spenser1058

They didn’t call them that until the ‘80’s but the Zayre on Orange Avenue was a big box. Parkwood Plaza was just a string of big boxes. The Miller’s discount stores on E. Colonial and OBT at Holden. The phenomenon kicked in during the ‘60’s along with cities beginning to require absurd parking minimums.

BoVine is back on The Avenue and Scott J notes it has eclipsed the standard the late, great Park Plaza Gardens once defined for fine dining in the region: https://www.scottjosephorlando.com/reviews/70-steak/5625-bovine

You could always elect a new commissioner and mayor to concentrate on those areas but in Orlando we don’t believe in that.

The thing to remember is that Colonialtown goes back to the ‘20’s. Also, when South Vietnam fell in the ‘70’s, those who moved to the area bought existing buildings and started small shops in the older buildings that were relatively inexpensive. As a result, you didn’t see the wholesale clearance of the area by developers to build big boxes (Thank God!) Orange Ave. south of Lake Lucerne, otoh, didn’t come into existence until the ‘50’s when the Lake Lucerne causeway was built. As a result, it was new construction along that stretch from a different era.

Also, OBJ is reporting that the airport’s head honcho, Phil Brown, is looking to retire. No progress on a search yet so he’ll still be on board for a while.

Thankfully, my last trip back I went across to Coytown for some Chicken Fire and I’m ruined for CFA for good. On the chain side, Popeye’s is more interesting , too.

Rose Art project for Rosemont- Never Mind: Developer withdraws $1 billion Rosemont development after neighbors rise uphttps://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/real-estate/os-bz-gs-rosemont-development-pulled-20210421-lpjvfiwkfbc2dhgda65s3znyxy-story.html From The Sentinel

Certainly in that awful place she was trying to put it (at least in Orlando),I am. It’s like the whole concept of sense of place was foreign to her, which is curious for an architect. Ironically, The Monarch site might be just the ticket.

Remember the endless stream of hype about this? Here’s your annual reminder that Vertical Medical City Orlando does not exist. Oh, and if you’re keeping score at home, Vertical Medical City Chicago does not exist. And Vertical Medical City Miami does not exist. No doubt Ms. Ponte is just waiting to send out a flurry of publicity any day now for Vertical Medical City Antarctica since climate change is warming things up!

Oh my.

My fingers are sadly much too big for my iPhone and it shows...

The building over there I regret losing is the Hughes Supply at 521 W. Central Blvd. Not only did it have a huge warehouse in the back (brick and block, not metal), but the c-suite on the second floor facing Central was amazing. Right up until they moved the execs over to 20 N Orange, their offices remained something out of a Mad Men set. There also was a stainless steel diner across the street whose owner sadly was about as enlightened as the FL House members have been in the last week about change. It was another battleground in Orlando’s struggle for civil rights.

“We told the truth. We obeyed the laws. We kept the peace.” - Vice President Walter Mondale on the Carter-Mondale Administration

Sanity breaks out in the Florida Senate:

It’s instructive to see the results from the Hennepin County legal system today and contrast it with Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd’s performance with our governor yesterday.