Major expansion planned for Vacation Village timeshare resort

Nearly two years after buying the former Arabian Nights property near the W192-Interstate 4 interchange, Lando Resorts is gearing up to expand its Vacation Village at Parkway resort.

Lando paid $6.5 million in August 2014 for the nearly 24-acre parcel that housed the equestrian dinner show attraction for a quarter-century. Longtime owner Mark Miller sold the property to Lando and sold many of his pure-bred Arabian horses at auction in 2014.

Lando's planning consultant, Randy Kirkwood, has filed a preliminary site plan calling for construction of two new timeshare towers -- a total of 372 units -- with swimming pool.

"It will be a continuation of the existing Vacation Village resort," Kirkwood told GrowthSpotter. "It will be the same basic timeshare units, but all the buildings are a little bit different."

The sprawling resort already has nearly 2,000 units spread among 20 timeshare towers and is building towers 21-23. The first towers, built in 1999 were seven stories tall.

The conceptual plan for the new towers calls for one 11-story building with 132 units. The second building, with 240 units, is divided in three sections increasing in height from 10 to 12 to 14 stories.

The concept plan also includes "placeholders" for resort amenities, including a swimming pool, climbing wall and high ropes course, and a boardwalk connecting the property to the main resort.

Kirkwood is scheduled to meet Wednesday with Osceola County planners to discuss the project, and possibly changing the street name of Arabian Nights Boulevard.

Lando has already demolished the former dinner theater and changed the land use from Low-Density Residential to Commercial Tourist. "The zoning is all in place," Kirkwood said. "The next step is the construction plan submittal -- that will be in the next 60 days. Then sitework could start in another 60 days."

Fugleberg Koch principal Ted Hunton is the project architect. Winter Park Construction is the general contractor for the project.

Hunton said the design for the new towers will replicate the tower that's still partially under construction. "There's been a change to the color palette, and they changed their unit types," he said. "They wanted to go a little more modern. They even changed their logo to go away from the more homey feel."

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