A $386 million senior construction loan from Civitas Capital Group will put shovels in the ground on the InterContinental Orlando, a 700-key luxury hotel at 8001 International Drive developed by Flag Luxury Group and Unicorp National Developments. Vertical construction is targeted to begin in Q1 2027, with a completion date of Q3 2029 — making it one of the largest active hospitality construction financings in Florida's pipeline.
The Property
The property is engineered to capture both group and leisure demand in what Visit Orlando ranked the most-visited U.S. destination in 2025, with 76.7 million arrivals. The program includes approximately 105,000 square feet of meeting and pre-function space, positioning the hotel as a primary anchor for the Orange County Convention Center's overflow demand. Guest room inventory spans 700 keys averaging 471 square feet, with 33 junior suites, 50 suites, and five VIP and presidential suites. Multiple food and beverage outlets, a spa and wellness facility, Club InterContinental lounge, and a 730-space, six-level parking structure round out the amenity package. The location sits three miles from Universal Epic Universe and minutes from Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando — a corridor drawing significant institutional capital as theme-park attendance scales.
Financing & Construction Stack
Civitas structured the deal as a senior construction loan, applying what Austin Khan, Managing Director and Head of Investments, described as a "creative structuring solution" suited to large-scale trophy assets with experienced sponsorship. The firm has originated more than $3 billion in equity and debt transactions since 2009, with an active focus on hospitality construction. Florida-based design-build contractor FINFROCK — which previously delivered the 2,800-room Endless Summer Resort at Universal Orlando and the adjacent Terra Luna Resort — will serve as general contractor, bringing more than $350 million in prior project history with the Flag and Unicorp sponsorship. JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group advised the developers on the transaction.
Operator Impact
For hospitality operators and technology vendors tracking new-build pipelines, the InterContinental Orlando represents a greenfield deployment opportunity across property management systems, revenue management platforms, and digital F&B operations. A hotel of this scale — with expansive meetings infrastructure, multiple dining outlets, and a high-volume leisure market — will require deep integration between PMS, point-of-sale, and channel manager systems from day one. Developers building to an IHG brand flag typically align technology choices with brand-mandated platforms, but the sheer volume of meeting space creates meaningful demand for event-management and catering software as well. Chuck Whittall, President of Unicorp, noted the project "will anchor group business for the convention center" — signaling that group sales and booking technology will be central to the property's commercial strategy from opening.
The deal also signals continued lender confidence in large-format luxury hospitality despite broader construction financing headwinds. For operators and investors watching Orlando's International Drive corridor, the InterContinental marks a significant bet on convention-adjacent, theme-park-proximate demand holding well into the next decade. Coverage of similarly scaled hotel technology buildouts can be found in our hotel-tech and payments-and-finance coverage.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
