Disney World is a bit smaller now

napnet

Active Member
Original Poster
Walt Disney World is selling off chunks of excess land on the fringes of its empire, allowing developers to pursue their own real-estate magic.

Disney recently sold 53 acres on Sherberth Road south of Disney's Animal Kingdom to a developer who wants to build hundreds of vacation town homes and condominium units, and another 47 acres on Reams Road, north of the Magic Kingdom, to a home builder.

Another 30 acres is for sale on U.S. Highway 192. And more may be put on the market as soon as the company re-evaluates its vast land holdings in Central Florida, particularly parcels on the far edges.

Disney spokeswoman Andrea Finger said the company is evaluating its Central Florida land holdings to see what fits into its long-term plans and what doesn't.

Disney owns 27,000 acres in southwest Orange and northwest Osceola counties, most of it purchased in the 1960s when Walt Disney stealthily assembled his holdings before the public learned of his plans to build Disney World. Much of the acreage makes up the area of and around Disney's theme parks, water parks, golf courses, shopping and hotel and time-share resorts between U.S. 192, State Road 429, Reams Road and Interstate 4.

The new deals may illustrate a shift in thinking for Disney.

Finger, spokeswoman for Walt Disney Imagineering, Disney's park planning division, said the 47-acre deal Disney made in December and the 53-acre deal in February are the first for the company in a while, other than land in the Little Lake Bryan and Celebration planned communities.

"With such significant land holdings in Central Florida, our strategy is to manage and develop land resources in ways that promote and enhance and complement our core businesses," Finger said.

Disney is not talking about the 30-acre tract, except to say it is in contract. Yet Disney asked its government agency, the Reedy Creek Improvement District, to de-annex the property, which is on U.S. 192, west of the Animal Kingdom Lodge.

The latest land deals are different from those at Celebration or Little Lake Bryan. Disney fully planned those two communities. The company transferred property in both areas to subsidiaries, which developed the communities and sold off the properties as they were developed. Those sales began in 1994 and still are continuing, Finger said.

The land in the latest deals would be governed by Orange or Osceola county planning and zoning codes, but would otherwise be outside Disney's master plans.

Susan Lawrence, president of Real Estate Strategies in Orlando, said Disney is finding a great time to sell. Prices are at an all-time high. Demand is high, and supply is tight, especially around Disney, she said.

"Like stock, when the prices are extraordinarily high, you're going to sell, especially if there's no long-term strategic use for it," Lawrence said. "That still leaves them with -- what? -- 26,000-plus acres?"

Such sales have been rare for Disney in recent years.

The most recent before December was in 2000, when Disney sold the 40-acre Crossroads at Lake Buena Vista, off State Road 535, for $15.8 million.

Other theme parks in town also have unloaded excess property in the past decade. In 2003, Universal Orlando sold 1,800 acres along Sand Lake Road after deciding it no longer wanted to build a third theme park there.

Since Anheuser-Busch bought SeaWorld in 1989, the company has sold off several hundred acres around Central Florida that were not contiguous to the park.

Last week Disney asked the Reedy Creek Board of Supervisors to begin steps to drop the 30-acre parcel from the agency's jurisdiction. Reedy Creek, a government agency set up by the Florida Legislature, provides utility, fire, emergency medical and other public services to Disney's property.

Normally, when Disney sells land that is governed by Reedy Creek the company asks the agency to de-annex the land so that any new landowners would not share the district's services and would not have any votes in Reedy Creek affairs.

Reedy Creek Executive Director C. Ray Maxwell said his agency is prepared to receive more de-annexation requests from Disney.

"They have gone around and looked at the entire property, the perimeter of the property, and said, OK, does this really fit into future development plans or not?" Maxwell said. "And if it doesn't, is there a market for it?"

Maitland-based Centex Homes bought the 47-acre Reams Road property for $4.8 million. Division President Pat Knight said Centex likes the property, but the company has not yet decided what to do with it.

