new+timeline+for+%24500M+downtown+entertainment+district

[JaxJersey-licious]

I'm very curious why it's taken almost 15 years for anything like this to come to fruition like this was a downtown Jacksonville non-football related project. Given the successful track records of these type of projects, you would think developers would be chomping at the bit to make something of this space in a city like Orlando across from a sports complex that host hundreds of highly attended events a year.

[WAJAS]

This is the 1st rendering with the 'iconic' Orlando building visors and a downscale of massing, so maybe there is something to this project after like a decade.

I remember when they bulldozed the old parking garage (full of local Parramore businesses). Those businesses were promised first dibs on the new building's retail, but I'm not even sure any of the businesses are even around anymore.

[jaxlongtimer]

How does the $500 million price tag for this compare to the $400 million I recall was asked for Lot J?  This seems to be much more robust.

[thelakelander]

This is the 1st rendering with the 'iconic' Orlando building visors and a downscale of massing, so maybe there is something to this project after like a decade.

I remember when they bulldozed the old parking garage (full of local Parramore businesses). Those businesses were promised first dibs on the new building's retail, but I'm not even sure any of the businesses are even around anymore.

Yes, it's pretty Jacksonville when you think about it. That garage must have been torn down six or seven years ago.

[WAJAS]

It really is very Jacksonville. Thankfully for Orlando, this attitude with development isn't as common.