Disney cancels $1 billion development project in Orlando — costing Florida 2,000 jobs

The potential creation of over 2,000 jobs in the city of Orlando has been scrapped as Disney continues to feud with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, The New York Times reported.

Disney’s chief executive Bob Iger and the company's theme park and consumer products chairman Josh D’Amaro have pulled the plug on a nearly $1 billion office complex that was scheduled to be built in Orlando -- a project that would have brought over 2,000 jobs with high salaries.

"The project, known as the Lake Nona Town Center, was supposed to involve the relocation of more than 1,000 employees from Southern California, including most of a department known as Imagineering, which works with Disney’s movie studios to develop theme park attractions," The Times' report stated. "Most of the affected employees complained bitterly about having to move — some quit — but Disney largely held firm, partly because of a Florida tax credit that would have allowed the company to recoup as much as $570 million over 20 years for building and occupying the complex."

In an email to employees this Thursday, D’Amaro’s cited “changing business conditions” as the reason for the project's cancellation.

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As The Times' points out, the company's ongoing feud with DeSantis "figured prominently" into the project's cancellation.

The feud between Disney and DeSantis began when the company spoke out against Florida's so-called "Don't Say Gay" law which put restrictions on classroom discussions about sex and gender.

Florida legislators have since then targeted the company with a variety of measures that include ending its ability to self-govern its 25,000-acre resort as if it were a county, and by giving DeSantis control over government services at the resort.

Read the full report over at The New York Times.