The newest player is a joint venture of Houston-based RidaDevelopment Corp., Apollo Real Estate Advisors of New York andHilton Hotel Corp. of Beverly Hills, CA. The JV plans to breakground by year end on Hilton Hotel Convention Center, a planned18-story, 1,400-room property that will be built on 26 acresadjacent to the Orange County Convention Center. The developmentcost is $350 million or about $250,000 per room. The hotel istentatively scheduled to open in 2009.

Only about 2,000 luxury-class rooms exist near the conventioncenter, hospitality industry sources tell GlobeSt.com. CentralFlorida aggregately has about 116,000 hotel and motel rooms, andshort-term rental properties. Myriad reasons are given by localgovernment, industry and marketing sources for the rush to erectrooms that will rent for at least $300 a night.

However, the primary motivation for the new development ismarket share loss of international convention business by the Cityof Orlando and Orange County, sources in a position to know tellGlobeSt.com.