Electronic Arts Plans To Move HQ To Downtown Orlando

Electronic Arts plans to move its Central Florida HQ from Maitland to downtown Orlando, potentially as soon as '21, "creating an anchor for what Mayor Buddy Dyer envisions will become a digital media hub," according to a front-page piece by Santana & Comas of the ORLANDO SENTINEL. EA could reap as much as $9M in "property taxes under the deal." The company is "seeking to move its 700 employees" to a planned $62M, 180,000-square-foot, five-story office building that "will be built on a 1.8-acre parcel at the new Creative Village downtown." EA said that the workforce "could potentially grow to 1,000" by '25, but the deal "only requires that it maintain a workforce of 600." Creative Village is a $1.5B development in downtown Orlando where UCF's downtown campus opened in August. City leaders "want it to become a home for technology companies" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 10/3).