100 replies to this topic

[Florida]

Is a residential, commercial, and office development in East Tallahassee of approximately 2,450 acres.

Since 1995, Welaunee has been actively engaged in developing new communities through strategic activities and sales. After years of site analysis and strategic planning, the first strategic land sale for community development occurred in 1995, when Welaunee agreed to sell up to 100 acres of land to Holy Comforter Episcopal Church and School. One of Tallahassee's most highly regarded private schools, the Holy Comforter Day School complements the public schools serving northeastern Tallahassee and provides and anchor for new communities at Welaunee.

In 1998, Welaunee sold 500 acres to the State of Florida's Office of Greenways and Trails for creation of the Miccosukee Canopy Road Greenway. This unique linear park provides both aesthetic protection of the scenic moss-draped canopy on Miccosukee Road as well as passive recreational opportunities for residents in new communities on Welaunee's Toe and Heel. The conceptual master plan for the Greenway includes pathways and access points from new neighborhoods at Welaunee.

In 2000, Powerhouse management embarked on a intensive land planning process to establish a vision for communities on Welaunee's Toe and Heel. They assembled a team of highly qualified professionals and initiated a public outreach program to address neighborhood and public concerns from the surrounding area. The collaborative planning process culminated in approval of the Welaunee Critical Area Plan, which provides the framework for the land development activities now being conducted.

In December 2005, Welaunee agreed to sell 428 acres of the Toe adjoining Interstate highway 10, to the City of Tallahassee for installation of various public facilities and eventual strategic development. At the same time, the City and Powerhouse, Inc., executed an updated Urban Services-Development Agreement to addresss a variety of issues associated with development of the property.

In 2006, Welaunee entered into a contract with CNL Real Estate and Development Corp., of Orlando to develop the remaining 508-acres of the Toe with mixed-use walkable neighborhoods that will implement the family's vision for new communities. Closing on the first 254 acres took place in December 2006, while the new community was undergoing further plan preparation and design. Ground-breaking is expected in 2007.

Edited by Florida, 11 March 2008 - 02:35 PM.

[Florida]

County Commission on Welaunee:

Welaunee Plantation Development Update – Mr. Gary Johnson explained that this issue involves about 2,342 acres of land. He advised that some Comp Plan amendments are in place that will be heard by the joint City/County Commissions on April 25, May 30 and a final adoption hearing on September 24, 2002. He noted that a mixed-use development was sought with extensive open space that would incorporate many of the desired environmental features. He further noted that much of this land is within the incorporated area of the City of Tallahassee. The remainder may be annexed into the City, as well. He discussed other plans relating to this property.

Mr. Carlos Alvarez welcomed the Commissioners to their neighborhood. He was a part of the Welaunee Plantation citizen group consulted about the plan. He asked the Board to help this developer with the road planning in the critical area plan, as he was concerned with how the roads were going to be changed by the City. His other major concern was in transferring water in critical storm conditions from that closed basin into the Lake Lafayette Basin. He said that this would create additional problems for residents who are in flood-prone areas.

Ms. Marsha Sutherland stated that several citizens were present to discuss flooding on Lonnie Road. She understood that this area might be affected by the 500 acres being annexed by the City. They were very concerned.

Mr. Frank Govett was concerned about paying for a private developer’s project with County/City tax dollars. He felt the funds expended on this project would preclude other roads from being built for a long time. He was also concerned about water runoff being diverted into Chaires.

Commissioner Grippa stated that he had previously met with Mr. Embry and they discussed flooding. He noted that in the preliminary plans, the water would be backed up with a berm to Dove Lake. He stated that if plans had changed from what they had discussed, he would investigate it. He also discussed Ms. Sutherland’s concern on Lonnie Road. He saw the flooding first-hand and that the Commission was serious about fixing the problem.

Commissioner DePuy also met with Mr. Embry from Welaunee. He was impressed with his proactive attitude about involving citizens in their plan. He was unaware of Welaunee Boulevard at that time. He did know of their plan to capture and retain some of the water coming north. He, too, has made a commitment to avoid future runoff problems. He wants this addressed properly before this community is built.

