SeaWorld's Parent Company Asks a Court to Halt Nearly 700 Apartments Planned Across the Street, at the Old Travel + Leisure Office Tower

SeaWorld Orlando's parent company has asked a court to stop a nearly 700-unit apartment project planned across the street.

United Parks & Resorts has asked a court to halt the redevelopment of the office building at 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, the Orlando Business Journal reported on Wednesday, September 30. According to OBJ, United Parks "alleges the project to transform an office building into an apartment complex would impact operations, traffic and security at its Orlando properties." OBJ describes the building as "nearby SeaWorld Orlando, Aquatica and Discovery Cove."

Sea Harbor Office Center at 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, the building slated for demolition under the apartment plan. Image: JLL Capital Markets, via GrowthSpotter

What is being built

The building is Sea Harbor Office Center, an eight-story tower that GrowthSpotter describes as "directly across from SeaWorld." It was the long-time home of Travel + Leisure, which moved to downtown Orlando in 2025, and the owner could not find tenants to replace it.

Here is how the plan came together, per GrowthSpotter's September 2 report:

• The rezoning: the seller, Northridge Capital, won an Orange County zoning change in August allowing "as many as 1,124 multi-family units" on the 14.23-acre site.
• The sale: a joint venture of Duvalla Investments and Epoch Residential bought the property for $17 million in late August. Northridge had paid $64.7 million for it in 2015 (OBJ put the figure at $64.6 million).
• The plan: demolish the office building and build nearly 700 apartments in two phases, five-story buildings wrapping the site's existing parking garage, with 360 units in the first building and 319 in the second.
• The name: the developers submitted an updated plan on August 28 for the project, which GrowthSpotter says is dubbed SeaWorld Vacation Village. Despite the name, SeaWorld is not the developer.

An elevation drawing from plans filed with Orange County for the site in April. Image: FK Architecture/Orange County, via GrowthSpotter

What we do not know yet

OBJ's full story is behind a paywall, and we have not seen the filing itself. So the details that matter most, including which court, who the case names, and exactly what United Parks is asking the court to do, are not in anything we could read. We also found no public comment on the case from SeaWorld or the developers. We will update this story when the filing or more reporting surfaces.

SeaWorld has land plans of its own

There is an interesting twist. SeaWorld owns close to 40 acres of empty land beside the office complex, and GrowthSpotter reported that the company "is also contemplating multifamily development as a potential use for its surplus land." It also noted the company "quietly withdrew plans last year for two proposed, park-adjacent hotels nearby."

So SeaWorld has at least weighed apartments on its own land nearby. Its objection, as OBJ summarizes it, is how this particular project would affect operations, traffic and security at its Orlando properties.

Sources

• Orlando Business Journal, SeaWorld Orlando parent company asks court to halt office redevelopment
• GrowthSpotter, Office building across from Sea World sells for $17M
• GrowthSpotter, Orlando apartment community planned across from SeaWorld in theme park corridor
• Orlando Business Journal, Former Travel + Leisure headquarters near SeaWorld Orlando sells at steep discount

Image credits: JLL Capital Markets, via GrowthSpotter (Sea Harbor Office Center); FK Architecture/Orange County, via GrowthSpotter (development plan drawing).