The Universal Orlando theme park resort has received millions of dollars in tax breaks aimed at neighborhoods blighted by crime.
Now, legislation moving through the state House would ax the program that provides those state tax cuts.
The same bill that would gut Visit Florida and Enterprise Florida would also eliminate several other economic development and tax incentive programs. Those include the urban high-crime-area job tax credit.
“Really from A to Z, that program has been an abysmal failure and a waste of money. It’s a money grab for Fortune 500 companies,” said House Speaker Richard Corcoran, a Lutz Republican who is driving the legislation.
When you visit Universal, said Corcoran, “you know very well it’s not blighted or high crime.”
Records show Universal Orlando’s operating company, Universal City Development Partners, has been approved for almost $4 million in tax breaks since 2013. That’s half the total amount awarded through the entire program in that time period.
Joint ventures involving Universal’s corporate owner and Loews Hotels were OK’d for an additional $1.7 million.
The fact that a small number of businesses account for a large percentage of the credits is one problem, said Rep. Paul Renner, R-Palm Coast, sponsor of the bill (HB 7005) eliminating the program.
“The Urban High-Crime Area Job Tax Credit Program is historically an under-utilized incentive program and … has not been a significant factor in business location decisions,” Renner said in an email.
The legislation targets a host of other programs including brownfield redevelopment and defense-contractor tax incentives.
“A lot of these economic development programs have value,” said Brooke Bonnett, the city of Orlando’s director of economic development. “Do they need to be retooled along the way? Maybe, but local governments have to use what’s available to us.”
Bonnett pointed out companies that have taken advantage of the high-crime program have included smaller ones such as Fun Spot. The Orlando amusement park received $13,000 for adding 26 jobs in 2013.
The state Department of Economic Opportunity says Universal has been approved for $10.1 million worth of high-crime tax credits since 1999. UCF Hotel Venture, which operates resorts on Universal property, was approved for another $3.7 million.
Universal had no comment.
Established in 1997, the program gives businesses up to $1,500 in credits per full-time job created in a place identified as an urban high-crime area.
The city of Orlando constructed its high-crime area in 1998. City officials drew a district stretching from downtown to the International Drive tourist corridor. Orlando's high-crime zone includes poor neighborhoods such as Parramore and Washington Shores, but also Universal and Mall at Millenia.
In 2013, the Orlando Sentinel reported on Universal’s extensive use of the high-crime tax credit. In the wake of those reports, the program drew criticism from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers.
Former state senator Geraldine Thompson in 2014 sponsored a bill that would have tightened up the program’s requirements. That legislation died in the Senate commerce and tourism committee.
Thompson said she met with Universal executives at one point to hear their reasoning for why the resort should qualify for the program.
The company argued “they had created jobs for people who live in high-crime districts,” Thompson said. “I assume they were indicating they hire people from Pine Hills and Carver Shores and places like that where high crime is and continues to be a concern.”
She remains skeptical.
“You can’t say you’re welcoming to tourists on the one hand and say that you’re high crime on the other,” she said.
Universal borders Orlando's affluent Dr. Phillips neighborhood on one side. The rapidly growing resort’s theme parks attracted more than 18 million visits in 2015, according to industry estimates.
Universal Orlando now employs 23,000 people.
Shortly after the opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios Florida, the resort was approved for $1.7 million based on the creation of 1,137 jobs.
Universal was approved for $2.2 million last year for adding 1,520 positions. No major expansions have happened in the past couple years, but the resort has experienced growth as it has added new attractions such as a King Kong ride.
Other credits are associated with Universal hotels including Cabana Bay, which opened in 2014. A partnership called UCF Hotel Venture II was approved the following year for $990,000 in tax credits for 660 jobs.
UCF Hotel Venture this year qualified for $612,000 based on 408 new jobs associated with its new Sapphire Falls hotel.
Tax credits are approved only after jobs are created, a Department of Economic Opportunity spokeswoman said.
The Volcano Bay water park will open this summer, and Universal is hiring 1,700 for it. The company did not say whether it would try to get more tax credits based on that. Also, Cabana Bay is undergoing expansion. And Universal will open Aventura Hotel in 2018.
Other companies approved for tax credits last year included Wal-Mart Stores East and Lakeland-based Publix Super Markets.
Got a news tip? spedicini@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5240; Twitter, @SandraPedicini
Universal Orlando has set a grand opening date for Volcano Bay, its under-construction water park.
Universal Orlando has set a grand opening date for Volcano Bay, its under-construction water park.
The House bill that would eliminate Visit Florida and Enterprise Florida would have another result: Getting rid of the urban high crime district program that has been used to avoid millions of dollars in taxes by Universal Orlando.
The House bill that would eliminate Visit Florida and Enterprise Florida would have another result: Getting rid of the urban high crime district program that has been used to avoid millions of dollars in taxes by Universal Orlando.
spedicini@orlandosentinel.com or 407-420-5240; Twitter @SandraPedicini
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