Oh Orlando: Florida’s Escalating Building Boom

Destination: Orlando. Don your Mickey Mouse ears, grab your Orlando Magicard, and hit the parks. The amusement park hub of the world promises fun in the sun (along with stress in the lines pre-ride, and dizziness--and possible death-- apres nausea-inducing ride). And now Florida's Funland is getting bigger and badder than ever, with luxury hotels cropping up like the migraines at Epcot. The Hilton Orlando Convention Center is slated for 2009, with construction starting this year. With 18 storeys and 1,400 rooms, the hotel will be connected by a pedestrian sky bridge to the Convention Center's North Concourse. With a whopping 130,000 square feet of meeting space, the new Hilton is certainly "poised to take advantage of a booming Orlando convention market." Not to be outdone, InterContinental is plotting its largest hotel worldwide-- the InterContinental Resort and Residences Orlando-- within the $800 million luxury destination resort dubbed Palazzo del Lago. Comprised of luxury hotel and condo units, the waterfront Palazzo will also be an appendage of the Convention Center, competing with the Hilton for an on-time 2009 debut.