Universal to build a new On-Site Hotel

cheezbat

cheezbat

Well-Known Member
Scuttle said:
Nope. No water taxi for this resort.
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I was expecting them to add that. That's a negative. Regardless, I'm sure there'll be enough other options to get to the parks.

As for the whole no express thing...doesn't surprise or phase me at all. Could you imagine if EVERY hotel guest had express? The waits would be close to as long as the standby lines! I'm glad it's not being included.
 
nepalostparks

nepalostparks

Well-Known Member
cheezbat said:
As for the whole no express thing...doesn't surprise or phase me at all. Could you imagine if EVERY hotel guest had express? The waits would be close to as long as the standby lines! I'm glad it's not being included.
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They could offer it to the hotel guests and reduced the number they sell to the public through the gates.
 
GLaDOS

GLaDOS

Well-Known Member
Scuttle said:
I can't say for certain, but I've heard for months from multiple people they aren't extending the canal even though it would make sense and not cost that much.
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If it's not going to cost them all that much, I don't see how they aren't going to do it. Comcast/Uni is in a hug spending mood. I don't see them not shelling out for an extension when they seem to be ready to make take the resort to the next level and making all the infrastructure ready for it.

I dunno. Just doesn't add up for me.
 
flynnibus

flynnibus

Premium Member
I can foresee discounted express pass offerings for the new hotel even if it's not included. They need to protect some of the value if the bay resort. The bay one could really focus more on meeting/convention crowds tho as an alt.
 
c-one

c-one

Well-Known Member
Credit to Universal's design team -- Disney's value hotels look tacky and cheap, but Universal's value hotel looks intentionally tacky and cheap, with a wink and a nudge. Well played.
 
F

FrankBlack

New Member
Universal City Property Management was once a subsidiary of Universal Studios of Florida. The company previously had purchased 2,200 acres lying south and east of Lockheed Martin's defense plant on Sand Lake Road in 1999.

The Universal City Property Management subsidiary and the land were acquired in 2003 by Georgia-based developers Marc Watson and Stan Thomas for about 80 million dollars. Their company currently has no affiliation with Universal Studios Orlando.

maxairmike said:
After some digging on the Orange County Property Appraiser and the help of Google Maps, the owner of the Wet N Wild land is Southwest Land Company Inc. with a mailing address to a large office center in Newport Beach, CA c/o Mark IV Capital. The park land (or the park as a whole? Hard to tell, if anyone knows the legal history or could interpret it better than I that would be appreciated) was sold to them in 1986. They appear to be nothing more than you're average real estate development/holding company, although I can't imagine it would be prohibitively expensive to buy them out as they are very much a Southwest/West Coast centric company.

Now, in regards to purchasing land...Universal actually has no shortage of land that it owns. The only thing is that all the other land isn't exactly close to the current development, and it is in some areas broken up by other land owners or major roads. Universal City Management Properties is relatively flush with developable land if they can come up with an efficient way of getting between its largest undeveloped parcel (an approx. 580 acre plot of 3 properties, plus another 100 acres if they buy out a vacant plot of land right on Sand Lake that borders the north side of said property). Oh, and there is also another large plot (180 acres) on the north side of Sand Lake between John Young Pkwy and the turnpike. Lots of room still.

I'm still digging (I love doing this kind of stuff, you should have seen me go when the Orlando Thrill Park was announced and I had everything tracked down and connected in about two hours. I was helping a friend at Rosen write a paper on its imminent failure), but there's a lot of land and a lot of different sales and such to look at. If you're curious, I would suggest starting here.
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M

maxairmike

Well-Known Member
There are still parcels with that name that don't lead to Fourth Quarter Properties (I assume they are the owners/operators of Fourth Quarter Properties) via address or ownership info, so its still a little murky as far as I can tell. I'm still doing some digging, but a lot of these owners are leading to internet dead ends, making it harder.

EDIT: A Yahoo Biz report (not exactly the SEC, I know, but I'm getting there) indicates that as of last year, Universal City Property Management is still a part of NBC Universal, as the Blackstone buy and sale are mentioned several times. Perhaps if some of it did get broken up, this is part of the land deal that is supposedly happening?

EDIT2: The UCPM mentioned above is an LTD, the previous UCPM is an LLC...what would be the reasoning behind selling the original LLC and then just reviving it as an LTD?
 
flynnibus

flynnibus

Premium Member
the lockheed property would be enticing for them. All you would need to do is make it financially viable/attractive to LM. They should have little to no attraction to the plot except it's proximity to MCO and the employee base. Which means it could be moved if there were other viable plots in the same range. But it is quite a large site.. and not just offices.. so such a transaction would be $$. But it's a huge plot, with possibly decent neighbors.
 
M

Mike C

Well-Known Member
There's an article in the Orlando Sentinel about the Atlanta developers (4th Quarter/Watson/Thomas) http://articles.orlandosentinel.com...bt-tax-certificates-big-commercial-properties Who seems to be in large tax debt troubles at the moment.

Ending line of the article:
If the taxes go unpaid, investors will be able to purchase tax certificates on the properties starting May 31.
If any of the Universal Boulevard properties are sold, the taxes must be repaid as soon as any deal closes.
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It's crazy to think about, but Universal could actually buy back the land it sold for less than they sold it for.
 
M

maxairmike

Well-Known Member
Scuttle

Scuttle

Well-Known Member
GLaDOS said:
If it's not going to cost them all that much, I don't see how they aren't going to do it. Comcast/Uni is in a hug spending mood. I don't see them not shelling out for an extension when they seem to be ready to make take the resort to the next level and making all the infrastructure ready for it.

I dunno. Just doesn't add up for me.
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I agree I don't see why they won't extend the canal. Like i said I have heard they won't be having water taxi service and it'll be strictly shuttle bus, but with 1,800 rooms they better be running a hell of a lot of shuttle buses! I'll do some more research and see if I can't find a definitive answer about the water taxis.
 
danlb_2000

danlb_2000

Premium Member
Scuttle said:
I agree I don't see why they won't extend the canal. Like i said I have heard they won't be having water taxi service and it'll be strictly shuttle bus, but with 1,800 rooms they better be running a hell of a lot of shuttle buses! I'll do some more research and see if I can't find a definitive answer about the water taxis.
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They may have chosen not to do boat transporation to differentiate the hotel from the other two. If this hotel is a lot cheaper and offers to may perks that the more expensive hotels get, it may draw people away from the more expensive ones.
 
Scuttle

Scuttle

Well-Known Member
danlb_2000 said:
They may have chosen not to do boat transporation to differentiate the hotel from the other two. If this hotel is a lot cheaper and offers to may perks that the more expensive hotels get, it may draw people away from the more expensive ones.
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I agree Dan, but I think the free express pass is enough to differentiate the two. We will see. I'm sure I can find an answer.
 

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