KISSIMMEE, Fla. \u2014\u00a0Osceola County is advancing a new partnership with Orlando Sports Enterprises while approving a transformative development plan for part of Osceola Heritage Park.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
Osceola County leaders are moving forward with a $50 million project at Osceola Heritage Park in partnership with Orlando City Soccer<\/p>\n
The plan includes stadium renovations, new training facilities, team headquarters, a fitness and rehab center and a hotel<\/p>\n
Officials say the project will also create public soccer fields and opportunities for local teams and tournaments<\/p>\n
County leaders say they believe the development will boost tourism, economic growth and community pride<\/p>\n
County leaders say the $50 million project is designed to bring new investment, expanded sports opportunities and year-round activity, and the plan could reshape the area with upgraded facilities and stronger ties between the county and professional soccer, officials say.<\/p>\n
Osceola County leaders are moving forward with a major investment in Heritage Park, taking steps to transform the area into a world-class soccer training center.\u00a0Improvements include remodeling the existing stadium at Heritage Park and creating a centralized home base soccer training center intended to serve all Orlando City Soccer Club teams, including Orlando City and the Orlando Pride.<\/p>\n
The county has committed $25 million in tourist tax dollars to the project, while Orlando Sports Enterprises will contribute another $25 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, we\u2019re going to maximize the value of the park while retaining county ownership of the park,\u201d Osceola County Commissioner Viviana Janer said.<\/p>\n
The deal will also open the area to local soccer teams and tournaments once completed, Janer said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOpening up more of the Heritage Park to public use,\u201d Janer said. \u201cThere\u2019s going to be fields open for the public.\u201d<\/p>\n
Caesar Lopez, chief operating officer for Orlando City SC, the Orlando Pride and Inter&Co. Stadium, said the public-private partnership will bring all soccer teams and their training operations together.<\/p>\n
Osceola Heritage Park already serves as the training site for Orlando City Soccer.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to have the same playing surface and grass fields,\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n
\u201cConsolidate and bring all of our professional teams under one proverbial roof.\u201d<\/p>\n
One reason Osceola County was chosen for the new facilities is that it has experienced rapid growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cOsceola County in that region is growing at a tremendous rate. It\u2019s one of the fastest-growing regions in the United States, and we wanted to be part of that shared vision as well,\u201d Lopez said.<\/p>\n
Aside from team headquarters and training fields, the facility will also include a player fitness and rehab center.<\/p>\n
The project also includes a hotel being built in the area. The brand name and room count have yet to be determined.<\/p>\n
No groundbreaking date for the project has been announced.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KISSIMMEE, Fla. \u2014\u00a0Osceola County is advancing a new partnership with Orlando Sports Enterprises while approving a transformative development…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[767,1011,1242,1238,274,770,1236,1190,115,139,4786,141,140,3968,6505,1976,11881,2062,278,835],"class_list":["post-248923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-app-community","tag-app-human-interest","tag-app-professional-sports","tag-app-sports","tag-app-top-stories","tag-community-news","tag-florida-sports","tag-human-interest","tag-news","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-city","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-orlando-pride","tag-osceola","tag-osceola-county","tag-randy-rauch","tag-soccer","tag-top-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}