ORLANDO, Fla. – ...And the answer? We still do not know.
Nearly a month has passed since News 6 spotted representatives with ICE touring the Beachline Logistics Center on Transport Drive, which is located in southeast Orange County, east of the interchange between State Road 528 and State Road 417, in International Corporate Park.
Orlando Community Correspondent Mike Valente was there and pressed someone with ICE for answers.
“So you can confirm you’re looking at this as a detention facility?” Valente asked on Jan. 16.
“I mean, it’s a site that could fit purpose,” said ICE senior advisor David Venturella. “But, I mean, we’re at the very early stages.”
[PREVIOUS COVERAGE: ICE tours Orlando warehouse as possible detainment center]
Since then, News 6 has made consistent attempts to try to get answers as to whether a plan to convert the warehouse into a detention facility would come to fruition.
Venturella did not answer his phone when News 6 followed up with him. When spokespeople with ICE have responded to our emails, they have either declined to comment or have said nothing has changed since our initial reporting.
News 6 has also reached out to ESA South, the design-build firm that had employees tour the warehouse with ICE. Someone who answered our call this week said ESA South was unable to comment on the matter.
TPA Group, the Georgia-based developer of the property, has not answered News 6’s calls and has not returned our messages. The listing of the property remains on the developer’s website.
[PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Orlando attorney: City can’t stop ICE facility]
News 6 has also tried to get insight from HLI Partners, the commercial real estate firm for the warehouse. Those efforts have not yet yielded any results.
At some point in the last couple weeks, HLI Partners removed the listing of the Beachline Logistics Center. Its website’s ‘Contacts’ page shows a ’404′ message, indicating an error loading the page.
Last week, the Orlando chapter of the progressive organization, 50501, posted on Facebook to urge people to call TPA Group and HLI Partners in an effort to apply pressure and implore them not to enter into business with ICE.
That same week, News 6 noticed that HLI Partners had changed their music — to Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”—a song that is often deployed to “troll” someone, better known as “Rickrolling.”
In a strange turn of events—on the same call in which we noticed the new hold music—we could hear a person leaving a voicemail message for HLI Partners.
“This facility would be an inhumane disaster for detainees and for the people of Central Florida,” the man said, appearing to recite from a script published by 50501 Orlando.
The man demanded HLI provide a public response on the matter by Friday, Feb. 6.
“Do not sell or lease that warehouse to ICE,” the man said before ending the call.
As of Wednesday, HLI Partners’ hold music was no longer Astley’s classic hit.
Earlier this week, Valente visited HLI Partners’ office, which did not have any identifiable signage in front of the office suite.
A person who answered the door said he could not comment. When Valente responded by saying it’s been difficult to get anyone on the phone, the person said he understood we had a job to do but he was not allowed to say anything.
In an effort to glean any publicly available details about the warehouse and its future, News 6 has combed the websites of the Orange County comptroller and the Orange County appraiser, but there was no information connecting the property to ICE.
The initial reporting about the warehouse has garnered significant attention, including from local elected leaders.
In response to requests from both Orlando city commissioners and Orange County commissioners, attorneys from the city and county have both concluded that the supremacy clause of the United States constitution hinders any local efforts to block the federal government from opening an immigrant detention facility.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the DHS provided News 6 with the following statement:
“We have no new detention centers to announce at this time. These will not be warehouses — they will be very well structured detention facilities meeting our regular detention standards. Every day, DHS is conducting law enforcement activities across the country to keep Americans safe. It should not come as news that ICE will be making arrests in states across the U.S. and is actively working to expand detention space.
“Secretary Noem has stated that she is willing to work with officials on both sides of the aisle to expand detention space to help ICE law enforcement carry out the largest deportation effort in American history.
“ICE is targeting the worst of the worst including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members and more. 70% of ICE arrests are of illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S. Thanks to the One Big Beautiful Bill, ICE has new funding to expand detention space to keep these criminals off American streets before they are removed for good from our communities.”