Orlando City Council vote on sale of police department headquarters to Magic passes

ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando city commissioners voted unanimously Monday to approve a deal to sell the Orlando Police Department headquarters building.

Eyewitness News learned there were still some major costs that have to be worked out.

City Council voted to sell the police headquarters building, along with an adjacent parking garage, to the Orlando Magic for $12.7 million.

The vote to give nearly $2 million to pay for a convention center passed 6-to-1 with Commissioner Jim Gray casting the lone ‘no’ vote.

The city will then lease the building back from the Magic for $100,000 a year until police can either find a new building or build a new one.

Magic owners want to build an entertainment complex and conference center on the land, which is adjacent to the Amway Center.

The city has offered no plans for when or where that might happen, an issue that has some commissioners voicing concern.

Since Channel 9 first reported questions about revenue on Friday, some city commissioners expressed concern over the plan and the use of city tax dollars to help pay for the convention space.

The city would lose all the revenue it makes from the parking garage, about $300,000 a year, and it would be obligated to complete Pine Street, which dead-ends into the police station.

The cost for that construction is not in the contract.

The Magic plan to turn the block into a sports entertainment district with convention space.

City leaders said the benefit will come from new tax revenue generated by the development.

WFTV