There’s a lot happening in the 650-acre health and life-sciences park known as Lake Nona Medical City, which emerged a decade ago about eight miles south of Orlando International Airport.
It’s home to a long list of medical institutions, including Nemours Children’s Hospital, VA Medical Center, University of Florida Academic & Research Center, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, and, as of spring 2021, the University of Central Florida Lake Nona Medical Center. Just a few months after it opened, UCF Lake Nona Medical Center became the first hospital in Central Florida to offer incisionless brain surgery for patients with some tremor conditions.
This hub of healthcare and bioscience facilities has a new venue of note for medical meeting planners: the Lake Nona Wave Hotel, which opened in December with 216 guest rooms, 18 suites, and about 12,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space.
Meeting organizers will find the 3,000-square-foot Wave Ballroom, supported by a 2,000-square-foot foyer, and three smaller rooms ranging from 656 to 765 square feet. There’s also a colorful rooftop pool deck (left) that can host a reception for up to 3,000 people, and three group spaces in the sculpture garden, the largest of which can host 280 people.
The hotel will intrigue science-minded guests with its high-tech windows that darken and lighten depending on weather conditions, voice-activated in-room controls, keyless entry, smart toilets, and a number of health-tech features. The hotel also has easy access to Lake Nona’s autonomous transportation system, which offers free rides in 10-passenger driverless shuttles around a fixed route through the community.
The Wave Hotel is expected to be a focal point for Lake Nona Town Center, an open-air entertainment destination with shops, restaurants, and offices connected via green spaces and the shuttles. The area has plenty to keep attendees entertained, including access to the 130,000-square-foot Lake Nona Performance Club fitness center, the first-ever Dr. Deepak Chopra’s Mind-Body Zone and Spa, Nona Adventure Park, and Rox Climbing Gym.
Also located in Lake Nona are the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute; KPMG Lakehouse, a national training center; and the 100-court USTA National Campus, the largest tennis facility in the U.S.
