KISSIMMEE, Fla. — U.S. Census Data shows that Kissimmee’s population has gone up by more than 20,000 people in the last 15 years. That population growth in Osceola County has sparked the need for new developments across the region. 

What You Need To Know

  • Developers for the Downtown Kissimmee Hotel proposal have less than 30 days to resubmit proposals brought to the commission during May 6 meeting

  • The two sites for possible downtown hotels includes the Toho Square and next to the Civic Center

  • Local businesses in the downtown area hope to see more clientel from downtown hotel implementation, even though logistics of parking are still underway

At a recent Kissimmee City Commission meeting, four developers brought proposals to the table to create hotels in downtown, and those same developers now have less than 30 days to resubmit their ideas after back-and-forth points were made questioning the feasibility of some of their initial plans.

“Nothing’s been approved,” Kissimmee Mayor Jackie Espinosa said. “So 30 days would be come back to the table and let’s negotiate.”

Currently, there are two interested developers for the Toho Square proposal and two interested in the Civic Center hotel proposal. 

Espinosa said some of the areas they would like to see negotiation on include the number of hotel rooms and parking needs. 

“We have the parking garages that are in place already, both of them over 300 parking spots. We’re also building another parking garage over by the Kissimmee Police Department at some point," Espinosa said. “So, I guess the situation we’re kind of facing is some residents are concerned because if you put 300 rooms in each of these locations, obviously the impact will be grand when there are conventions in our area."

Espinosa said developers will have until the June 3 meeting to bring their edited proposals to the commission’s attention. She said this is likely when the commission will take action about the practicality of adding hotels, and consequently more tourists, to the area. 

“We are definitely excited to have so much interest in the hotel development within our downtown district," Espinosa said. "Growth is inevitable, but we want to make sure it’s done properly.”

She added that city leaders hope to increase developments to the area beyond just the hotel proposals. 

“So, additionally to just having the developers redraft or re-envision what we’d like to see, we also would like retail on the first floor. So, it will be a mixed-use complex kind of sort of," Espinosa said. "We want to see housing, we want to see hotels and we want to see retail. We’d love to see a grocery store in downtown as many people that will be living and occupying our downtown. Having a grocery store would be the ideal, the perfect partner.”

Local businesses in the downtown area, including Buchito Cuban coffee, said bringing more tourists to their city would be beneficial. Andre Benitez and his family have run Buchito for the last 12 years, and he said not only the hotel proposal, but other projects are positive to see in the community. 

“I just feel like having a variety of businesses to here will make a difference," he said.