ORLANDO, Fla. – City commissioners approved a plan Monday to turn an Orlando hotel into affordable housing.
The city agreed to allow the Best Western hotel at 2014 W. Colonial Drive to become 110 units for low-income, affordable housing, “in a location where such housing is sorely needed.”
Shan Rose is the commissioner for Orlando’s District 5 and said the project will help with the ongoing housing crisis.
“...For us, this is creating more units that people can rent and be more sustainable,” Rose told News 6. “We will have long-term residents rather than a motel having people in and out. We’ll have set people at a rate for 12 months. It will help the community because it will be less transient, in the sense that individuals will have a lease.”
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The units would be converted to studio apartments and range from 300-350 square feet.
The proposed project is being voted on a few months after Palm Gardens Orlando Apartments opened at the site of the former Ambassador Hotel.
“I heard that things are going great and look forward to this potentially being a moving thing where we’re taking blighted motels and we’re turning them into nice facilities that people can reside,” Rose said.
Eddie Tosado manages a business next to the Best Western hotel and said the plan to convert to apartments could have a positive impact.
“I think this may be an actual good thing for the area,” Tosado said. “I see the city getting more and more involved in these projects around, especially in this immediate area.”
Once approved, the apartments are expected to be open by the end of 2025.
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