HOTEL ROOM UNITS for guests are being prefabricated by U.S. Steel's Realty Development Division at the rate of 35 per week for Walt Disney's World's first two theme-resort hotels, the 1,058 room Contemporary and the 492-room Polynesian hotels. At the end of the first week in December, 450 room units had been completed. Both hotels are scheduled to be in operation by the end of 1971.
U.S. Steel's bedroom factory is located on the Disney World premises less than a mile from the site of both hotels. While the rooms are being constructed, the basic site development and hotel core structures are being completed. Across the bay, the Magic Kingdom entertainment center is nearing completion.
The prefabrication of rooms cuts down on the length of time required to build the two hotels because site development and construction can go full speed ahead while the rooms are produced off-site. The soil substructure near the Orlando site also calls for special lightweight construction - 40 to 60 feet of sand above porous limestone. The prebuilt rooms weigh less than 9 tons each but are of strong, fireproof construction.
Average cost room for both hotels will range in the neighborhood of $40,000 each. From this figure, however, should be deducted the lower cost of interim capitalization in hotel building and some of the research and development costs, At the national preview of U.S. Steel's bedroom factory on December 8, Joseph R. Dembeck, president of USS Realty Development Division, told news representatives that this project was the world's first major use of a steel "unitized" construction system.
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