Sherberth Development Partners, an investment group out of New York and Chicago, paid $15.4 million for the 53 acres. Orlando-based Resorts Development Group will develop the property. President Steve Parker said plans call for vacation homes, including short-term rental homes.

Parker said his company got an unexpected chance to buy the Disney property.

Resorts Development already was planning a 40-acre development next door when it learned that Disney would sell the 53-acre parcel. Knowing how rarely Disney has sold its Central Florida holdings, his investors immediately stepped up to buy it, he said.

"We like to think it was real-estate genius, but it was really dumb luck," he said. "They said, 'We just decided today to start selling some of it.' We said, 'OK, we'll buy it.' "


http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busi...114.story?coll=orl-business-headlines-tourism
 

wild01ride

Well-Known Member
I guess as long as they've truly evaluated what it will mean for the future of WDW and for the surroundings of WDW, then they should do what's best.
All I've gotta say is that we better not end up with Disneyland, FL with Mimi's Cafe and a HoJo visible from the Monorail!
 

spike595

Member
As long as they're being smart about it.Evaluating and making sure it doesn't fit into long range plans while also leaving "greenbelt space"around the whole resort area. Part of the magic is leaving behind the rest of Orlando and going on property. It's actually pretty smart getting rid of excess, less taxes they'd have to pay too.
 

peter11435

Well-Known Member
Edeyore said:
Since Disney formed their own district when they bought the land, will the new developments pay property taxes to Disney?
As it says in the article the land that is sold is de-annexed from the Reedy Creek Improvement district. This is done primarily so that the new owners of the land will not have voting powers in the district.
 

bgraham34

Well-Known Member
Ah very interesting. I would not be surprised if in the selling clause they are unable to build of say 4 stories high.
 

speck76

Well-Known Member
bgraham34 said:
Ah very interesting. I would not be surprised if in the selling clause they are unable to build of say 4 stories high.
I am sure they are retaining a right of refusal for anything that will be built on the property.
 

docandsix

Active Member
This kind of troubles me...

While I agree fundamentally with most of the reassuring statements made above, I am concerned that these decisions may lead to an emerging attitude in the Disney board offices. After returning from a recent trip to the Disneyland Resort, I felt that I had learned to accept the California property for what it is. Because of this, I managed to enjoy this vacation more than my last visit to Anaheim. However, looking out from the top of California Screamin' and seeing someone's laundry hanging out his apartment window rather than seeing a vast Florida wilderness is something I will probably never quite get over. I really hope that the company doesn't allow WDW to be overtaken, even from a distance--they really need to preserve that sense of isolation.
 

WeLComeHomE OKW

Active Member
docandsix said:
While I agree fundamentally with most of the reassuring statements made above, I am concerned that these decisions may lead to an emerging attitude in the Disney board offices. After returning from a recent trip to the Disneyland Resort, I felt that I had learned to accept the California property for what it is. Because of this, I managed to enjoy this vacation more than my last visit to Anaheim. However, looking out from the top of California Screamin' and seeing someone's laundry hanging out his apartment window rather than seeing a vast Florida wilderness is something I will probably never quite get over. I really hope that the company doesn't allow WDW to be overtaken, even from a distance--they really need to preserve that sense of isolation.
I am glad someone is troubled by this other than me. I am surprised no one brought this up before, but Walt Disney did not buy all that land to make money. He was planning on only using a small percentage for the theme parks and resorts. He wanted to use the rest just to preserve what little nature we have left in the world. It was an amazing gesture, and now that Disney thinks they can sell whatever they wont use for profit is absolutely ridiculous and will defeat the entire purpose of having that much land in the first place. One thing at Disney World I have always appreciated is their love for the environment. And I don't want anything to change that, period.
 

peter11435

Well-Known Member
WeLComeHomE OKW said:
He wanted to use the rest just to preserve what little nature we have left in the world. It was an amazing gesture, and now that Disney thinks they can sell whatever they wont use for profit is absolutely ridiculous and will defeat the entire purpose of having that much land in the first place.

