AMERICAS – A city commissioner has spoken out as officials begin negotiations over a new luxury hotel in Orlando.
According to plans submitted by Marc Bortz, the hotel will go up in front of the new Doctor Phillips Center for the Performing Arts (pictured). Bortz wants to build a luxury four-diamond hotel complete with an infinity edge pool. He is proposing to lease the city’s land for US$315,000 a year or buy it outright for US$5 million. The lease on the land is expected to help pay for the operation of the arts centre.
But city commissioner Jim Gray said he is concerned that Bortz has never developed a hotel before.
He said: “When we run into trouble with construction projects, it’s because we’ve aligned ourselves with companies that don’t have the experience..
The project is being managed by Stuart Newmark, chief operating officer of Revolutionary Road Hospitality Group.
He said: “Mr. Bortz’s approach is very collaborative. We talk multiple times a day. This team that he’s assembled is second to none. We have under our belt collectively 1,000 hotel developments in the US and the world.”
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