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Is Orlando on track to finish Creative Village by 2031, as its 2011 agreement set out?

The Roadmap Reckoner · Creative Village, downtown Orlando (Orange County), Florida · last checked 2026-10-28

Verdict	PENDING, AT RISK (the City's own 2025 amendment puts Phase 3 at 2031-2043 and ends the agreement's term in 2043)
Promiser	City of Orlando (City Council), in the 2011 Master Development Agreement for Creative Village
Place	Creative Village, downtown Orlando (Orange County), Florida
Promised	February 2031 ("The term of the Agreement is 20 years, anticipated to be February 2011 through February 2031", City Council minutes, Feb. 7, 2011; the City's project page still says "running through 2031")
Delivered / status	Not yet due, and not finished: Amendment No. 1 (approved Feb. 24, 2025) extends the term to Feb. 25, 2043; the City's schedule has Phase 1 done in 2022, Phase 2 due in 2030 and Phase 3 between 2031 and 2043; the Beacon's 115 apartments were reported open on Oct. 6, 2026; parcels X, X-1 and Y have not closed (closing date Dec. 31, 2026)
Last checked	2026-10-28

Verdict: PENDING, AT RISK. The 2031 date has not arrived, but the City's own later record puts the end of the work after it. On February 24, 2025, City Council approved Amendment No. 1, which extends the agreement's term by twelve years, to February 25, 2043 [C6, C8]. The amendment gives the City's schedule: "Phase 1 was completed in 2022, Phase 2 is in progress and is scheduled to be completed in 2030, and Phase 3 is currently scheduled to occur between 2031 - 2043." [C7] The City's project page still says the agreement is "running through 2031" [C26].

Last checked: October 28, 2026.

The promise. On February 7, 2011, City Council approved the Master Development Agreement for Creative Village Orlando by a 6-1 vote [C1]. The minutes give its term: "The term of the Agreement is 20 years, anticipated to be February 2011 through February 2031." [C2]
What moved. In 2025 the City and its master developer, Creative Village Development, LLC, extended the term to February 25, 2043 [C6]. The City's amendment says the extra twelve years are needed because of "delays beyond the control of the City and CVD" [C6].
Where the pieces stand (October 2026). Phase 1 is described by the City as completed in 2022 [C7]. The Beacon, 115 affordable apartments, was reported open on October 6, 2026 [C31]. The office, hotel and apartment parcels (X, X-1, Y) have not closed; their closing date is now December 31, 2026 [C12, C13, C14]. The Bob Carr redevelopment has a design contract only [C23, C24].
How firm this is. Everything above about the extension, the schedule and the parcels is the City's own record. The Beacon's opening rests on one news story [C31]. The 2011 agreement itself was not read; its term comes from the council minutes [C2]. Both are set out in the last section.

The promise

On February 7, 2011, council voted on the "Master Development Agreement and Purchase Option Agreement for Creative Village Orlando": the motion to approve passed 6-1, with Commissioner Phil Diamond voting no [C1]. The site was 68 gross acres including the Amway Arena area, and Creative Village Development, LLC, led by Ustler Development, Inc., had been selected to develop it [C3]. The minutes give the agreement's term as 20 years, February 2011 through February 2031 [C2]. The agreement is dated February 25, 2011 [C5].

The minutes state a term, not a completion date for each phase. The City's 2025 amendment ties the two together: it says "the additional twelve (12) year Term is necessary to complete the multi-phased development on the CV Site" [C6]. So the 2031 end of the term is the date this entry measures against.

