Everyday life in Kissimmee area? + Celebration seen by 0rlandoans.

[Green Lantern]

First, as note, Celebration isn't gated. The downtown was owned by Disney's subsidiary, The Celebration Company, and sold to Lexin Capital Management about 3 years ago. TCC still owns what remains to be developed, which is the commercial property that you can see on the east side of I-4 from the World Dr. to 192 exits. Some of that is now being built as office buildings, some as Icon, a condotel, some as a shopping area. With 4 Seasons' change in plans in which they are converting 2 of WDW's gold courses to a hotel and more, the property between Celebration HS and Reunion is now up in the air again.

When Celebration was first settled almost 11 years ago now, the cost was about only $120/sq.ft. Many of the homes were $200-350K. A few years ago that had increased to $260/sq.ft.; it's now about $230. Therefore, the mix of residents was not skewed toward wealthy professionals, but a combination of retirees, early retirees who had sold businesses, computer types who weren't tied to their home office's city, retired military officers, and reasonably successful white collar folks in general.

Unfortunately, while almost all of the residents through the first years owned a single home and lived in it, the trend over the past years as the price has escalated has been for them to be replaced by more affluent types who live out of state and can afford a $500k-1+M vacation home a stone's throw from Disney World. Non-residents now own 40% of the homes.