Commissioner Thaell noted that the City signed the development agreement with the Powerhouse Corporation (Welaunee Plantation) in 1989. He pointed out that the road was part of the development agreement, and the City agreed to it. The City also agreed to pay for it. The good aspect is that this road will take pressure off the canopy roads.

Ms. Valerie Hubbard, Planning Department, explained that there are not a lot of specifics in the plan because this is a critical area plan. However, there are some policies that deal with a possible solution to the flooding issues in Midyette Plantation and Lafayette Oaks by backing the water up into Dove Pond, which would then be used as a regional stormwater facility. She discussed the process for this action.

Mr. Simmons, a resident of the Old Clifford Hill Plantation Community, questioned the Board on why it is making plans for Welaunee and Lafayette but not including the Clifford Hill community in any of the County’s plans. He felt that Clifford Hill should be addressed before any new developments are considered. He was concerned that they would take on water as a result of this development.

Commissioner DePuy stated that Clifford Hill was included in the plan. He mentioned that Dove Pond was closer to them than any of the other developments.

Mr. Simmons also asked about a culvert that was recently put on Miccosukee Road that turns into an already flooded area. Commissioner DePuy asked Mr. Mike Willett to speak with Mr. Simmons on this issue.

Commissioner Rackleff assured Mr. Simmons that the County would ensure that Old Clifford Hill would not be adversely affected.

[Florida]

Welaunee Blvd.


(Capital Cir to Fleischman)  $4,950,000.00

[Florida]

Welaunee Deal Gets Thumbs Up

City of Tallahassee was given a bargain when owners of massive Welaunee Plantation offered 450 acres up for sale at a price of $10,000,000. The City of Tallahassee jumped on it.

This frees the city up to do a number of things with the newly purchased property, including the Eastern Tranmission Lines, The New Welaunee Blvd, that would take traffic off of the canopy roads (Miccosukee and Centerville), or even efforts at community parks, and affordable housing.

[jpl02]

What's the update on Welaunee - when is it slated to begin development. I'm very excited about this, but I'm kinda in the dark when it comes to info about it.

As development grows east, let's face it, we're going to need another interchange at I-10. An interchange with Centerville I can see as not being viable at all.........so I say build one at Welaunee Blvd. I'd also like to see a new major north-south route being built to connect to Mahan Drive and fly past I-10 to the northern parts of the development, let's say, a widened and extended Edenfield (which is on the map) or Thornton Road, both which are county maintained routes. I don't think the interchanges at Thomasville and Mahan are going to cut it, as they are 6 miles apart, and Mahan is two lanes at that point.

I'm very excited, but I'm concerned about the roads!  

[Florida]

Sounds like you know your stuff JPL!! I'd like to see an interchange out there also and I think the new Welaunee Blvd might be our answer. It's about mid-way between Old Exit 31 and 30. Its not long before we start to see restaurants and more retail pop up out in that area. Already DeVoe is working on his new Car Museum location and there are talks about a Cracker Barrel going in near Walden Road and 90.

[ghostOFtheSuwanee]

Maps from my favorirte stealth project.  They have disappeared off the web site and these links will most likely disappear quickly.  Save a copy if you're interested.  Note that the new shopping center will take up most of the Mahan side of the heel.  Look for a design similar to the St. Johns Town Center but with a much more exciting anchor store but many of the same supporrting players.  I expect that this project will be in progress around the FY2010 timeframe.

Project contex map:  

Site activity map:  

[gatoremt]

Thanks for the site maps. I am still trying to figure out where the Welaunee Blvd is? Does it start right behind the Publix/Lowes off of Capital Cir? Also I guess the mall would be built around the part that says the Heel by I-10 and Summit East.

[poonther]

Cool stealth maps there Ghost!!!

I hope we do get most of the tenants similar to St. John's Town Center in Jax.  That would be great even in 2010 or 2011.  I wonder if this will be a Simon lifestyle center?  They are in all major markets in FL, but not ours.  I hope one of your exciting anchor tenants will be Buster and Dave's.

So this is going to go across I-10 from DeVoe's development.  Wow that is going to be a ton of retail out that way.  They better hurry and widen Mahan out to there.  I know they are asking the State and Federal Govs. for monetary support this upcoming year for this widening.

