Oviedo is a city without a hotel. Is it ready for one? 

It sits dark and drab, lifeless amid a historic, bustling-yet-redeveloping part of Oviedo that is a centerpiece of the city’s future.

Hundreds of cars pass by the fenced-in relic of the city’s past every hour, seemingly not giving it a second thought.

But the Oviedo Lodge Motel, located at 148 N. Central Avenue in Oviedo, which has been closed and occupantless for at least a couple of years, leads to a question: Why does a city of more than 40,000 residents that borders one of the largest universities in the United States not have a single hotel. Not one motel? Not even a Holiday Inn?

“Motels and hotels are driven by destinations,” local realtor David Axel, who represented both the buyers and sellers of the Oviedo Lodge Motel in 2024, said. “Oviedo — at the moment — is more of a bedroom community.”

Even by the end of its lifespan, the Oviedo Lodge Motel’s residents were more long-term stayers than not. A Google reviewer who rated the motel five stars three years ago wrote “I was able to call this place home for a while. People might get mad because there isn’t no vacancies. I’m just thankful for the time that I spent at the lodge. [Former manager] Dean [Young] was a friend too [sic] me. I will always be thankful for this place. This Hotel [sic] and Dean helped me. Thanks again.”

”It was a wonderful bit of transitional housing,” Oviedo Mayor Megan Sladek said. “It was a real sock in the nose to a lot of people who considered that their semi-permanent home [when it closed].”

Oviedo’s status, however, is changing quickly as it grows in size and stature — with destinations such as Oviedo on the Park, and being considered “the downtown of eastern Seminole County” according to Jonathan Paul of NueUrban Concepts, the urban planning firm that worked with the city on its mobility plan analysis — making it ripe for a hotel of some sort. 

“There isn’t a whole bunch of property left in [the UCF] immediate vicinity right now, so what’s the next logical place?” Axel said. “It’s kind of Oviedo.”

The current closest options for visitors to stay are The Celeste Hotel, the DoubleTree by Hilton and the Courtyard Orlando East/UCF Area, all more than 4 miles from Oviedo on the Park.

“You look back 20 years ago, we didn’t have Oviedo on the Park and our downtown was pretty much just what [is currently there], but it’s turning over,” Oviedo city council member Natalie Teuchert said. “It’s kind of what’s next in the progression.”

The economics of bringing a hotel to the city have been a hurdle for those who have tried.

Ken Greenberg, president of the Winter Springs Community Association, former Winter Springs commissioner and former CEO of US Hospitality Group, which specializes in hotel construction and renovation, has worked to bring a hotel to the Oviedo/Winter Springs area throughout the last five to 10 years on multiple occasions, but said cost has been a major factor as to why it hasn’t yet happened.

He estimates a projected cost of $25 million to build a hotel in the area. 

“I actually looked at doing one at the Oviedo Mall and met with the owner of the property for the Macy’s at one point,” he said. “They wanted too much land to make it make sense.

“I wouldn’t do a hotel that didn’t have significant meeting space,” he said. “That would be the difference in making money and probably being a marginal property.”

In fact, a 124-room hotel and retail space was planned for the Macy’s at the mall as part of the larger Oasis at Oviedo Marketplace project, which has been in review with the city since at least 2023. The proposed $100 million project, which was originally slated for 425 multi-family dwelling units and the hotel and retail space, is now planned for just 360 units with no hotel or retail.

“One thing is what you can do with the land,” Teresa Correa, Oviedo’s development services director, said in 2023 in regards to the project. “The other thing is what you do with the land.”

Axel, Teuchert and Sladek agree that whatever hotel eventually comes to Oviedo will need to have a convention or event space that can encourage it to be used even if rooms are not fully reserved. 

Having this space would offer people and organizations a space at what would most likely be a lower rate than one in Orlando, Sladek said. 

Greenberg said a study he had done about five years ago revealed that the area would support an average daily rate of about $159 per night. He said he could see a 100 to 120-room, three-star facility succeeding, but not necessarily at the Mall location.

Instead, he said, he believes the ideal location would be at the intersection of State Roads 417 and 434.

“That’s basically where I would target for if I’m trying to catch both [the Oviedo and Winter Springs] communities and have ingress and egress off of an expressway,” he said.

That connector location and the Mall, however, aren’t the only potential locations for a hotel in the area.

Other possible options could include somewhere near Oviedo on the Park or the Water Tower District, home to the former Oviedo Lodge Motel, which will eventually be torn down as the area re-develops, Axel said.

And having one in the city — a reality Teuchert and Axel see as more likely than not in the next five to 10 years — could provide benefits beyond space, especially as the city builds a more-connected landscape.

“We could definitely bring in some business, especially to our small local businesses, by having a hotel around,” Teuchert, who is also an event venue owner in the area, said. “You can stay there, you can eat at the restaurants locally.

“I do think one’s coming. I think we’re overdue for it,” she said.

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