A stretch of Kissimmee's W192 tourism corridor that has sat empty for more than a decade is finally getting a new life. United National Capital Group has closed on the 18-acre Lake Cecile property for $13 million and is planning a 500-key, Meliá-branded resort and convention center on the site, with horizontal construction expected to start in early 2027.
The purchase closed October 15, following a drawn-out legal fight that delayed the project by about a year, according to GrowthSpotter. United National Capital Group, known as UNCG and led by founder and CEO Robert Thorne, had signed a $12 million purchase contract with Satisfaction Corp. back in 2023, contingent on rezoning the property from tourist commercial to urban center perimeter and winning site plan approval for a 600-unit resort. The land was rezoned in 2025, but the outlet reports that Satisfaction Corp. then refused to close, arguing UNCG hadn't met the 600-unit condition — even though the new zoning allows a maximum of 80 units per acre, capping the site at 532 units. UNCG sued over the contract, and Judge Christine Arendes granted the company's motion to strike four of the seller's six defenses. Satisfaction Corp. had offered $12.25 million in seller financing as a five-year loan, but the deal ultimately closed at a price $1 million higher than the original contract.
The Lake Cecile parcel has a long, mostly empty history. The site operated for years as a Residence Inn by Marriott, but had been vacant for more than a decade, according to earlier GrowthSpotter reporting. All of the former buildings were eventually demolished, and the only structures left standing before UNCG's purchase were a pair of billboards, the same reporting noted. That earlier coverage also described a rezoning application for a project called Visions at Lake Buena Vista — a name not used in UNCG's current plans for the site.
What's Planned for the Resort
The new project is slated to be called Meliá Resort & Convention Center at Lake Buena Vista South, consisting of four midrise condo-hotel buildings plus an attached convention center, per the GrowthSpotter report. The resort will include 500 units — ranging from single rooms and junior suites to one- and two-bedroom suites, plus connected units sized for up to three bedrooms — and at least three restaurants, including a buffet, an Italian restaurant, and a specialty restaurant expected to be a steakhouse. Breakfast and dinner service is planned from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., with the pool restaurant the only one open during the day.
Guillermo Fuentes said the buildings would rise six stories, with five wood-frame levels over a concrete podium, the outlet's report states. Parking will combine surface spaces with covered structures. The development team also plans to upgrade the Lake Cecile waterfront itself, adding a small waterpark, beach volleyball, and a dock for kayak and paddleboard rentals — on top of an adults-only pool and a separate family pool with its own mini water park.
A Design Team With Miami Roots
Robert Behar, a principal at Miami-based Behar Font Partners, is leading design development on the resort, building on earlier work by BakerBarrios. GAI Consultants is handling civil engineering, Dix.Hite is doing the landscape design, and Adriana Hoyos is the project's interior designer, according to the same GrowthSpotter account.
The attached convention center is designed to accommodate up to 500 people and can be divided into smaller meeting rooms. It's meant to serve Meliá Hotel Orlando Celebration, a more-than-200-room property about four miles away at 225 Celebration Place, since that hotel lacks meeting space of its own. Thorne estimated the convention center would be occupied 100 percent of the time, per the report, and he described the Lake Buena Vista project as Orlando's first hybrid all-inclusive resort.
Meliá's Growing Florida Footprint
This marks UNCG's second active partnership with the Spanish hospitality giant. The company is also partnering with Meliá on Meliá Miami Brickell, billed as the brand's first branded residence tower, and the two companies previously worked together on Meliá Residences Miami alongside Concepto Capital Group. That project recently topped off construction, and according to profilemiamire.com, it's described as Meliá's first hotel-branded residential concept in North America, featuring 110 units across studios, junior suites, and one-bedroom layouts.
Founded in 1956 in Mallorca, Spain, Meliá Hotels International now operates more than 380 hotels across more than 40 countries, including nearly 60 all-inclusive resorts in destinations like Jamaica, Punta Cana, Cancun, and Cozumel. The company currently has just two U.S. properties: the Orlando Celebration hotel and one in New York.
Other UNCG Projects Nearby
UNCG has other Kissimmee-area projects already in motion. Across U.S. 192 from the Lake Cecile site sits The Flats Orlando, the company's wellness-themed hotel, which is set to open in January 2027. That seven-story condo-hotel will offer furnished units ranging from studios to three bedrooms, along with a full-service spa, gym, 24-hour restaurant service, and a rooftop terrace. UNCG also plans to kick off sales for the new Lake Cecile resort in January 2027.
Separately, the company's Visions Orlando Resort, located on Osceola-Polk Line Road near Reunion, is divided into five phases spanning vacation homes, townhouses, condo-hotel flats, and lofts. Delivery is set to begin in spring 2027, with all of phases one and two expected by summer 2027.
Why Orlando Developers Keep Betting on Tourism
The timing reflects a tourism market that keeps setting records. Orlando drew 76,663,200 visitors in 2025 — 70,325,600 domestic and 6,337,600 international — according to Visit Orlando, which also reported that the Orange County Convention Center hosted 187 events and a record 2,047,768 total attendees that year. Closer to the Lake Cecile site, visitor spending in Osceola County hit $7.3 billion in 2025, a 3.8 percent increase over the previous year, and Around Osceola reports spending rose a further 5.2 percent year over year during the first half of 2026, according to Visa Destination Insights data cited in that report.
Not every indicator points straight up, though. The Orlando Sentinel reported that the region's annual hotel occupancy rate dipped to 71.6 percent in 2024, down 1.1 percent from the year before, across an area with roughly 130,000 rooms — a sign that even as spending climbs, the hotel market has had its soft patches.
Lake Cecile has seen competing bets on its shores before. Back in 2022, Miami developer Juan Francisco Nagaro's Lincoln Heights Estates LLC paid $5.7 million cash for the nearby Golden Link Motel and floated plans for a 20-story hotel with a restaurant and structured parking, according to GrowthSpotter's earlier coverage. That same report noted UNCG was then close to starting construction on The Flats Resort & Spa, a $32 million wellness-themed condo-hotel across the street — the same project now known as The Flats Orlando and set to open in January.
