(TheRedAlertNews.com) – BREAKING NOW: In apparent retaliation for the ongoing battle with Governor Ron DeSantis, Disney has killed a huge, billion-dollar project that would’ve brought thousands of high-paying jobs to Florida.
(After reading the rest of this report, please email [email protected] and share your reaction and opinion. In the battle between DeSantis and Disney, who is right?)
Based on a report just published in The New York Times, it is now known that today Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, and Josh D’Amaro, responsible for Disney’s theme parks and consumer products, decided to cancel a massive project in Orlando.
This project, an office complex costing nearly a billion dollars, had been due to create more than 2,000 jobs in the area. The average salary would have been around $120,000, based on information from Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity.
The plan for the office complex called the Lake Nona Town Center, involved moving over a thousand employees from Southern California.
Many of these employees worked in a department called Imagineering, which collaborates with Disney’s movie studios to create theme park attractions.
This move wasn’t popular with many employees, with some even quitting, but Disney mostly stuck to its plan. Part of their reason was a tax credit in Florida that would have saved Disney as much as $570 million over 20 years for building and occupying the complex.
In 2021, Mr. D’Amaro cited Florida’s business-friendly environment as a reason for the project. However, his latest email to employees told a different story.
He pointed to “changing business conditions” as a cause for canceling the Lake Nona project.
Insiders say that Disney’s decision to cancel the Lake Nona project was significantly influenced by disagreements with Mr. DeSantis and his supporters in the Florida Legislature.
The company and Mr. DeSantis have been at odds for over a year, mainly over a tax district that includes Disney World.
The controversy escalated when Disney voiced criticism of a Florida education law that critics call the “Don’t Say Gay” law, due to its restrictions on classroom discussions about gender identity and sexual orientation—this upset Mr. DeSantis, who pledged retaliation.
Since then, Florida lawmakers, encouraged by Mr. DeSantis, have taken several actions that seem to target Disney, the largest taxpayer in the state.
In February, they revoked Disney’s unique ability to govern its 25,000-acre resort like a county, transferring control to Mr. DeSantis. A clash over growth plans for the resort has resulted in a series of lawsuits between Disney, Mr. DeSantis, and his allies.
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