Avalon Park Group announced this week that it will finance and build a 250-acre regional park and sports complex in East Orange County, with the first facilities expected to open in 2027.
The commitment sidesteps traditional public funding and instead relies on the developer's 30-year track record in Orange County and more than $20 million in annual property taxes generated by Avalon Park Orlando.
"For 20 years, this community has been asking for a regional park," said Beat Kahli, founder and CEO of Avalon Park Group. "But it never happened. We saw a chance to do something different."
Every weekend, families from East Orange County drive across Central Florida to Seminole County, Apopka and Orange County's more established facilities so their children can play soccer, football, baseball or volleyball. The region has grown so quickly that recreational infrastructure has lagged behind demand.
"Our families spend countless hours in their cars," said Dave Weiser, executive director of the East Orlando Knights Soccer Club. "A regional park means those kids can play close to home. It means the community has a real gathering place."
The park design is still in early stages. Kahli said the final blueprint will take shape through community input including surveys, public meetings and conversations with schools, youth sports organizations, neighborhood associations and civic leaders.
Soccer fields, football fields, volleyball courts, baseball diamonds and cricket facilities are planned. The vision also includes trails, playgrounds, wellness facilities and community gathering spaces. Organizers hope the complex eventually attracts regional and national amateur sports tournaments.
"The people who will use this park should have a real say in what it becomes," Kahli said.
The funding model is unusual for a project of this scale. Traditionally, regional parks are built with public money including tax dollars, development fees and bond measures. Avalon Park Group is not asking Orange County taxpayers to shoulder the burden and will not draw from the county's Tourist Development Tax.
Instead, the developer is banking on revenue from its existing business portfolio in Orange County and the property tax base of its master-planned community.
"Those public funds already have their purposes and their pressures," Kahli said. "What East Orange County needs is a model that delivers without competing for money that's already spoken for."
The announcement echoes an earlier Avalon Park success: its schools. Every school in the Avalon Park community has earned an A rating, with two named National Blue Ribbon Schools.
Brenda Kolbrich, a longtime Avalon Park community advocate, sees the park as a natural next step. "I've watched Avalon Park grow from open land into a thriving community full of families, schools, businesses and civic organizations," she said. "The next step is making sure our public spaces and recreation options grow at the same pace."
Kahli said the group is working with state, regional and local entities to ensure construction stays on schedule.
