THE Orlando Photo Thread

[jack]

Thanks for that -- very interesting.

With the cheap land in Parramore and this renewed interest, I could see some office highrise proposals in Parramore's future. For now, a few successful midrise offices in Parramore to start things off, perhaps creating a nice canon effect down Church Street. Eight to ten story buildings with the occasional highrise on Church Street would do wonders to downtown. Then, highrises in and around the federal courthouse district on Division Ave, and suddenly, you have an entirely new office district.

Parramore is easily the future of downtown expansion -- more so than Uptown, IMO.

Uptown and already zoned for highrise and no one (except a few residents in Park Lake) will oppose the builings. Parramore is not zoned for it and many residents will oppose it unless it is to scale.

[prahaboheme]

I don't think Parramore residents will oppose it as much as some may assume. Most of the Parramore residents are non owners and residential tends to be concentrated South of Church and Northwest of the Centroplex. Obviously this will be tested the first time a developer files for a zoning height exception.

[palmtree73]

I don't think Parramore would be a desirable place for a new tallest. The type of tenant for a trophy tower (law firms, banks) would first of all want to be close to similar businesses. Then proximity to mass transit and off-site parking garages would be another consideration. And this type of tenant would place a high value on an Orange Ave. address much like how in Atlanta everyone wants to be located on Peachtree St. With those criteria, the cursed Pizzuti block across from the courthouse is the most logical spot for a new tallest.

What Parramore needs is a slew of mid-rise infill development along Central Blvd. and Church St. all the way to the OBT. I'd like to see that sort of organic development over the contrived Creative Village.

[prahaboheme]

Generally I agree with you -- Orange Ave is now, and will probably always be Orlando's premiere address. That said, a cool "hip" factor can permeate a centralized location such as Parramore, ultimately making it a desirable address for business owners. I remember a time not so long ago that Thornton Park was not considered a desirable location, and in parts, was considered somewhat dangerous. Now it was never like Parramore, but it's changed not only physically but psychologically in the way that Central Floridians view it. It's now, obviously, Orlando's "it" neighborhood.

I agree that I'd like Parramore to grow organically. I'd be completely satisfied with continous midrise development along Central and Church, and renovation of some of the nice (but rundown) bungalows and craftsman homes that exist in Parramore.

[John Hargrove]

Amway Center

FUMCO

GAI Building

Church St.

Thought this was a pretty good view of Church Street ...

[prahaboheme]

Awesome updates as always -- this place (the arena) is changing daily so it's really fun to have these kinds of pictures to see.

Also, it appears they are also doing work on the Church St garage? Hopefully some much needed updating.

GAI is going to be a nice little addition to South St/Summerlin. I like that it essentially is a bookend to Thornton Park/South Eola. Nothing too special, but decent infill.

Edited July 24, 2010 by prahaboheme

[John Hargrove]

Awesome updates as always -- this place (the arena) is changing daily so it's really fun to have these kinds of pictures to see.

Also, it appears they are also doing work on the Church St garage? Hopefully some much needed updating.

GAI is going to be a nice little addition to South St/Summerlin. I like that it essentially is a bookend to Thornton Park/South Eola. Nothing too special, but decent infill.

Yeah ... They have torn down all the awnings over all of the shops ... Hopefully to replace them with something that matches the arena facade better. They were previously horrendous metal things with clashing colors so that's an unexpected but welcome change.

Wasn't someone just saying how hideous that building was to be across from the arena? Haha.

[prahaboheme]

I think it's unfortunate that FUMCO is going to demolish the building adjacent to the Grand Bohemian Hotel and convert that parcel into 86 parking spaces. This seems completely unnecessary with the city parking garage across Rosalind, and the Plaza garage across Church. They say it is going to be temporary, but that could mean anything. With the PAC nearly under construction, it is nice to think that this area will be parking lot free in a few years and FUMCO really ruins that.

[John Hargrove]

Amway Center

FUMCO

[tc01]

Are those color pole lights in front of the Amway Center ?

[John Hargrove]

Are those color pole lights in front of the Amway Center ?

Not sure. All the renderings I've seen show them only lighting up white.

[John Hargrove]

Hoping to get some pictures this coming weekend. Spent all last weekend dealing with some medical issues (my right hand randomly became partially paralyzed .. and still is. i'm on a treatment), but I hope to spend this weekend grabbing some photos!

[John Hargrove]

[tc01]

Thanks for the update, I was woundering when somome was going to give us an update, keep up to good work. So I guess the way it looks, they are going with the ladder look for the parking lot. Why did they change it ? it looked nice the with the city of Orlando logo.

[DeepEyez]

That ladder thing really looks lame to me, I don't like it one bit.

[prahaboheme]

It's a bit disappointing -- the rendering with the city logo on the garage was quite nice. I wonder what happened..

[mrh3]

It's a bit disappointing -- the rendering with the city logo on the garage was quite nice. I wonder what happened..

I bet the engraging costs were pretty steep. I am curious to know more about the artist, though. I think Orlando could use a bit more public art even if some of it is suspect.

[prahaboheme]

Is the I-4 underpass making any progress? It seems like it's moving at a snail's pace. This really needs to be in working condition for the grand opening and early concerts to make a good first impression.

[prahaboheme]

Loving the night lights:

I can't wait to see this with the spire lit up!

Edited August 17, 2010 by prahaboheme

[tc01]

I heard on the news that the I-4 underpass construction will be finish around Oct 1, 2010

[John Hargrove]

Seven Eleven @ 55W

Amway Center

First United Methodist Church of Orlando (FUMCO)

I-4 Underpass Improvements

Orlando Urban Trail

[tc01]

Thanks for the update, downtown is doing some good upgrades, and hopefully much more to come in the future. I did not realized how big the I-4 underpass construction was.

[DeepEyez]

I thought the I-4 underpass project was not going to happen. For some reason, they seemed to be taking their sweet time as opposed to the Amway Center.

I guess they want to finalize both at the same time.

[prahaboheme]

Church Street landscaping is fantastic -- I hope at some point the city addressing the streetscaping issue along N. Orange Ave.

[John Hargrove]

A particularly pretty sunset today ... taken from my living room: