Kimley-Horn revealed plans for a seven-story hotel called “Rio Hotel by Bourbon,” proposed for a vacant property at the northwest corner of International Drive
A new hotel could come to a growing section of I-Drive near Lake Bryan north of the World Gateway Planned Development.
An application recently submitted to Orange County by Kimley-Horn revealed plans for a seven-story hotel called “Rio Hotel by Bourbon,” proposed for a vacant property at the northwest corner of International Drive and World Center Drive. During a pre-application meeting with Orange County staff on Wednesday, Justin Walker of Kimley-Horn confirmed that the hotel would have about 300 rooms. A site plan also indicates that the ground floor will have retail space, offices, a kid’s lounge, a destination club, a bar, and an outdoor pool. An adjacent building would also include space for meeting rooms and events.
The owner of the land is an entity called Htl 1 Dux LLC, which is associated with Ricardo Coelho, who didn’t respond to a request for comment. Coelho purchased the 4-acre parcel last year for $6 million from Intram Investments.
The architect is Creative Project Consultants and the design consultant is Scott-Giffoni.
Intram Investments is the master developer of the nearby World Gateway PD, which consists of 460 acres between World Center Drive and S.R. 417. Intram paid $96 million in 2023 for the land, which has county approval for 4,680 hotel rooms, 864 timeshare units, 2,385 multifamily units, 240,000 square feet of retail, 171,530 square feet of office space, a 20,000-square-foot sit-down restaurant, and a 5,000-square-foot fast-food restaurant. However, the proposed uses are subject to change going forward.
In November, Marriott Vacations Worldwide closed on an approximately 11-acre parcel east of the existing Cortland World Gateway apartment complex. Marriott plans to build a 225-unit timeshare project on the land.
The proposed I-drive hotel would be located directly next to the Bainbridge World Center apartments. The Bainbridge Companies is wrapping up construction on and now leasing the first phase, which consists of 342 units spread over four, 5-story apartment buildings. A second phase will add another 415 units, according to Bob Thollander, president of development at Bainbridge. He expects to break ground on the second phase in April and begin delivering units about 12 months later.
“We expect phase one to be leased up by the end of the summer. We think our timing is good for bringing this online. There’s not a huge amount of multifamily pipeline to compete with on that end of town either,” he said.
“Access is really great because there are so many job centers that you can get to fairly quickly on that side of town, including Disney and all the theme parks, even the new Epic Universe. We’re getting a lot of traffic from there and the whole tourist corridor, and you can get around fairly easily without having to take I-4. But even with I-4, now with the toll road that runs down the middle, that makes living on that side of town real attractive,” he said. “And then you can also access the job centers in Lake Nona. It’s not too far away, only 20 minutes to the airport. There’s a lot of pluses to that site.”
The hotel project would also be located southeast of Lake Bryan, which has a couple of hospitality projects in the works. For example, Mexican developer MB Signature Properties expects to break ground next year on MB Resort, with plans to deliver the project in 2028. The project will include 199 rooms in an 18-story, L-shaped tower on 4.4 acres at 13651 S Apopka Vineland Rd.
Miami-based Azur Group owns a 17.7-acre parcel on the south side of Lake Bryan, north of the Caribe Royale Resort and east of the Hilton Vacation Club Grand Beach Orlando. Plans submitted in 2022 call for a 200-room hotel with 60,000 square feet of entertainment space on the property, but no plans or further details have been submitted since then.
Additionally, AIC Hotel Group has plans to deliver an expansive resort west of Lake Bryan at 9100 Meadow Creek Dr. The plans call for four hotels with a combined 1,934 rooms, 270 club membership units, and 30,800 square feet of spa space.
There will also be a retail, dining, and entertainment component consisting of 16 restaurants with seating for 2,375 people,1,965 parking spaces, 30,800 square feet of retail space, and several meeting/entertainment spaces with 70,300 square feet and capacity for 1,965 people. Additional features include a lazy river, a waterslide, and several pools scattered throughout the resort.
Nobu plans to open a hotel at the resort with 300 rooms, including eight villas, a Nobu restaurant, 50 branded residences, and meeting and event space. According to the Nobu website, the Orlando resort will open in 2026.
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