SUNTERRA CONSIDERS ORLANDO SITE FOR HEADQUARTERS

Source: Sunterra/Orlando Sentinal

May 27, 1999
If Sunterra Corp., an international timeshare company, wins more than $1.4 million in tax incentives from the state and city it might set up its headquarters in a long-abandoned department store west of downtown Orlando, FL.

Without the money it might take its business to Las Vegas, which also is bidding for the company, said Ken Jepson, Sunterra assistant vice president of facilities.

"We would have to go back and look at a lot of things," Jepson said.

So far the state has promised $740,000 for the 188 new jobs the company would bring to Orlando. The city would give more than $220,000 for the jobs and to offset some utility improvements and landscaping costs at the former Montgomery Ward store on West Colonial Drive, near the John Young Parkway. Sunterra wants another $450,000 from the state to pay for new turn lanes on Colonial Drive and John Young Parkway to handle the extra traffic the new business would generate. The money from the state and city would come in the form of cash and tax rebates.

Orlando is eager for Sunterra to consolidate its management forces in the city for two reasons:

The former Montgomery Ward store, covering more than 220,000 square feet, has been empty for seven years and continues to deteriorate. Sunterra has promised to spend $22 million remodeling the building, which would put it back on the tax rolls and remove an eyesore. The city would get more than $133,000 in property taxes annually on the building, once it was rebuilt and open.

The new jobs would pay an average of $30,000 a year, considerably more than the less than $15,000 a year often earned by workers in tourism, the area's predominant industry. Sunterra's new jobs would mostly be administrators and managers.

Sunterra, formerly Signature Resorts, is consolidating its corporate offices to streamline operations. It is one of the world's fastest-growing time-share companies, with 85 resorts in 10 countries. The company has two resorts near Walt Disney World -- Cypress Pointe and Embassy Vacation Resort Grand Beach -- with a total of more than 850 units.

Sunterra currently has offices in MetroWest. Those would be closed and sold if the company moves to the old Montgomery Ward, which could be ready as early as March 2000.

The company employs about 600 people in Florida, most of them in sales.