The water recreation component of the project will have about 30,000 sf of wade-in pools, waterfalls and a lazy river feature, according to Orange Lake chairman Spence L. Wilson whose late father, Kemmons Wilson, founded the resort in 1982. Kemmons Wilson also founded the Holiday Inn hotel chain. He died in 2003 at 90. About 100,000 individual owners worldwide have purchased specific vacation weeks at Orange Lake, the resort's staff estimates.
A 30,300-sf clubhouse with a fitness area and other exercising amenities is also planned, along with an undetermined amount of retail and restaurant space. The first phase will include an eight-story building with an undetermined number of villas and four-bedroom penthouse suites. The resort is at 8505 W. Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway (US 192).
Tied in with the completion of River Island will be the retirement of Orange Lake president Charles Swann III who guided the resort's development progress since 1991 when it had only 740 villas and suites. Don Harrill, the former president and CEO of Trendwest Resorts and Hilton Grand Vacations Co. and a former 20-year executive at Hilton Hotels Corp., is slated to replace Swann.
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