WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The happiest place on earth is hitting the brakes on a $1 billion office project that had been set to relocate 2,000 jobs from California to Florida.
The decision is expected to have an impact on the economy throughout Florida.
"It's sad for the people in Florida looking for jobs," James Glaser said.
Glaser and his wife Barbara said they're both fans of Disney and worry that the loss for Orlando could have a ripple effect in South Florida.
"It would've brought a lot of money to Florida," Glaser said. "People [who] visit, they go to Disney. they may go to (Fort) Lauderdale. They come here with the new Brightline."
Disney said the change in plans is due to new leadership and changing business conditions.
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The DeSantis administration said the state was unsure whether the project could come to fruition.
"When you're talking about big economic development projects like that, you're talking about big dollars to invest in the constructions of a big facility. It's not unheard of to put those plans on hold," Kelly Smallridge, the CEO of the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County, said.
Smallridge said she's been in her role for 34 years and that the market and interest rates have impacted projects throughout the state.
"You really have to take a look at whether they had a shovel on the ground," Smallridge said. "Orlando isn't feeling the pain of losing jobs. It's not as though the jobs were in place and then there was a major layoff."
Smallridge said Palm Beach County hasn't seen repercussions from Disney's decision and economic development continues to grow.
"We continue to experience a strong influx of financial service firms, distribution centers, manufacturing facilities, corporate headquarters, aviation companies and life-science organizations that are interested in expanding or relocating from other states," Smallridge said.
Disney said it still has other long-term plans to invest $17 billion and create 13,000 jobs over the next 10 years.
"CEOs are interested in whether or not our county commission and city mayors have a pro-business attitude and are willing to expedite processes, and we're very fortunate in this county that we have all of that and have not had one executive ask me about Disney and their decision," Smallridge said.