Also this proves that FDOT was way short-sighted for NOT 6 laning I-10 to from US 90 west to US 90 east.  I still predict this new expansions will cause bottlenecks where it narrows to the east and west during rush hour.  Bad move IMHO and yeah I know they plan to 6 lane all of 10, but who knows in what century that will be.

sbdinc Welaunee Blvd. is currently being constructed right where you said..behind Publix/Lowes and currently will run out only to F'man.  After that it will parallel Centerville and Micc. running between them and eventually should have an exit/interchange w/I-10.

Final note on this:  With all this new retail proposed:  Southside, Welaunee, DeVoe and Fallschase.....one of our current existing malls is going to suffer..BIG TIME and will either have to change what they currently are or maybe just die.

[Florida]

I honestly think it will be the Tallahassee Mall. I don't see them dieing, but surely they will suffer unless they move quick to update and bring in better quality retailers.

[bighardrivesrule]

I'm no expert on roads but I think that just four laning Mahan to I-10 is also a mistake. When I used to live in Jefferson county and drive to Tallahasee via US90 that section from I-10 to Cap. Circle was a real bear around 8:00AM. When they widened it to six lanes from Cap. circle to Buck lake it helped a lot. I don't understand why they don't six lane it to I-10. I think four lanes would only barely meet the current needs. By the time they do begin work on Mahan the developments will have started and 6 lanes would defiently be needed. Depending on how much the houses for Welaunee are going to run, I have been looking at that area for years about buying a home there. I love the property out that way.

[BHCav]

bighardrivesrule, on Dec 7 2006, 01:08 PM, said:

I'm no expert on roads but I think that just four laning Mahan to I-10 is also a mistake. When I used to live in Jefferson county and drive to Tallahasee via US90 that section from I-10 to Cap. Circle was a real bear around 8:00AM. When they widened it to six lanes from Cap. circle to Buck lake it helped a lot. I don't understand why they don't six lane it to I-10. I think four lanes would only barely meet the current needs. By the time they do begin work on Mahan the developments will have started and 6 lanes would defiently be needed. Depending on how much the houses for Welaunee are going to run, I have been looking at that area for years about buying a home there. I love the property out that way.

Ahhh, the famed Tallahassee lack of forsight strikes again.  Really are you surprised?  On the other hand, I'm sure the road widening budget well is getting a bit shallow now.

[poonther]

BHCav, on Dec 7 2006, 05:35 PM, said:

Ahhh, the famed Tallahassee lack of forsight strikes again.  Really are you surprised?  On the other hand, I'm sure the road widening budget well is getting a bit shallow now.

BHCav you are right about the lack of foresight, but please don't put that on just Tally.  It ain't just a Tally thing.  Orlando:  ever been on I-4 in downtown area?  Just six lanes and they've had the same traffic back ups (Fairbanks Curve) on that freeway since time began.  Orange Cnty a few years ago actually voted down a tax to help widen that road.  But let's not just pick on ORL, let's take it to South FL.  It's an area of over 5 million people and in 1.5 million Palm Beach County their main expressway, I-95 is still 6 lanes in most of the County (South County excluded) and they are just now working to fix that problem and don't get me started on the over used Turnpike where in PBC it's still only 4 lanes North of Boca and backups at the Lantana Plaza can go on for miles during high season.  Then let's jump over to TPA Bay, ever been on the parking lot called I-275?  SW FL in Naples and Ft. Myers, I-75 just 4 lanes in most of that super fast growing area there too.  Ah and the beloved Jax, they too are just starting to solve all their I-95 problems and completing the loop around the city.  Both should have been done years ago.  

So my point is that I totally agree w/you that when we develop roads we don't use good foresight, but it ain't just a Tally problem, it's a FL problem and more likely a national problem.

And I most definitely agree w/ BHR, Mahan in that area should go to 6 lanes.

Edited by poonther, 07 December 2006 - 06:16 PM.

