January 18, 2018|ORLANDO BUSINESS JOURNAL

Proposed SeaWorld-Area Hotel Project Gets 2nd Wind With New Plans

ORLANDO — New York-based Empire Equities is back with updated plans for its hotel project near SeaWorld Orlando and the Orange County Convention Center.

The company filed a new development review application with Orange County for a 300-room hotel on 4.99 acres on Westwood Boulevard. Last August, Empire Equities’ related Empire EQ Hotel LLC closed on the purchase of the land from a multi-entity ownership group for $6.4 million.

The hotel, which will have the international upscale Le Meridien brand, will sit on the east side of the property with parking surrounding it. The flag, part of the Marriott International family, boasts a European-style of design and modernism that has more than 100 locations in 35 countries. Executives with Empire Equities could not be reached for comment.

Empire Equities’ plans have changed over several years, including the location of the hotel. The company originally wanted to build a 365-room tower, dubbed the Empire Hotel, off Universal Boulevard, but the project never came to fruition. It wasn’t until last year that its plans started to pick up steam again with the purchase of the land near SeaWorld.

Current documents filed with the county show the hotel’s team includes Orlando-based Harris Civil Engineers LLC and architect Behar Peteranecz from St. Petersburg, among others.

New hotel properties still are needed in Orlando, as the region’s $60 billion tourism industry drew a record 68 million tourists in 2016, and it’s expected that the figure will be higher for 2017.

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