The Walt Disney Co. has put off plans to move 2,000 employees from California to Central Florida next year.

The move, which has been delayed until 2026, is expected to slow the development pipeline in Orlando's Lake Nona master-planned development, where Disney announced last year it would be building a regional hub and where several commercial and residential projects catering to the area's anticipated growth are already underway.

Disney has said its decision was in no way influenced by its recent dispute with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over special tax districts in the state but is rather about providing its California employees a wider window to relocate to a project that won't be completed for another four years, according to the Los Angeles Times. Disney did not respond to CoStar News' request for comment.

The company unveiled its plans last July to invest roughly $860 million into a 600,000-square-foot campus on 56 acres it had purchased from Lake Nona developer Tavistock Development Co. for $46 million, according to CoStar data. At the time, the company said it would be relocating almost every Disney Parks employee based in Southern California not fully dedicated to the Disneyland Resort there or some other international park to Orlando.

It gave employees 18 months to move — and itself 18 months to build a campus.

In many ways, the Lake Nona development in Orlando appeared to some as an ideal location to consolidate the company's park employees. Disney already employs roughly 60,000 staff members in Orlando, where it is the city's largest employer, according to the Orlando Economic Partnership. Lake Nona is just 20 minutes away from Walt Disney World Resort, the company's largest park. And the fast-growing, mixed-use development could provide not only the space for Disney employees to work but also room for them to live and play.

Don Long, CEO of the Lake Nona Regional Chamber of Commerce, told CoStar News it's impossible to estimate what sort of effect Disney's decision will have on the area.

"Yes, there's an impact but how much of an impact?" Long said. "Who can say?"

He said he hasn't let the latest news dim his vision of the future for Lake Nona, though. After all, there's been no indication those Disney jobs won't move to Lake Nona eventually, and plenty of other major companies — including Amazon, KPMG and the United States Tennis Association — are investing and developing in Lake Nona regardless of Disney.

The population in Lake Nona has exploded in recent years, from just 1,500 in 2000 to more than 50,000 today, according to census figures.

The development site itself, which comprises only 17 square miles, has seen more than 10 million square feet of residential and commercial development in the past decade, according to Tavistock's website.

And construction hasn't stopped. Today, there are roughly 500,000 square feet of office space under construction, up 582% year over year; nearly 2,000 apartments are underway, up 75% year over year; and 2.4 million square feet of industrial space is being built, up 171% year over year, according to CoStar data.

Lake Nona's current apartment construction is a 34% increase in its total inventory, showing how much demand has been generated from job growth, according to CoStar data.

Some commercial projects in the planning process around Lake Nona may be delayed after Disney's decision, said Lisa McNatt, director of market analytics in Orlando for CoStar Group. However, residential construction may continue at its current pace to meet future demand, she said.

"It's likely that the biggest impact from the delay is that it may take a few additional quarters to absorb the new units now underway," McNatt said.

In the interim, Disney maintains that its decision was not a result of its ongoing spat with Florida's governor over special tax districts.

In April, after Disney opposed a Florida law restricting education on gender and sexuality in schools, DeSantis passed another law abolishing the company's special tax district around Walt Disney World Resort.

The district had effectively turned the area around the resort into an autonomous zone, granting Disney the privileges of a local government — including emergency response services, road maintenance, waste collection and electricity — while also letting Disney expedite building four theme parks, 67 miles of waterways, 175 miles of roads and more than 40,000 hotel rooms.

The bill has been called "catastrophic" to the counties and localities that now must absorb the costs that Disney has been fronting.

It has also had unrelated casualties, including five other special tax districts across the state that are in no way affiliated with Disney.