[BHCav]

poonther, on Dec 7 2006, 07:08 PM, said:

BHCav you are right about the lack of foresight, but please don't put that on just Tally.  It ain't just a Tally thing.  Orlando:  ever been on I-4 in downtown area?  Just six lanes and they've had the same traffic back ups (Fairbanks Curve) on that freeway since time began.  Orange Cnty a few years ago actually voted down a tax to help widen that road.  But let's not just pick on ORL, let's take it to South FL.  It's an area of over 5 million people and in 1.5 million Palm Beach County their main expressway, I-95 is still 6 lanes in most of the County (South County excluded) and they are just now working to fix that problem and don't get me started on the over used Turnpike where in PBC it's still only 4 lanes North of Boca and backups at the Lantana Plaza can go on for miles during high season.  Then let's jump over to TPA Bay, ever been on the parking lot called I-275?  SW FL in Naples and Ft. Myers, I-75 just 4 lanes in most of that super fast growing area there too.  Ah and the beloved Jax, they too are just starting to solve all their I-95 problems and completing the loop around the city.  Both should have been done years ago.  

So my point is that I totally agree w/you that when we develop roads we don't use good foresight, but it ain't just a Tally problem, it's a FL problem and more likely a national problem.

And I most definitely agree w/ BHR, Mahan in that area should go to 6 lanes.

lol, everyone else does it, so it must be ok.  Why don't duplicate the good things other cities do?

[thetoolman]

poonther, on Dec 7 2006, 10:49 AM, said:

Cool stealth maps there Ghost!!!

Agreed!

poonther, on Dec 7 2006, 10:49 AM, said:

Final note on this:  With all this new retail proposed:  Southside, Welaunee, DeVoe and Fallschase.....one of our current existing malls is going to suffer..BIG TIME and will either have to change what they currently are or maybe just die.

Holy cow - if we leave a bunch of empty big boxes around like old Albertson's and Sam's and Winn Dixies, whatever are we going to with a 1M sq ft mall sitting closed? I guess it could be turned in to a huge high school or something...

[mracca]

Tallahassee Mall is never going to close IMHO.  Too many people live too close to it for it to close, and there is so much traffic flow in that area for restraunts, Movies, Pool Halls, Arcades, and Hotels and such, so I you think that Tallahassee Mall is going to close you might as well shut down that whole street.

[poonther]

I tend to agree w/you mracca about the fate of Tally Mall.  However I do think it will have to morph into something a little different than it is now to survive this invasion of retail places.  Maybe become more of an entertainment area (movies, Barnes-Nobles, etc) than a clothing/retail shopping area??  I mean they will still have some stores like Goody's etc. but they will have to evolve to find their niche IMHO.

[Florida]

poonther, on Dec 8 2006, 11:16 AM, said:

I tend to agree w/you mracca about the fate of Tally Mall.  However I do think it will have to morph into something a little different than it is now to survive this invasion of retail places.  Maybe become more of an entertainment area (movies, Barnes-Nobles, etc) than a clothing/retail shopping area??  I mean they will still have some stores like Goody's etc. but they will have to evolve to find their niche IMHO.

They will surely have to step it up with the stores. We need more high quality national retailers to get the feet back in there. Additionally it will need an exterior make over and they will need to remove Burlington Coat Factory and Ross from the Main body of the mall. They would be fine as an out-parcel strip, similar to the legends area, but connected to a mall that hopes to gain more respect, it won't.

I'm not sure what to say about all of the cars parked in the mall. Perhaps, the Tallahassee Mall should do more fountains, and interior greenery, with perhaps an upgrade to the seating. But I don't believe the Tallahassee is mall is going out of style.





I honestly think something like the above is in the works for the Tallahassee Mall, and Perhaps this should be posted in the Tallahassee Mall thread. LOL!  

But I do agree that Mahan should have been widened 6 lanes all the way to I-10, and I-10 widening should have extended to old exit 31. I also think beyond I-10 the road should be 4-lanes from I-10 to the Jefferson County Line.

Edited by TaureanJ, 08 December 2006 - 08:59 PM.

[bighardrivesrule]

Heck while were talking about widening mahan to 6 lanes out to I-10, what about the part inside of capital circle? Its a very busy road at rush hour times and this is only 4 lanes. When they widened the short part from capital circle to buck lake road I was hoping they would have done this all the way to downtown. Parts of tennessee street are 6 laned but go to 4 and this causes a lot of traffic backups as well. Anybody know of any plans to widen the part inside of capital circle?

[poonther]

^But if they did that widening of Mahan, we'd loose all those lovely crappy myrtles in the median!!!!