(NewsNation) — Since Disney announced it was scrapping its nearly $1 billion corporate campus project in Orlando, Florida, nearby real estate projects are facing uncertain futures.
In 2021, Disney purchased the Orlando community known as Lake Nona for around $46 million. The plans for a Disney campus on the 60-acre space were moving forward as recently as March, but the company announced the plan wasn’t moving forward earlier this month, citing changing business conditions, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Disney’s plans included 1.8 million square feet of space across eight buildings and three parking garages, according to city records obtained by the WSJ.
Now, the land could sit vacant for years before Disney decides what to do with it — a concerning development for the surrounding commercial and residential projects that were relying on the relocating Disney employees.
Disney has not commented on any plans for the empty land.
“We have been intentional in curating the selection of organizations, innovators and entrepreneurs that fuel our ecosystem,” Jessi Blakley, vice president of Lake Nona’s developer Tavistock Development said in a statement.
When Disney’s development and employee relocation plans were first announced, a wave of new residential and multifamily development was triggered, the WSJ reported. Now, the pullout could cause a rise in vacant homes in the community.
The scrapping of the plan marks the latest in the political and legal battle between Disney and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
DeSantis has been locked in battle with the entertainment giant since March of last year when Disney’s then-CEO criticized legislation limiting conversations about sexual orientation in the classroom.
In response, DeSantis stripped Disney of its self-governing power and appointed an oversight board to take over.
The controversial “Don’t Say Gay” law, as it is known, bans classroom instruction or discussion of LGBTQ issues in Florida’s public schools.
“It’s not a good political move,” Mediaite contributing editor Sarah Rumpf said. “His message was that he was smarter and less drama than Trump, but he was getting schooled.”
According to Rumpf, the feud with DeSantis is not the only reason Disney pulled out of the project but was part of it.
Tavistock has the option to repurchase the land from Disney seven years after the closing date if Disney doesn’t hit the required construction milestones, according to public records of the sale.
