Orlando has approved the sale of $69 million in bonds to partially plug a gaping funding hole in its originally priced $1.1-billion downtown building program and kick-start construction of the $250-million first phase of the city’s new performing-arts center.
Funding for the second piece of the city’s venues program shrank when the recession cut revenue from the tourist development tax (TDT). The city had originally budgeted $130 million for the project; to date, TDT has generated only $10 million. Roughly $70 million in Community Redevelopment Agency bonds had already been provided for the Dr. P. Phillips Performing Arts Center (DPAC), initially slated to cost $450 million.