Universal Orlando Resort Expansion (Part 1)
- Thread starter ReelJustice
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Infrastructure project? - Like a bus hub or something like that.
Guests can walk up I Drive and get transported either way up Uni Blvd
The plot itself appears too small for much, but if they can then buy the walgreens....Boom! New hotel plot.
But the value isn't in just the plot, it's keeping others out and having options for the future. If they can somehow they can get that whole circle of property there by iFly, they have some real options for connecting WNW to the main resort.
They would also need the Orlando Adventure Tours building to make the connection, but it would allow for a potential transportation link if they were somehow allowed to build over I4 via the Universal Blvd bridge.
- Nov 30, 2015
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Here's a map with the iFLY land (that small red box) relative to the purple properties (SLRC) that Universal bought in the 475 acre package.
The key to everything is still the 800 or so acres owned by UCPM III/FQP controlled by Stan Thomas which surrounds and connects the SLRC land.
That iFLY land is on the same road as that big chunk of land owned by UCPM III and isn't too far from some of the SLRC property, so it could be useful, but the main focus is probably on the UCPM III/FQP properties. The big question here is how long will it take Universal to get all of that sorted out.
I don't think they can really build anything until they get a firm grasp on how all of that 1300 acres would work together if they could get the whole thing for a reasonable price (under $500 million - obviously the asking price per acre will be way higher than the cheap price they got for the 475 acres in foreclosure).
Even if Universal can't get all of it, I think they for sure want all of the land south of Sand Lake Road to build a 2nd resort of roughly 800-900 acres (slightly larger than the current one). They might be willing to go without the 2 big parcels in the Northeast but in my opinion, the whole thing (1300 acres including SLRC) would solve any future land issues permanently.
The iFly property you've marked with the red box is the new location. The property up for sale is across from Wet N Wild.
That's the picture of the iFLY plot on the map. Walgreens may be willing to swap their land/plot for some choice land in the 2nd resort down the line if something could be worked out like that with them, and the Orlando Adventure Tours building is also important; if you own those 3, then at least you can imagine a connection being established between the future 4,000 hotel rooms on the WnW property and the main resort.
It's still complicated to connect the WnW property to the SLRC land (the purple properties of roughly 475 acres that Universal bought after foreclosure), but at least if WnW is connected to the main resort, then things in the future will be a lot more simple.
The key to everything in my opinion is still that 800 acres owned by UCPM III/FQP which are controlled by Stan Thomas.
Universal needs at least the ~500 extra acres south of Sand Lake Road to connect all of the SLRC property and build a second resort of around 900-1000 acres in size, but I'm sure he's going to be asking for way more than the foreclosure price that Universal paid for the 475 acres of SLRC land.
But yeah, as @JungleSkip said, they need to be buying any and all available land touching/between the main resort, WnW, and SLRC.
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- Sep 11, 2015
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"Anime, SciFi, Horror" That well with some of the Metroid games. There is even sort of mazes in some parts of the games.
It's interesting to think what would happen if E3 came to the Orlando Convention Center instead of LA. It's been hosted outside LA before early on. Universal and Disney might get a big boost in attendance if E3 remains open to the general public. If Universal had attractions based on long running video games series like some of the Nintendo games and something like Assassin's Creed or Warcraft and had E3 nearby, it might be popular. Or maybe some fans of the games might be mad if the attractions aren't enough like the games.
We don't talk about the anime based Metroid game. Now we can forget about it with Prime 4 on the way.
This was the proposed additional land transfer that fell through (before Stan Thomas ended up suing to try to prevent a new theme park):
#1 (the Green properties on the right) + #2 (the Blue properties) would have been transferred to Universal. It looks like it's at least 500 additional acres. Stan Thomas would have kept the Yellow properties (and that Dark Green parcel) so that he'd have valuable land to build on when the 2nd resort is up and running.
Now, I'm not sure how this is all going to play out with the lawsuit still pending, but that's something to keep in mind; eventually this deal could get done and we could be talking about a 1000+ acre set of land (including SLRC).
- Feb 15, 2012
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This was the proposed additional land transfer that fell through (before Stan Thomas ended up suing to try to prevent a new theme park):
#1 (the Green properties on the right) + #2 (the Blue properties) would have been transferred to Universal. It looks like it's at least 500 additional acres. Stan Thomas would have kept the Yellow properties (and that Dark Green parcel) so that he'd have valuable land to build on when the 2nd resort is up and running.
Now, I'm not sure how this is all going to play out with the lawsuit still pending, but that's something to keep in mind; eventually this deal could get done and we could be talking about a 1000+ acre set of land (including SLRC).
WOW great find and explanation!
I would say out all that land getting all of B1, B5, B6 G2, G4 G6, should be their main goals. b4, G1, G3, G5, would be nice extra but those other lots are right against the parks and be used to create a buffer from the world
It looks like a lot of the Blue and Green are either right of ways for future roads or infrastructure. ,or in the case of the green, wetlands that they probably couldn't build on. I'm not sure if they really could build on either of them. It might have allowed them to remove those large ponds from the center of their property and maybe reroute some of the planned roads to free up space. Otherwise, I don't see a lot that they would have gained. It's like He was trying to sell them all the stuff he knew he couldn't build on and keep the good lots to develop or sell later. Maybe thats why the deal fell through.
I found that off a letter dated mid-2016 between Universal and Thomas's reps. It sounds like either Thomas was asking for too much or he didn't like that Universal would have taken over UCPM's control through the restrictive covenants as part of the deal, so he ended up suing instead.
But maybe later when the lawsuit ends, they could go back to a deal with those kinds of parameters. That added land would really complete a potential 2nd resort.
Perhaps, Universal is designing its next park under some kind of assumptions with that added land in the distant future; that would really open things up.
Yeah, I think there are some extra mortgages against various sets of properties; the green ones in particular may have to be transferred together with the loans against them. Thomas is restructuring some of his loans, so it's not really clear.
Assuming some sort of deal goes through eventually, it sounds like Universal would assume/pay off all the remaining loans and transfer a sizeable sum to him.
Either way, Universal is probably planning around a larger resort than just the 475 acres based on that potential land deal from last year.
It's not clear but I think Universal wanted to take UCPM's management control over the properties (i.e. restrictive covenants and such), that maybe why things fell apart, not over the specific land. Also, given Universal's prior buy, he might have asked for something crazy like $1 billion for 500 acres. And given parts of that land will just end up with water/ponds, that's a pretty crazy price.
I've heard talk of Universal partnering with Rosen on a luxury golf resort that is conjoined with Shingle Creek. I assume that G5/G6 would be where that would go if they still want to do it.
- Feb 15, 2012
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Weird question, but how big is golf in Orlando? It seems like golf is dwindling in popularity. And since the courses use so much land, I figured there would be a push to develop them soon. There was a small course on the Vegas Strip that's now being developed on because the land is worth more than the course.
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