Daily Times

Now you can live in the most magical place on Earth, or at least in a home built by the same designers. The Walt Disney Company has announced it will design residential communities across the US in deals with property developers, capitalising on fans’ enthusiasm for the brand beyond its theme park and entertainment businesses.

On Wednesday, Disney announced its first development, Cotino, a 618-acre residential community with 1,900 housing units including single-family homes and condominiums in Southern California’s Rancho Mirage.

Shops and a beachfront hotel will ring a 24-acre lagoon. Some neighbourhoods will be reserved for residents aged 55 and older.

In the residential communities, the company aims to create similar magic that it says will expand storytelling to ‘storyliving.’

Fans of Disney are passionate about the company’s control of detail and elaborate escapist experiences.

Disney park designers will develop the creative concepts for the communities, drawing inspiration from each region, and employees will run a community association that offers entertainment, activities, beach access and Disney programming.

The community will be designed by the same ‘imagineers’ who designed the theme parks, but they will not have any such theme park connection.

The owner of Disneyland and Disney World formed a new business unit, Storyliving by Disney, to create the master-planned communities in partnership with landowners, developers and home builders. The Cotino project is in conjunction with DMB Development.

Prices and other details have not yet been announced, but the development will include a variety of properties such as condominiums, single-family homes and estates.

This effort by Disney marks the latest chapter in the company’s residential efforts, which began in the 1960s when the late Walt Disney announced his plans for the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow, but they were shelved after his death in 1966.

‘Walt was trying to build a connected, integrated, story-based community,’ Disney parks Chairman Josh D’Amaro said on Wednesday.

‘While these communities are not Epcot, they share that same spirit. This is something that Walt would have been all over.’

The company ventured back into residential development in the 1980s and 1990s with the planned community Celebration, a master-planned community near Orlando.

It was designed by Disney to have a nostalgic feel and when it opened in 1996 was also operated by the company, which then sold its stake to a private investment firm in 2004.

More recently, Walt Disney World Resort built a luxury residential community called Golden Oak, a sold-out development with a private clubhouse and an array of amenities, including golfing.

Those earlier resort communities are located close to Walt Disney World.

The coming residential developments will have no such theme park connection and will be designed to reflect the history and art of the places where they’re located, said a Disney spokesperson.

‘As we prepare to enter our second century, we are developing new and exciting ways to bring the magic of Disney to people wherever they are,’ D’Amaro said. ‘Every single element of these communities will be steeped in a story.

‘There is incredible demand for all things Disney. Our fans continue to look for new ways to engage with us, to keep Disney as part of their lives,’ D’Amaro said. ‘You can be part of Disney all of the time.’

A Disney spokesperson declined to say how much capital the entertainment giant plans to invest in the residential initiative.

Developers and home builders will handle construction and set pricing. Disney will handle marketing and also operate the voluntary club. Additional community locations are ‘under exploration for further development,’ the company said.