Over the past few months, we’ve been keeping an eye on the previously announced Walt Disney World Affordable Housing project. The project was first announced all the way back in April 2022, and has faced some stiff backlash from local residents before ultimately being approved by Orange County. Now, as Walt Disney World continues the back-and-forth process of getting permitted plans approved to begin construction, the timeframe for the project has slipped.
Walt Disney World Affordable Housing Project Delayed
As recently as late last year, Walt Disney World was projecting a groundbreaking on the project in late 2024, with the first residents set to move in by 2026. As the calendar turned to 2025, Walt Disney World updated the projected groundbreaking to 2025, and removed any mention of a projected move-in date for new residents.
It’s possible that the move-in date will also be pushed back, perhaps into 2027. Walt Disney World has previously said that a full buildout would take five years.
Walt Disney World has not returned multiple requests for updates about the current status of the project.
Disney has filed multiple updates to its plans this year, including a newly revised plan filed yesterday as they seek final approval to begin construction. It’s possible that Disney will receive the green light as early as this week.
Updated plans filed with the county show that Disney plans on building out the 1,369-unit Affordable Housing complex in five phases. Plans call for a mixture of 1-4 bedroom units. The latest plans that we have reviewed call for 607 one-bedroom units, and 762 two to four-bedroom units. The maximum building height is proposed to be 62.5 feet tall, which translates to 5 stories tall.
Walt Disney World has previously committed to making more than 1,000 units “affordable”. While we don’t know the exact unit pricing yet, previously announced details indicated that the majority of affordable housing units would be dedicated to families in the 80% Area Median Income range, which could be a household income of $49,150 up to nearly $90,000. Only 11% of the housing affordable housing units would be allocated for families at the lowest allowable AMI range.
The apartments will be available to rent by anyone who qualifies, including Cast Members, but not limited to Cast Members.
As previously announced, the Walt Disney World Affordable Housing project is a way for Walt Disney World to give back to the Central Florida community that it has called home for more than 50 years.
Disney’s role in the project has been to help with the design and donation of the property. Disney does not stand to directly benefit financially from the project.
Within the community, there will be many small and medium-sized parks for residents to enjoy and a large north-to-south-oriented green space where food trucks, festivals, and art events can be held.
There will be multiple building concepts and designs. As far as living spaces, there will be everything from junior 1-bedroom spaces up to 4-bedroom offerings mixed across housing types such as apartments, flats, and townhome-style layouts. More than 80% of the units will be will be 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom apartments. The junior 1-bedroom suite is proposed to be 576 sqft, and the largest 4-bedroom/3-bath unit would be about 1,900 sqft.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
