An ownership group is exploring the idea of converting an aging hotel on Orange Blossom Trail into apartments, but the proposal is still highly preliminary and open to change.
Rebecca Wilson of Lowndes recently filed plans on behalf of New Jersey-based InTown Orlando GSN, Inc. to convert the OYO Hotel Orlando Airport at 7100 S. Orange Blossom Trail into multifamily residential units. Under the plans, the hotel’s 212 rooms would be available as studio apartments set aside for residents making 80% of the area median income (AMI). However, Ravi Sheth of InTown Orlando GSN, Inc. said that he and his partners are still working out the details, including how many units would be affordable and what the rental rates would be.
“We are in a location where there are housing needs. We’ve been there for a while, and we realized that having a multifamily location would be much more beneficial to the area. We’re not 100% going to be affordable. We’re looking at everything,” Sheth said.
The application requested a preliminary meeting with county staff to discuss the conversion and the possibility of using the Live Local Act. The two-story hotel, which was previously an Econo Lodge location, features surface-level parking, laundry facilities, a lobby, and a central courtyard with a lawn and open space.
While the plans are very preliminary, Sheth said that his team would have to make certain enhancements to the property as part of a conversion, but it is too early to determine what those improvements would be. The hotel was last renovated in 2018 when the ownership group revamped the exterior facade of the building.
“That’s something definitely we’re gonna have to do. We did renovations a few years back, but it’s definitely gonna require more for a multifamily conversion. We have standards we have to get up to with the county code,” he said.
The proposed conversion of the OYO Hotel Orlando Airport would follow a trend of aging motels on Orange Blossom Trail being adapted into affordable or workforce housing, with a pair of other nearby conversion projects in the works along the busy corridor.
For example, Seattle-based Sage Investment Group plans to rezone the Stayable Suites Orlando at 8700 S Orange Blossom Trail to convert the motel’s 206 units into workforce apartments ranging in size from 270 to 400 square feet. The company also plans to make substantial renovations that would result in resident amenities such as an upgraded pool area, a grilling station, a community lounge, a gym, and laundry facilities.
Additionally, Wyoming-based investor Steven Glaude of Instant Hotels wants to convert the 162-room Garnet Inn & Suites, located next door at 8820 S Orange Blossom Trail, into workforce housing units. The hotel features a pool, a gym, a dining area, and laundry facilities.
There are three other affordable or attainable housing projects in the works on Orange Blossom Trail north of the proposed OYO Hotel conversion near the Holden Avenue intersection. The largest of these projects would be a 256-unit apartment complex on 9.6 acres at 4893 S Orange Blossom Trail called The Alton at Lake Bumby. Developer Saul Perez of REZ SE Land, LLC said that he wants the community to be “a luxury attainable housing development.”
Earlier this year, Birdsong Housing Partners proposed building 92 affordable apartments on 12.9 acres at 4800 S. Orange Blossom Trail. The units would be reserved for residents earning between 40% and 60% AMI.
Additionally, Archway Partners is currently building The Enclave at Canopy Park, which will have 104 affordable apartments on 3.3 acres at 4475 S. Rio Grande Ave.
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