ORLANDO, Fla. – The Walt Disney Company has canceled a billion-dollar development in Orlando.
The project, known as the Lake Nona Town Center, was supposed to involve the relocation of more than 1,000 employees from Southern California. Disney initially announced the project in 2021 due to “Florida’s business-friendly climate.”
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The cancelation comes as Disney executives have recently blasted the state as anti-business amid an ongoing feud with Gov. Ron DeSantis. The company spoke out against the state’s Parental Rights in Education Bill, prompting the state legislature to strip Disney of special privileges granted to the company in the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Disney sued the governor and state on May 2, accusing the state of harassing the company for exercising its first amendment rights.
Josh D’Amaro, Disney’s theme park and consumer product chairman, sent an email Thursday to company workers announcing that the Lake Nona project has been canceled. It would have brought more than 2,000 jobs to the region, with $120,000 as the average salary, according to an estimate from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity. The campus was originally slated to open in 2022-2023 but was later delayed to 2026.
Disney is headquartered in Burbank, California, but operates a number of satellite offices across the country and the world.
D’Amaro said employees who have already moved to Florida may be able to relocate back to California.
D’Amaro stated in his memo that the company still plans to invest $17 billion in Florida over the next 10 years, including the addition of around 13,000 jobs. The company currently employs more than 75,000 people in the state.
Disney released the statement below:
Dear Community Leaders,
Today, you may have heard the news that Disney is no longer moving forward on the construction of a new campus in the thriving and growing community of Lake Nona in Orlando. Since we first announced this project, several dynamics have changed, including a change in company leadership and evolving economic and business conditions.
Regarding our world-class destination, our desire is to continue investing in our core business in an effort to attract and welcome millions of visitors to Walt Disney World and Central Florida each year so they can enjoy the kind of hospitality our region is known for around the world. Our plans currently call for us to invest $17 billion in Walt Disney World over the next 10 years and create 13,000 new jobs to continue doing our part as a leading employer in the hospitality and themed entertainment industry. We hope those plans will become a future reality.
For decades, we have operated our business responsibly and being the region’s largest taxpayer, we paid and collected over $1.1 billion in state and local taxes during last year alone.
As the largest single-site employer in Central Florida, we are deeply rooted in this community, and we continue to make investments for the betterment of our region such as our contribution of 80 acres of land to create affordable and attainable housing for our community, which we announced last year. Groundbreaking on this development is targeted for next year, with the first of 1,400 units anticipated to be completed in 2026.
We also continue to invest in our community through our broad array of philanthropic and citizenship efforts. Over the last 20 months, we’ve provided $6.5 million in grants to locally based, non-profit organizations such as Give Kids The World, Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida, Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, Conservation Florida, Heart of Florida United Way, Hope Partnership, The Nature Conservancy and more. This is on top of the donation of millions of hours of time that our Cast Members have contributed to deserving organizations over the decades.
Of course, none of this would be possible without the amazing dedication of the 75,000 Cast Members who call Central Florida their home. To them, we offer the best overall benefits package in the Central Florida hospitality industry, including an $18 minimum wage by the end of the year - which is well above the state’s minimum wage - affordable medical coverage, subsidized childcare, access to free higher education through Disney Aspire our 100% paid tuition programs, and pathways to help Cast at every step of their career.
While today’s decision was not easy, we remain committed to our Cast Members as well as you and our wonderful community.
Sincerely,
Jeff Vahle
President
Walt Disney World Resort