ORLANDO, Fla. — In October 2020, Universal Parks and Resorts donated a 20-acre site off International Drive designated for affordable housing, and as construction progresses, developers believe it will add much-needed supply to the I-Drive corridor.

What You Need To Know

  • Currently, no affordable housing within a few miles of I-Drive corridor

  • LYNX reports ride time for people who commute to I-Drive corridor for work to be at least 90 minutes

  • Units look to be available in 2026 and 2027

Ryan Von Weller, who is the COO of Wendover Housing Partners, is now handling the Catchlight Crossings affordable and workforce housing development.

His group was awarded the project in 2021, then spent time permitting the project in 2022, before breaking ground in 2023.

“Started in 2023 with the underground utilities,” Von Weller explained. “The utility work encompassed much more than what was necessary for this site. We had to reroute some water, some culverts, some existing utility lines, to make sure it not only met what Catchlight Crossings needs, but continues down the path to other neighborhoods and things down the line.” 

In addition, for the past 18 months, site work has been taking place, and in the next 45 to 60 days, the site will begin going vertical.

“We have a construction timeline of about 20 months to build the units plus the commercial offerings,” Von Weller said. “Three to four months before that we will start leasing out the affordable housing units which will serve people from 80% AMI down to 30% AMI.”

AMI is the Area Median Income set by HUD. Von Weller anticipates by using the current median AMI’s by 2026 or 2027, he anticipates rent for someone at a 60% AMI to be just over a $1,000 a month.

Beverly Casseus is the Member Governance Chair for Florida Rising, a nonprofit that advocates for more affordable housing across Central Florida. She says $1,000 is fair.

“With the landscape of how rent is currently, a $1,000 would definitely be affordable with the way the market is right now,” Casseus said. “Honestly, though, with the way wages are running in Florida, close to $800 would be even more affordable.” 

These units, which will be designed to target workers in the I-Drive corridor, will not be restricted to just Epic Universe or Universal Studios workers. Around this new complex there are ample workers between the parks, hotels, and convention center that can benefit. Casseus said, even with this new complex, the supply is years behind the demand.

“Maybe about five to eight years behind,” Casseus explained. “Looking 2015, because we are in 2025, we started looking at how rent was inflated. People’s salaries were not matching the demand for how much they were paying for rent.” 

With 100,000 people commuting in to the I-Drive corridor every day, Von Weller says with more workers soon working at Epic Universe and no affordable housing with in a few miles, a clear need is present.

“We can do another five, six, seven thousand units and probably not satisfy the immediate need,” Von Weller says outside an active construction site. “Of course, land is at a premium out here, construction costs, interest rates, the availability of tax credits, those things kind of drive how many you can do. But on this 20-acre site you can get 1,000, which is certainly a good start.”

And according to Von Weller, he says LYNX provided him data on how long the average ride time is for people commuting to the corridor is for work. The average total travel time was an hour and a half to two hours, which are some of their longest ride times in their entire system.

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this article stated Universal received land compensation as a result of their affordable housing initiative. It also stated the construction timeline was delayed for pandemic-related reasons. This was inaccurate and has been corrected.