The Kissimmee City Commission will vote May 6 on a potential downtown hotel development partner after listening to four proposals during a workshop earlier this week.
“Two very different projects, and four very different presentations,” Mayor Jackie Espinoza said, declaring that “Kissimmee is open for business.”
The options range from a mid-priced extended-stay hotel to a 10-story luxury convention center hotel on the lakefront with rooms priced at $250 per night. She asked commissioners to weigh the differences and gather input from business owners and constituents over the next three weeks.
“We have a very big responsibility,” Espinoza said. “So I caution everyone to just really ponder on the differences, because every presentation, as we’ve seen, includes everything from nostalgia to different community feel, big or small. And it is a very challenging and scary time for us, because we have to make the right decision for everyone here …Doing nothing is not an option. We have to do something as our city grows. We welcome change.”
Toho Square
City leaders have tried for years to draw a quality hotel to its central business district, either on the site of the Toho Square parking garage or the Kissimmee Civic Center.
Kissimmee Place Development Group’s unsolicited bid late last year set the wheels in motion for the upcoming deliberation.
KPDG, led by urban planner Santiago Fernandez, has proposed a Public-Private-Partnership with the city to develop a Hyatt Place hotel and conference center. The company has already exercised a right-of-first-refusal for a separate hotel site at Kissimmee Gateway Airport.
The downtown hotel would wrap the Toho Square parking garage with 300 rooms and 30,000 square feet of conference space. It would be developed over two phases.
“It’s right in the middle of your CRA so we hope to bring some vitality to the area,” Fernandez said, noting that the hotel would offer public space and connections to the city’s train museum.
KPDG has engaged architectural/engineering firm Woolpert to take the design lead. Architect Will Tufts described their vision for the proposed Hyatt Place hotel. “The crown on the building is this series of undulating rooftop pavilions,” he said.
The $92 million project would be fully funded by KPDG. “We’re not taking on any debt,” Fernandez said. “We’re all private equity.”
He said they’re considering multiple scenarios for parking, including leasing offsite parking. “We’re floating the idea of buying the (Toho Square) parking garage from the county and retiring the debt, and we’d keep it open to the public.”
The other Toho Square proposal came from Skyview Companies, which recently won a Hallmark Award for its Beaumont redevelopment/Allen Apartments in Kissimmee. “That’s the type of project we like to do,” CEO Stephen Liberty said. “We’re here in the city of Kissimmee. We’ve proven our worth to the City of Kissimmee.”
Consultant Mario Farias said Skyview deliberately chose not to build a convention hotel. “We’re here to build a hotel that will be used throughout the community, for the community, within the community,” he said. “We found a need in all the time we’ve been here to be lacking this type of suite hotel where people can stay for a day, for a week, for a month, for six months — whether they’re here on contract or just visiting family.”
Skyview’s plan calls for a 113-room extended stay, apartment-style hotel attached to both ends of the parking garage. It would be divided into a 5-story building with a pool on the west side and a 3-story building on the east side, fronting E Monument Avenue. The hotel would carry the Sonesta ES Suites brand, which focuses on serving government contractors, sports teams, and other long-term visitors. The hotel would have a mix of 1- and 2-bedroom units, each fully furnished with a kitchen.
Each corner would have ground-floor “bodega-style” restaurant and retail spaces, and the developer would build a pocket park at the southeast corner of the site. Skyview would purchase the site from the city rather than entering a P3 agreement.
Liberty said Skyview would install elevators in the now-empty elevator shafts of the Toho Square garage to serve the hotel
“We’re not here to build a budget hotel,” Farias said. Rates would range from $125 to $145 per night, with special rates for longer stays.
Liberty said that if selected, they could open the hotel by Q4 2026. “With The Allen, we were able to develop and build that very quickly, ” he said. “That’s how we do things. If we get the go-ahead to do this project, it will be done, and done right, and done very quickly.”
Civic Center Redevelopment
Two developers proposed building hotels next to the library on the site of the current Kissimmee Civic Center.
One proposal was a resubmission from IHRMC Hotels & Resorts, which had proposed a limited-service hotel on the site last year. The revised proposal swapped out the proposed Hampton Inn for a full-service Hilton Garden Inn with 120 rooms, a restaurant, outdoor garden terrace and bar. The lack of a full-service hotel was one of the primary reasons commissioners rejected the IHRMC deal in 2024.
They proposed a budget of $130,000 per key, or $27.6 million, and an average daily room rate between $160 and $180.
The firm would renovate the civic center building and operate it on a profit-sharing model with the city. “We toured the building and thought this is a good foundation and something good to build on,” CEO Jan Gautam said.
Construction for the hotel would take 18-20 months after groundbreaking.
The other lakefront proposal was received from Ramon Gomez, CEO of Azure Hotel Holdings Inc. for the civic center property.
It called for demolishing the civic center and building a 10-story luxury hotel with 300 rooms, structured parking and shuttle service to the Kissimmee Gateway Airport. The hotel would offer 20,000 square feet of flexible meeting space, 3,000 square feet of restaurant space and another 10,000 square feet of commercial space. An attached 40,000-square-foot convention center would be built on the current parking lot. Amenities would include a pool, spa, restaurants, VIP Lounges and rooftop terrace with panoramic views. The estimated cost is $171 million.
Audrey Gonzalez from Preferred Hotels & Resorts said the property would be added to the company’s portfolio, which includes notable independent hotels such as The Alfond Inn and ette Hotel.
Gomez said Pininfarina would take the design lead for the 4½-star hotel. The team said they have a commitment from lenders for 90% of the construction costs and would be seeking a 10% contribution from the city.
Gomez estimates the opening in 2029 and anticipates the daily room rate to fluctuate between $180 and $250 based on the season.
Vice Mayor Angela Eady asked all groups the same two questions: if they would support using unionized construction workers and hotel staff and if they provide benefits to their employees. All four said they would not oppose union labor.
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