Disney Sells Town Center of Celebration

[t3techcom18]

I didn't know about much of this, but this is a real shocker....
(From local6.com)


CELEBRATION, Fla. -- The Walt Disney Co. on Wednesday sold the town center of the city it created, ending the entertainment giant's most visible connection to an experiment with urban planning.


Disney sold the town center of Celebration to Lexin Capital, a private real estate investment firm for an undisclosed amount.

Lexin Capital's purchase encompasses 18 acres containing 16 retail shops, six full-service restaurants, more than 94,000 square feet of commercial office space, 105 private apartments and three land parcels.

Disney still will maintain a presence in the town of 8,000 people over the next several years, focusing on selling its remaining commercial land, said Andrea Finger, a spokeswoman for Celebration Company, a real estate development division of Disney.

When Disney founded Celebration in 1994, it based its designs on the concepts of new urbanism, a school of urban planning that emphasized sidewalks and the mixing of residential and commercial space.

The city now has two public schools, an 18-hole golf course, a hotel and a retail area.



Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

[artvandelay]

This could be a good sign. Hopefuly, Disney is starting to divest itself of comapnies that have nothing to do with family entertainment and theme parks.

T3Tech, is Phantom at the Bob Carr PAC in Orlando?

 

[TURKEY]

Originally posted by artvandelay
This could be a good sign. Hopefuly, Disney is starting to divest itself of comapnies that have nothing to do with family entertainment and theme parks.

T3Tech, is Phantom at the Bob Carr PAC in Orlando?

Yep, Phantom is at Bob Carr.

 

[Shaman]

I wonder why they gave up on Celebration....

 

[Bill]

Wait, Disney gave up Celebration, but still owns a o company? What's wrong with this picture?:hammer:

 

[General Grizz]

Will Disney's connection with Reedy Creek be endangered?

 

[pan11435]

Will Disney's connection with Reedy Creek be endangered?

Why would it be?

 

[brisem]

I agree with artvandelay--this is the start of diversing itself. First the Angels, Celebration next the Disney Stores (to the GAP????) and the Mighty Ducks.

It also creates an infusion of cash to the company.

 

[General Grizz]

Originally posted by pan11435
Why would it be?

I had heard that Disney's ownership of Reedy Creek was granted under the basis that Walt Disney World had a city built (EPCOT).

I have since found out that cast homes on property make up for this. . . but am not too sure how the losing of Celebration will affect it.

 

[Lee]

Getting out of Celebration will not affect Disney and Reedy Creek.
The plan all along was to get Celebration going and then turn it over to the residents.
Nothing surprising about this at all.

Maybe now the houses will be more affordable.

 

[General Grizz]

Nice. But um...perhaps a bit higher quality homes?

 

[Lee]

From what I can tell from touring the homes, the quality varies quite a bit from builder to builder.
As a person with a "construction" backgroundlookaroun ), I can spot a turkey pretty quick. Several of them at Celebration.
But some are quite nice.

 

[lebernadin]

Originally posted by grizzlyhall
Nice. But um...perhaps a bit higher quality homes?

Oh, has this been a criticism of Celebration also? I wasn't aware.

 

[General Grizz]

Originally posted by lebernadin
Oh, has this been a criticism of Celebration also? I wasn't aware.

Big report on WFTV a few years ago...quite disturbing.

 

[meanmice]

Originally posted by Bill
Wait, Disney gave up Celebration, but still owns a o company? What's wrong with this picture?:hammer:

OMG i have a sick and twisted mind, yet i didn't know about this? my powers must be failing.

anyway, last semester i had to write a paper based on an essay about the public schools in celebration and the difficulties they had in the beginning. let me tell you this, i always wanted to teach for disney, until i read that essay and learned of the strange teaching method they use.

 

[lebernadin]

Originally posted by grizzlyhall
Big report on WFTV a few years ago...quite disturbing.

Hmm...interesting. I've never been a fan of it and the prices given the local economy etc. and this sounds to be yet another reason to frown on it.

Did anyone save the article grizz is referring to?

 

[HennieBogan1966]

And I suppose that Mr. Eisner will be credited with this "infusion of cash" to the company with this sell right?

By the way, who's idea was Celebration?

 

[raven]

Originally posted by HennieBogan1966
And I suppose that Mr. Eisner will be credited with this "infusion of cash" to the company with this sell right?

Cash to be spent on much needed Disney funding...... like more sequels to lame movies. :animwink:

 

[pan11435]

As you can see in this image, celebration is not even included in the RCID. This was taken form the RCID web site. Also for over 20 years there was no celebration and disney and reedy creek were just fine.

 

[NemoRocks78]

Sad to hear the news, read about it in this morning's newspaper. Looks like Disney is giving up on Walt's dream of a perfect city too.

BTW HennieBogan, Celebration, from what I understand, is sort of a replacement for what EPCOT was suppose to be, a perfect city owned by the Disney Co., except this isn't futuristic like EPCOT.