Orlando City SC owners submit sole bid to develop Osceola Heritage Park around team’s training facility
The Wilf family, real estate titans and owners of the Orlando City Soccer Club, was the sole bidder Tuesday to lease or buy 251 acres in and around Osceola Heritage Park, home to the Major League Soccer team’s training facility and development academy.
“The Club has begun preliminary conversations regarding potential future projects with multiple locations across the Greater Orlando area, including submitting a Letter of Interest to Osceola County on November 5, 2024,” Communications Director Jackie Maynard told GrowthSpotter. “Orlando City, Orlando Pride and the Wilf Family are continuously striving to create a best-in-class experience for players, staff and our community, however all discussions remain in the exploratory phase at this time.”
Greg Lee, a partner with BakerHostetler and a board member and former chair of the Greater Orlando Sports Commission, submitted the response on behalf of the team owners. The details of the proposal will remain sealed for up to 30 days.
The family-owned company brings the expertise to develop the campus as a mixed-use sports and entertainment district, just as the county envisioned when it sought Letters of Interest in late September. The county is seeking a development partner with the financial capability and experience to develop the OHP campus and operate it as a destination anchored by the existing venues, including the Silver Spurs Arena, events center and Osceola County Stadium.
The county has tried and failed on previous occasions to find such a partner, specifically to build a hotel on the campus. An Osceola County official would not comment Wednesday on the nature of the Wilf family’s bid, but said it would be reviewed by staff and then the county commission. He declined to offer a time frame.
The existing venues at OHP are not a part of the county’s latest offering to developers, but it does include the 41-acre former Johnson University campus on Bill Beck Boulevard that the county acquired in June for $28.17 million.
Garden Homes, the family’s real estate firm, owns and manages over 50,000 apartment units and over 25 million square feet of retail centers, office buildings and hotels across 37 states. In 2018, the Wilfs also launched WISE (Wilf Innovative Sports & Entertainment) Ventures, an investment fund based in Manhattan. WISE focuses on early and growth-stage investment opportunities in sports, entertainment and real estate.
Mark Wilf and his family became majority owners of Orlando City Soccer Club and the Orlando Pride in 2021. Their acquisition included Inter&Co Stadium and all related soccer assets, including the Orlando City Academy and Youth Soccer Network, and the Club’s two official training facilities at OHP and in Sanford.
The Wilf family has also owned the National Football League’s Minnesota Vikings since 2005.
The Wilf family developed the Vikings’ headquarters and training camp as the centerpiece of a 200-acre mixed-use development known as Viking Lakes. Located in Eagan, Minn., the district is now home to the northern office of the United States Tennis Association and the Omni Viking Lakes Hotel to go alongside the Vikings Museum and Twin Cities Orthopedics’ sports medicine center and medical office building.
The team calls OHP’s Osceola County Stadium home for its Orlando City B team in the MLS NEXT Pro developmental league. The training complex features four fields — three natural grass and one artificial turf —a fitness, training and recovery center; a players’ lounge; meal room and a film room.
The DeVos family, owners of the Orlando Magic, own a minority stake in the MLS franchise and bring their experience as development partners of the Magic’s Westcourt Sports + Entertainment District, which breaks ground this year, and the AdventHealth Training Center in downtown Orlando. They also have a connection to OHP, where the Silver Spurs Arena hosts the NBA G-league’s Osceola Magic.
This was the fourth time the county has offered property at OHP for development hoping to entice hotel developers to build new hotels and parking decks at the park. Previous efforts have not led to a deal. This time, the county expanded the offering to include all of the undeveloped land in the park plus the former Christian college campus on Bill Beck Boulevard.
Staff writer Natalia Jaramillo contributed to this article.
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