Fairfield, Hilton Plan Timeshare Expansions

Fairfield has purchased a 12-acre parcel from Bonnet Creek Venture Ltd. at the Bonnet Creek Resort near Walt Disney World where 356 additional timeshare villas will be developed. Once complete, Fairfield's flagship Orlando location will total 58 acres and include eight Mediterranean-styled towers comprised of 1,100 individual timeshare units, the most of any Fairfield timeshare resort property.

Fairfield officials declined to disclose the land price until the transaction is recorded in the public records. But area brokers intimate with land prices near Disney tell GlobeSt.com the 12 acres went for at least $500,000 per acre or $11.48 per sf. That would make the deal valued at about $6 million.

Projected retail prices for the new Fairfield product will start at about $20,000 for a one-bedroom, condominium-style unit and about $25,000 for a two-bedroom unit. The price goes up to roughly $45,000 for a 2,500-sf, four-bedroom, four-bath Presidential Suite.

"Since Fairfield sells a points-based product, as opposed to fixed weeks, these prices represent the dollar value of what it would cost to buy enough points for one week at Bonnet Creek," Fairfield Resorts president and CEO Franz Hanning tells GlobeSt.com.

Hanning says "the expansion is going ahead at this time, basically because the sales at Bonnet Creek are well ahead of pace. As a result, we've moved the construction schedule up about six months." He says "we had sold roughly 4,000 timeshares there before the model units were even open to show prospective buyers, and most of the property was still under construction."

Hanning adds that "sales in the Orlando area are up 40% for us from where they were last year at this time because of the interest and generated sales at Bonnet Creek." That motivated Fairfield "to move forward on this second parcel now," he says. "There has certainly been enough demand to let us know we need the supply."

At another hot tourist-oriented intersection, International Drive at Vineland Avenue, Hilton Grand Vacations Co. plans to break ground in February on an $18.6-million, 70-unit expansion on its existing 34-acre timeshare property.

Construction is expected to be completed in March 2006. The first two 48-unit phases opened earlier this year. Hilton Grand Vacations Co., a unit of Beverly Hills, CA-based Hilton Hotels Corp., also has a 468-unit timeshare at SeaWorld International Center.

The crush of new timeshare construction comes as Orlando solidifies its global ranking as one of the world's largest timeshare destinations, according to the Greater Orlando Visitors and Convention Bureau.