Walt Disney did not want to use the land for preservation. The only reason that was part of the deal was to make it sound good to Florida legislators. Walt bought all of that land so that he could build everything they could possibly come up with not so they could preserve nature.

If you look at the map posted by napnet you can see that there are many small parcels of land around the perimeter of the property that could not be used for anything by Disney. Essentially all they are doing is smoothing out the edges of the property. And to be honest this is nothing new. Disney has always bought and sold small parcels around the property to straighten out the property lines. The Orlando Sentinel must have needed an extra story today.
 

inDisney

New Member
WeLComeHomE OKW said:
I am glad someone is troubled by this other than me. I am surprised no one brought this up before, but Walt Disney did not buy all that land to make money. He was planning on only using a small percentage for the theme parks and resorts. He wanted to use the rest just to preserve what little nature we have left in the world. It was an amazing gesture, and now that Disney thinks they can sell whatever they wont use for profit is absolutely ridiculous and will defeat the entire purpose of having that much land in the first place. One thing at Disney World I have always appreciated is their love for the environment. And I don't want anything to change that, period.

It bothers me a lot. Disney doesn't need the extra money they are making off the land they are selling. They have so much money, that they don't know what to do with it. The reason why Walt bought so much land was to give the theme parks a sense of isolation. He wanted the parks to have an out-of-this-world feeling. If they keep selling land, the property is going to look like Universal; I could see Dueling Dragons and Jurassic Park from I-4. That is nasty.:hammer:
 

napnet

Active Member
Original Poster
inDisney said:
It bothers me a lot. Disney doesn't need the extra money they are making off the land they are selling. They have so much money, that they don't know what to do with it. The reason why Walt bought so much land was to give the theme parks a sense of isolation. He wanted the parks to have an out-of-this-world feeling. If they keep selling land, the property is going to look like Universal; I could see Dueling Dragons and Jurassic Park from I-4. That is nasty.:hammer:

I wouldnt worry about this... look at all the property they own thats not even connected to the parks. Like that big area in lake county... no need for that... it wont spoil your view... They own a ton of land in Central florida so you wont miss a thing. They woud never say sell land right next to MK or anything... they are not that stupid or money hungry. They also sell land all the time...
 

Connor002

Active Member
Well, I don't see much reason to be against it, but also very little reason to be for it, either.

Honestly I see no real consequence [as of what they are doing now] either way.
 

speck76

Well-Known Member
inDisney said:
It bothers me a lot. Disney doesn't need the extra money they are making off the land they are selling. They have so much money, that they don't know what to do with it. The reason why Walt bought so much land was to give the theme parks a sense of isolation. He wanted the parks to have an out-of-this-world feeling. If they keep selling land, the property is going to look like Universal; I could see Dueling Dragons and Jurassic Park from I-4. That is nasty.:hammer:

Really.....you obviously do not know much about the business world.

It has been mentioned by investment firms that Disney should sell its hotels to a REIT, which has better tax advantages as a real estate investor, and Disney would just manage the hotels. Bob Iger currently opposes this plan....but it is the future of the industry. It is why Marriott, Starwood, and other major hotel companies own nothing but the name....
 

DisneyWales

Member
Be real

A few acres out of a few thousand acres are hardly going to Impact Magic Kingdom at all. There is still room for a max of 7 full size theme parks on property, let alone all the other projects they may want to build. This land is on the far outskirts or the land they own its not as if its next to the TTC.

This makes sence business wise, Disney make money on the land they own, which they could put towards new developments. They are taking advantage of current land price raises. As long as they dont sell a MAJOR chunk of land this makes perfect sence.
 

peter11435

Well-Known Member
And if anyone cares the land north of MK that they sold WAS NOT purchased by Walt. It was not purchased by Disney until 1991. Disney purchased the land in June of 1991 from Thomas and Evelyn Paterson for $1,881,500. Now they sold it for almost 5 millions.
 

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