Orange commission approves Winter Park CRA and arts funding

The Winter Park Playhouse and the Rollins art museum will benefit from tourist development tax funding set aside for community groups

Oct. 31, 2024

By Beth Kassab

The Orange County Commission this week approved two major milestones for Winter Park — an infusion of dollars that will allow major arts projects to move forward and an extension and expansion of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency.

Heather Alexander, the co-founder and executive director of the Winter Park Playhouse, expressed relief after the unanimous vote of the commission that will keep the beloved community musical theater in Winter Park after it nearly lost its lease. Without the TDT dollars, the future of the organization was uncertain.

“I cried …  my husband was to the right of me and he grabbed my hand and he was like, ‘OK this is it,’ and one of the commissioners made the motion and as soon as they said it was unanimous I just burst into tears,” she said. “It was a big day for arts and culture.”

The playhouse project, through a partnership with the city of Winter Park to purchase and renovate its current building after nearly losing its lease, will receive $8 million between now and 2028. The city will own the building and the playhouse will continue to operate as a nonprofit there through a long-term lease.

The same vote also secured $10 million for the Rollins Art Museum, which made a bid to take over the old Winter Park Library but was pushed aside for the Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts.

Other groups receiving TDT dollars include:

• City of Apopka: $13.1 million to construct and improve softball fields, the amphitheater and other facilities. Estimated total cost of the project is $13.3 million.
• 4R Foundation: $12 million for a community events center plus and outdoor stage and lawn at 4Roots Campus, which also includes a farm and classroom space in Orlando’s Packing District neighborhood. Estimated total cost of the project is $65 million.
• Orlando Science Center: $13.9 million enlarge and remodel the outdoor terrace and event venue. Estimated total cost of the project is $14.1 million.
• Rollins College: $10 million to construct a new art museum for new art museum. Estimated total project cost is $30.6 million.
• Orlando Philharmonic Plaza Foundation: $2.1 million to improve the auditorium, including a patron’s room. Estimated total project cost is $3.1 million.
• Winter Garden Art Association: $4 million for a new museum next to the current space. Estimated total cost of the project is $7 million.
• Orlando Family Stage: $5.8 million to remodel and operate the auditorium. Estimated total project cost is $7.6 million.
• City of Winter Park : $8 million to acquire, enlarge and remodel the Winter Park Playhouse. Estimated cost of the total project is $10 million.
• Friends of the Mennello: $2 million (request was $13 million) to enlarge and improve the folk art museum. Estimated total cost is $30 million.
• Orlando Museum of Art: $2 million (request was $7.2 million) to repair the roof and HVAC system. Total cost of the project is estimated at $7.5 million.
• PAST/Wells’ Built Museum: $2 million (request was $5 million) to acquire the property and construct and improve the museum and auditorium. Estimated total cost is $10 million.

At the same meeting, the county took the final step to continue Winter Park’s CRA until at least 2037 rather than sunset it in 2027 and grow the boundaries along Fairbanks Avenue toward Interstate 4.

Larger boundaries mean more property tax revenue that would typically go to the county government will remain in Winter Park for projects such as sewer infrastructure, road improvements and other needs.

The new CRA, which is controlled by the City Commission, is projected to generate between $162 million and $213 million in revenue through 2037.

“It’s a very elegant mechanism to make sure more of our taxpayer dollars stay with the city,” said Peter Moore, director of management and budget, at a city meeting earlier this year.

CRA’s are used across Florida by cities and counties as a way to finance redevelopment and specific projects. It works like this: property values within a CRA’s boundaries are frozen at a certain year — in this case that year would be 2023. Then, as values rise, any taxes on those properties collected above the frozen amount go into a CRA fund rather than back to the city and county that would typically collect them. (The city and county still collect taxes each year up to the frozen amount and school board taxes are not affected.)

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