The former used-car dealer-turned developer, from West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale, and his Main Street Management firm have broken ground on Legacy Resort, a $4-billion, mixed-use enterprise encompassing 9,000 vacation townhomes and condominiums, a 30-story hotel, 18-hole golf course and an environmental education center on 1,600 prime acres at Osceola Parkway and State Road 535. The development site is 10 miles southeast of Walt Disney World's 30,000-acre entertainment compound.

Staffers at Osceola County commission offices confirm for GlobeSt.com the developer has also told elected officials he plans a multimillion-dollar aquatic center and sports complex on county-owned land next to his Legacy Resort project.

Miller couldn't be reached by GlobeSt.com's publication deadline to learn how he will finance the undertaking. However, people who have worked with him in the past on other enterprises tell GlobeSt.com the developer plans to set up a special taxing district which will repay revenue from bonds used for the development of Legacy Resort.

Real estate sources in a position to know tell GlobeSt.com Miller plans to complete Legacy Resort in about four years by incorporating several communities that will be built at the project by several other developers. The projected prices of the rental vacation homes is $400,000 to $500,000.

For Miller, Legacy Resort will be his fourth appearance at the development plate in Osceola county, according to area brokers, marketers and local government sources. His failed World Expo Center in 2001 was planned for a 1,200-room Hyatt hotel and a 142,000-sf Convention Center, as GlobeSt.com reported Oct. 31, 2001.

The following year, Miller submitted an unsuccessful bid for a $100-million, 486,300-sf convention center Osceola County commissioners were planning, as GlobeSt.com reported March 19, 2002. Eight months later, Miller announced plans to build a one-million-sf, open-air shopping center along State Road 535, between US 192 and Osceola Parkway, as GlobeSt.com reported Nov. 4, 2002.