Mango’s parking garage on International Drive nears completion
International Drive is about to get 880 new parking spaces, as businessman Josh Wallack prepares to open his 14-story garage with restaurant next to Mango’s Tropical Café.
Convention center funding an issue in hotel-tax discussions
As leaders wrangle over how to spend future tourist development taxes, some International Drive businesses are worried that the Orange County Convention Center will get shortchanged.
Bed Bath & Beyond is the second Fortune 500 company to choose West Oaks mall as a new home for one of its call centers.
OCOEE – With big companies continuing to fuel job creation with call centers in its vacant spaces, retailers in the struggling, 20-year-old West Oaks Mall will soon stand a fighting chance.
$60M mixed-use project in Maitland sets up for construction start
Developers are setting the stage to begin laying out a new $60 million mixed-use project that will bring boutiques, eateries, a market and upscale lakefront rental homes to an orange grove in Maitland.
Why Orange County’s next mayoral race will have huge impacts on tourism industry
If you like the political debates on TV now, it will only get better in 2018 when the next Orange County mayoral race comes around.
That’s because one of the hottest topics that mayoral candidates will face will be something the region’s tourism industry will be hungry to hear their stance on: the future of the tourist development tax and its usage.
Andretti Karting, more parking OK’d in I-Drive district
Construction of a planned Andretti Indoor Karting & Games facility near Orange County Convention Center could start as soon as the end of July if the permitting process goes smoothly.
Harris Rosen-supported resort tax plan takes another step toward reality
Who knew it would be so hard to create a system that would streamline tourist development tax requests and make the whole process transparent? Rosen Hotels & Resorts Inc. founder Harris Rosen surely didn’t think it would be so challenging.
Developer plans to pay for State Road 414 interchange
When it comes to interchanges on its toll roads, Metro Orlando’s expressway authority follows a sports cliché: No blood, no foul.
In other words, you can pay for and build an interchange that the Central Florida Expressway Authority does not intend to construct as long as it does not harm the agency’s ability to make money.
Proposed I-Drive pedestrian bridge depends on federal public safety grant
A public/private partnership might be the way to fund a proposed pedestrian bridge at the intersection of International Drive and Sand Lake Road that may cost up to $15 million. Some say the bridge is needed to help improve the popular corridor’s flow of 2 million annual tourists while keeping them safe from 16 million…