Your Timeshare Was Getting a Make Over While You Were on Staycation
Thursday, January 27, 2011
If you missed using your timeshare last year, chose a staycation, or just couldn’t work it into your schedule, you may be in for a pleasant surprise on your next visit.
Although media perception has tried to convince the world that timeshare and timeshare resorts were in a total downward spiral, here’s an update from Florida-based, Winter Park Construction (WPC), that paints a very different picture.
Jeff Forrest, President of WPC, explains, “In spite of the economy, our firm stayed very busy throughout the entire year handling large and small renovation projects for the timeshare industry’s major developers. Our clients included Starwood Vacation Ownership, Hilton Grand Vacations Company, Orange Lake County Club, The Berkley Group and Wyndham Vacation Ownership. Their resorts were located in Orlando, Kissimmee and Plantation, Florida, as well as in Myrtle Beach, SC; Newport, RI; Lake Geneva, WI and Cancun, Mexico.”
This past year, Winter Park Construction has been busy remodeling timeshare sales buildings, and making hurricane damage repairs and interior refurbishments for over 740 timeshare units. According to Forrest, “Many of our clients know us for building new projects, but refurbishment and renovation work has been a core segment of our business for 37 years. We expect this to grow even more in the future.”
One of WPC’s most fun (or perhaps challenging) timeshare related projects was the construction of a $4 million Fantasy Surf attraction for the Vacation Villas at FantasyWorld Resort in Kissimmee, Florida. Creating the environment to house a surfing simulator, which is designed so that riders “pretend” to ride the Hawaii surf, called for unique construction considerations.
The simulator offers the look of surfing and wakeboarding in a safe and controlled environment. Fantasy Surf features a FlowRider™ Double, designed to allow approximately 30 surf rides per hour. With padded walls, floor and beach all covered by a 3-inch sheet of water, the cushioned surface is surfable but still kind to surfers if they have a ‘wipeout’. While not their usual project, Forrest acknowledges that Winter Park Construction takes such challenges in stride, adding that the Central Florida area is filled with highly imaginative people.
The company, founded in 1974, and known as one of Florida’s largest construction management and general contractors, does not limit its business to construction and renovation in the timeshare industry. WPC’s portfolio include multi-family housing, commercial real estate, military housing, senior living markets and other projects.