Crews break ground on new downtown Orlando hotel

Hotel to create jobs, open in 2013

ORLANDO, Fla. – Crews broke ground on a new hotel in downtown Orlando on Tuesday morning.

The ALoft Hotel will be located at the former Orlando Utilities Commission building on South Orange Avenue. Developers are renovating the old OUC building to create 119 loft-style hotel rooms with high ceilings and modern amenities.

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Developer Will Ingraham says he expects the bar at the hotel to be the new downtown hotspot, catering to business travelers and adults in town for the weekend.

"We're talking moderate price point. We really didn't want to be too expensive with what's going on in the economy and our average room rate will be about $140 a night," Ingraham said.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer was also at the groundbreaking, saying that construction on the project should bring almost 200 jobs and at least 30 permanent jobs.

The hotel will also have 5,000 square feet of meeting and banquet space for business or social events. It's scheduled to open in April 2013.


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