Less than a year after announcing an agreement to purchase the historic Hungerford property, Dr. Phillips Charities has submitted a $60 million Tourist Development Tax (TDT) funding request to help finance a planned $85 million cultural campus featuring a museum and park. The submission marks the first time in the foundation’s history that it has ever applied for TDT dollars or any outside grant funding for a project.
Ken Robinson, president and CEO of Dr. Phillips Charities, told GrowthSpotter the organization is scheduled to close on the property acquisition in August. Ahead of that closing, the charity submitted a $60 million TDT Interest Indicator Application to Orange County this week for the tourist destination. The window for applications closed July 16 at 5 p.m.
The submission follows an agreement reached in September 2025, when the Orange County School Board voted to sell the property to the charity. The deal had the support of then-Eatonville Mayor Angie Gardner, who stated it would safeguard the community and set the stage for affordable housing, education and cultural opportunities.
Meanwhile, the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc., known as P.E.C., has submitted a separate $53 million TDT application to build the Zora Neale Hurston International Museum of Arts, Heritage and Culture. The preservation group’s application positions its project as a permanent, year-round heritage tourism destination. The proposal highlights a push from local advocates who favor community-led operations over a private foundation’s development framework on the historic land.
P.E.C. Executive Director N.Y. Nathiri, an historian and third-generation Eatonville resident, also directs the The Hurston Museum at 344 E. Kennedy Blvd. and is the primary organizer of the Zora! Festival, an event celebrating the legacy of former town resident and author Zora Neale Hurston, a driver of heritage tourism and cultural preservation for Eatonville. She told GrowthSpotter her organization’s project does not specify the Hungerford property.
“There are other places in Eatonville that can accommodate this concept,” said Nathiri. “There are other parcels that allow for interpretation in Eatonville. A museum is a name of a thing, but it’s not just necessarily bricks and mortar. A museum is an experience. In 2023, Brent Leggs, who is now the president and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, brought a delegation for a site visit to the town of Eatonville. And as he was moving about, what he said was the entire community is a living museum. … That’s what we’re able to leverage if we can get an investment from the TDT for our causes.”
Inside the $85 million cultural campus
According to the Dr. Phillips Charities application, the requested $60 million in TDT funding would be used to construct the project. The development features the Eatonville Museum of Culture & History, a planned $40 million, 2-story, 30,000-square-foot facility featuring exhibition galleries, educational classrooms and interactive media installations. Surrounding the museum is a $20 million, 4-acre Heritage Park, which includes a 3,000-person festival space, a stage, a pavilion and public art.
The remaining $25 million of the project budget is allocated to campus infrastructure. Dr. Phillips Charities has committed $20 million of its own funds to cover design, engineering and core site preparation. Robinson said the charity will find a source for the remaining $5 million.
Robinson said the application represents a new direction for the foundation.
“This is the first time we have ever requested grant money from anybody else,” Robinson said. “Historically, we are funders to the community. We have sent out over $270 million, but we think this is a great use of the TDT money on behalf of the Town of Eatonville and the residents of Eatonville.”
If the county denies or reduces the $60 million request, Dr. Phillips Charities will still move forward with the site infrastructure, but Heritage Park would have a reduced scope and the museum construction would be delayed and phased.
“No matter what TDT does, if TDT does not fund this, the Dr. Phillips commitment to the Eatonville community continues,” Robinson said. “We’ve committed to building the infrastructure for the park, to build the park, and to do other things like an early learning center and health center. That commitment remains 100% there and it will happen. In terms of specifically the museum, without TDT funding, I think it would set the town back five or 10 years. It would be very disappointing.”
Updated site plan layout and timelines
The July 2026 draft site plan engineered by Kimley-Horn outlines a total site acreage of 100.99 acres.
The land is allocated into 43.18 acres of developable parcels across Parcels A through F, which will host the cultural campus alongside future community-serving facilities. Environmental and stormwater infrastructure accounts for 40.79 acres preserved for wetlands, lakes and buffers, while an additional 11.63 acres are set aside for dedicated stormwater ponds. A total of 12.11 acres across Parcels G and H are reserved at the southern edge of the property for future development phases.
The July 2026 draft layout of the Hungerford Master Plan prepared by Kimley-Horn highlights the proposed internal roadway network and individual parcel boundaries across the northern section of the Hungerford property. (Courtesy Dr. Phillips Charities)
The proposed schedule projects that on-site infrastructure construction would begin in April 2027. Phase 1, the Heritage Park, is slated to open to the public in April 2028, followed by the opening of Phase 2, the museum, in April 2030.
Economic projections and local protections
Dr. Phillips Charities projects the completed cultural campus would attract 150,000 annual visitors, generating an estimated 30,800 out-of-town hotel room nights for Orange County. During construction, the project estimates creating 300 to 400 full-time equivalent construction jobs averaging $45 an hour, or approximately $93,600 annually. Upon completion, permanent operations are expected to sustain 109 museum and hospitality jobs with an average annual wage of $42,500.
Gardner, who is running for the District 7 seat on the Orange County Board of County Commissioners, said the long-term job projections represent a critical economic element for the locality.
“The jobs being generated are very important,” she said. “To have 109 permanent jobs in the town are things that we have been wanting. To have a fully functioning municipality, we need that sort of job creation in our town.”
The application notes that the campus will serve as a venue for local events, including the annual Zora! Festival. The application also says the developer intends to host workforce programming on the campus and will coordinate outreach with the town to provide opportunities for local contractors and small businesses.
Robinson said the local hiring provisions stem directly from ongoing workshops with local stakeholders.
“100% of it is the result of the work that’s taken place over the last couple of years with community meetings and … with our advisory council,” Robinson said. “They’re giving us guidance on this work. The 300 to 400 construction jobs are high-paying jobs, and we’ll work to find opportunities for people from Eatonville to do part of that work. Then the 109 permanent jobs, once it’s completed, are critical. Stable jobs are critical to the Town of Eatonville.”
Other applications and next steps
A third Eatonville-based proposal was also submitted to the county by the Town of Eatonville Community Redevelopment Agency. The agency is requesting $22.5 million in TDT funds to establish the Eatonville Heritage Tourism District. The project aims to create a year-round destination by restoring the historic Club Eaton, building the Eaton Walk Food Hall, adding an outdoor performance venue, and installing updated municipal infrastructure, including electric vehicle charging stations and streetscape enhancements.
The three Eatonville proposals are part of a larger pool of 24 total applications submitted to the task force. Other major requests include a $975 million bid from Orlando City Baseball Dreamers LLC for a Major League Baseball stadium complex, a $750 million request from the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, and a $523 million application from the Orange County Convention Center. The remaining submissions include various requests for regional sports venues, ecotourism initiatives, local museums, and expanded countywide arts funding programs.
Applications are now with the newly appointed TDT Citizen Advisory Task Force, and an independent economic impact evaluation is being conducted by the Georgia State University Center for State and Local Finance. Applicants whose proposals clear the county’s initial compliance review will be scheduled to give 15-minute presentations to the task force on either July 28 or July 29, followed immediately by 15-minute question-and-answer sessions.
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