Timeline

July 12, 2010. Council approved a Memorandum of Understanding with the developer, as the 2011 minutes recite [C3].
February 7, 2011. Council approved the agreement, 6-1 [C1].
February 25, 2011. The agreement is dated this day [C5].
July 30, 2012. An agenda item for Ordinance 2012-19, rezoning about 68 gross acres to a Planned Development, was before council on first read. Whether it was adopted was not read [C10].
May 16, 2017. The Purchase Option Agreement was amended, as a 2025 City document recites. The amendment itself was not found [C9].
October 11, 2021. The City and the developer signed three purchase agreements, for Parcels X, X-1 and Y; the agreements schedule closing "on or about December 31, 2022" [C11].
2022. Phase 1 completed, in the City's words [C7].
October 2023. Spectrum News 13 reported that the Beacon, approved at 194 units in 2021, would lose 88 [C30]. No council record of the cut was found. The City's page still describes a 106-unit Beacon [C27].
February 24, 2025. Council approved Amendment No. 1 to the agreement; the minutes record it as "Carried" [C8]. It ends the term on February 25, 2043 [C6] and sets the phase schedule quoted above [C7]. The same day council approved the sale of Parcel H, about 1.2 acres, for $2,757,834 [C16].
April 21, 2025. The Community Redevelopment Agency approved a design contract with Baker Barrios Architects for the Bob Carr Adaptive Reuse Project, up to $4,818,706 [C23]. The contract's term ends December 31, 2027 [C24].
September 22, 2025. Council approved the Parcel H development agreement [C18]. The minutes record the Mayor's remarks: "That, coupled with the 115 affordable multifamily units under construction at The Beacon, will bring 227 new units to Creative Village by the end of 2027." [C19]
January 26, 2026. Council approved the eighth extension of the closing dates for Parcels X, X-1 and Y, each recorded "Carried Unanimously" [C15]. The new closing date is December 31, 2026, and City staff may add six months, to June 30, 2027 [C12]. Parcel X is a twelve-story office building [C12], X-1 a ten-story hotel [C13], Y a market-rate apartment complex [C14].
February 9, 2026. The Community Redevelopment Agency board approved the Second Amended and Restated Funding Agreement for the Beacon [C22]: 115 units in one building, $1,220,000 from the agency [C20], and a deadline: "Should the Project not reach Construction Completion by December 31, 2026", the agreement says, "the City shall return the Funding to the CRA" [C21].
July 13, 2026. Council approved a lighting service agreement for the Beacon at Creative Village [C25].
October 6, 2026. ClickOrlando reported that the Beacon opened, "marking the completion of the first phase of the Creative Village project and adding 115 apartments" [C31].

What changed, and why, in the record's own words

The end date. From February 25, 2031 to February 25, 2043 [C5, C6]. The City's stated reason: "Due to delays beyond the control of the City and CVD, including, but not limited to, the impact of the COVID pandemic" [C6].
The City's page has not caught up. It still says Phase I is done and the agreement is "running through 2031", and that later phases come "in 2028 and beyond" [C26]. It also says of the Beacon: "The Beacon is expected to begin construction in 2023 and be complete in 2024." [C27]
The word "phase" is used three ways. The amendment counts Phase 1 as complete and Phase 2 as in progress [C7]; ClickOrlando calls the Beacon's opening "the completion of the first phase" [C31]; the Beacon's funding agreement calls two funding tranches of the one building "Phase 1 Units" and "Phase 2 Units" [C20]. This entry uses the amendment's phases, because it is the City's schedule.
Phase 2 against the City's own 2030 date. The Beacon opened [C31]. The closing date for X, X-1 and Y is December 31, 2026 [C12]; Parcel H's purchase was expected to close "on or before January 31, 2026" [C17]; the Bob Carr contract runs to December 31, 2027 [C24]. No record read says Phase 2 is late against 2030, or on time.

What it cost

No whole-project cost was found. The City's page says Phase II vertical development represents "more than $365 million in development activity" and the whole project "will represent $2 billion in new development" [C28].
Items on the record. The 2011 Amway Arena demolition: about $3.5 million, with the City's share capped at $2 million [C4]. Parcel H: sold for $2,757,834 [C16]. The Beacon: $1,220,000 from the Community Redevelopment Agency [C20]. Bob Carr design: up to $4,818,706 [C23]. The eighth closing extension: no fiscal impact [C12].

What this entry did not check

The 2011 agreement. Its text, including the section that allows an extension, was not read; the term comes from the council minutes [C2] and the 2025 amendment's recitals [C5, C6].
That Amendment No. 1 was signed on February 24, 2025. The form council approved has the date blank [C6]. A September 2025 City document calls the agreement "as amended February 24, 2025" [C9].
The Beacon's opening. It rests on ClickOrlando [C31]. No City release or certificate of occupancy was found.
Parcel H's closing, any ninth extension, and the first seven extensions of the X, X-1 and Y closing date. No record of any was found in the council minutes read (all 31 council meetings the City's meeting portal lists, from February 24, 2025 to October 26, 2026; the minutes of two, April 7, 2025 and October 26, 2026, are not posted, and neither meeting's agenda has a Creative Village item) [C12, C17, C32, C33].
The older record. The City's archive search returned 595 results; three documents were opened [C1, C10, C11]. The 2017 amendment, the 2012 ordinance's adoption, the 2021 council approval and the 2023 Beacon cut were not found.
Bob Carr construction and any Phase 3 parcel. No construction contract or schedule for Bob Carr, and no Phase 3 action, was found [C24, C26].
The 194-unit and 88-unit figures. They are Spectrum News 13's report about the Beacon [C30], not a council record.

Sources

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