A ground-breaking date hasn't been set but Hyatt officials anticipate opening the hotel in 2004. That would be a year earlier than Beverly Hills, CA-based Hilton Hotel Corp.'s plans to open an adjacent 1,400 room property. Both hotels are planned near the expanding four million-sf Orange County Convention Center on tourist-clogged International Drive in south Orlando.

Both projects also are being built on land acquired from Universal Orlando's 2,000-acre undeveloped dirt bank. The size and final price of the land acquisitions for both projects haven't been determined.

Also undetermined is a third 1,500-room project for the hub being considered by Orlando hotelier Harris Rosen, the largest independent hotel owner/operator in Florida. Metro Orlando's current total hotel room inventory is estimated by tourist/convention officials at 111,000 rooms, up from 100,000 five years ago and the largest room bank in the nation.