'Smart City' under construction in Osceola County

OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. (FOX 35 ORLANDO) - A real-life tomorrowland is being built just outside of Kissimmee. 

One of the major players is looking to make this a test-city for tech. 

The first buildings are already complete, or near completion in Osceola County.

They're part of a 280-acre smart city called 'NeoCity.'

“You’re actually going to be living in the future here,” said Mark Miller, chairman, NeoCity Links. “We planned a city here to be one of the first smart cities, made from the ground up, in the world.”

The city is being built using the latest tech and environmentally-friendly design. 

Technology industry companies will make up most of the development, but there will also be housing, retail space and a STEM high school, which opens this Fall.

“It’s meant to be part of an incubator and a home for people with very modern technology,” Miller said.

Worldwide tech company LG has its eyes set on NeoCity. It is looking to build a 30-acre, mixed-use, city center. 

The company plans to use its smart technology in every aspect of the development.

“They want to use it sort of what they call a test bed, which means they want to put their best technology in and make sure it all works perfectly and that kind of thing, so even the people living here will be part of research in their daily lives,” Miller said.

The county is hoping the tech hub diversifies the economy and attracts high-paying jobs.

“We expect the jobs here to be very top jobs, because we’re mostly a tourism economy and those are not high-paying jobs, so this is something that many of us who love in this county deeply have dreamed about for a while,” Miller said.

The county hopes to sign a deal with LG this fall. 

Construction on the city’s so-called downtown could start as soon as next year.