The Plaza

[bulldogger]

Thats strange I was lead to believe the theater would be open by november. Thats a bummer if its delayed...

That would suck big time for the theater as the leadup and actual week of Christmas is one of the biggest movie going times of year. If they open in February, they won't get a good pop until Memorial Day weekend.

[FrigginGr8est]

Any word on when the residential tower will be completed? I need to start collecting bottles and cans to get the deposits back so I can pay for my unit.

[mrh3]

That would suck big time for the theater as the leadup and actual week of Christmas is one of the biggest movie going times of year. If they open in February, they won't get a good pop until Memorial Day weekend.

You're a smart one bulldogger! We like that!

[pip]

Thats strange I was lead to believe the theater would be open by november. Thats a bummer if its delayed...

I just cant see how the theatre and restaurants will be open by Oct or even November from walking by the site. Feb. seems more realistic to me. But, I so want to be proven wrong!

[orlandonative]

I just cant see how the theatre and restaurants will be open by Oct or even November from walking by the site. Feb. seems more realistic to me. But, I so want to be proven wrong!

The theater hasn't even been priced yet.

[bboehlert]

The theater hasn't even been priced yet.

Friggin. I called the sales office a couple of weeks ago and they told me January for the residential closings. I expect they will push that ahead if possible, to February. They have till the middle of March technically, but they won't to go that far.

[FrigginGr8est]

Friggin. I called the sales office a couple of weeks ago and they told me January for the residential closings. I expect they will push that ahead if possible, to February. They have till the middle of March technically, but they won't to go that far.

Thanks for the info, much appreciated!

[hagsonthehill]

Everybody should start writing nasty letters to Cameron Kuhn. Really let him have it for being such a third rate piker and sticking us with yet another disappointing, unimpressive looking stub on our city's skyline. Screw that fat shmuck. If he couldn't afford to build it right, he shouldn't have built it at all.

Wow - pretty angry words. I'm thinking anyone who would call another person a "fat schmuck" really isn't angry about the skyline.

I come from NYC and let me tell you - there are plenty of "fat schmucks" who have built much taller buildings that are architectural atrocities. Let me tell you - size isn't everything. It's what you do with what you've got and I would love to live in one of those buildings. It's finally starting to look like an actual city!

Thank God for fat schmucks w/ balls -

[hagsonthehill]

I wish he'd leave me out of it. I'm just sitting here minding my own business and trying to run this crazy blueprint machine.

I like that K-Mart sense of humor you have!

[orlandonative]

Not quite sure how i'm supposed to take that. But, welcome to the forum...I guess.

[JRS1]

Wow - pretty angry words. I'm thinking anyone who would call another person a "fat schmuck" really isn't angry about the skyline.

I come from NYC and let me tell you - there are plenty of "fat schmucks" who have built much taller buildings that are architectural atrocities. Let me tell you - size isn't everything. It's what you do with what you've got and I would love to live in one of those buildings. It's finally starting to look like an actual city!

Thank God for fat schmucks w/ balls -

...like Trump, who gave us the Trump World Tower, the big black monolith taking away the Chrysler Bldg.'s glory by its mere presence nearby.

[wally2169]

Friggin. I called the sales office a couple of weeks ago and they told me January for the residential closings. I expect they will push that ahead if possible, to February. They have till the middle of March technically, but they won't to go that far.

Hey man, Solaire is way too short and stubby, there's no doubt about that

However, look at the bigger picture

It adds some great density and will complement everything else going up

It's not perfect by far but downtown will be a better place for it

For the record, I am also annoyed of the stubbiness just not that annoyed

[Dale]

Well, I think it's turning out to look better than I expected. The thing I'm annoyed about is the renderings showed Solaire towering over SunTrust.

[wally2169]

Well, I think it's turning out to look better than I expected. The thing I'm annoyed about is the renderings showed Solaire towering over SunTrust.

True

[UPSDAN]

I don't think it was intended to look like an architectural masterpiece. I think it fits in with Suntrust nicely and is a lot better to look at then what was there. Remember the Solaire was a very affordable project to purchase as well. You will not get TT archtecture for $180,000 per condo. Overall I don't think anyone should complain about this project, it was the catalyst for everything else....

[JFW657]

Wow - pretty angry words. I'm thinking anyone who would call another person a "fat schmuck" really isn't angry about the skyline.

I come from NYC and let me tell you - there are plenty of "fat schmucks" who have built much taller buildings that are architectural atrocities. Let me tell you - size isn't everything. It's what you do with what you've got and I would love to live in one of those buildings. It's finally starting to look like an actual city!

Thank God for fat schmucks w/ balls -

Well then, you haven't spent the past twenty years watching downtown Orlando get stuck with one stubby looking disappointment after another. I understand fully well that the height of a building isn't necessarily the most important thing to consider when judging it's merits, but given the high profile location of that particular building, and taking into consideration the underwhelming heights of the rest of the buildings in the general vicinity, save Suntrust, and considering that it's going to be standing there for a long, long, time, one might be a bit more understanding of the feeling of frustration caused by seeing yet one more added to the list.

It seems like downtown Orlando is the king of 12 - 17 story buildings, so when you get teased with the idea that finally a respectably tall structure is going to go up, then after the thing is well underway, find that it's been redesigned to something less spectacular than advertised, some level of annoyance is to be expected. Nationally syndicated columnist Dave Barry (you may have heard of him) once described downtown Orlando as a place where "the tallest building is about the size of a large Burger King."

Regarding "architectural atrocities", the Solaire is no design award winner by any stretch of the imagination. But as I said earlier, it's not really the height of the building that I don't care for, it's the PROPORTIONS. It is too wide for it's height. It seems as though they might've been able to lessen the "cereal box" look of the thing by adding some kind of architectural element to the roof. Possibly extending those "shoulder pads" on either side up a ways and maybe replacing that flat "baseball cap" visor with something that would visually "stretch" the building up a bit.

I felt at the time of that post, that the biggest reason they didn't do that was to save money... to "cheap out" in other words. To increase the developers profits at the expense of the city's image. That's why I lashed out. I just felt that he kind of "threw us under the bus", possibly for his own personal benefit. Given all the financial incentives he received for doing that project, I feel he kind of owed us something a bit classier looking than what we got.

Regarding your "finally starting to look like an actual city!" remark, be careful. Some folks around these here parts don't much cotton to the notion that Orlando isn't already an actual city. This I know from experience.

And finally, your appreciation of obese men's testicles is something for another forum, don't you think? (Sorry, I just couldn't resist that one. Please forgive me.)

[JRS1]

Well then, you haven't spent the past twenty years watching downtown Orlando get stuck with one stubby looking disappointment after another. I understand fully well that the height of a building isn't necessarily the most important thing to consider when judging it's merits, but given the high profile location of that particular building, and taking into consideration the underwhelming heights of the rest of the buildings in the general vicinity, save Suntrust, and considering that it's going to be standing there for a long, long, time, one might be a bit more understanding of the feeling of frustration caused by seeing yet one more added to the list.

It seems like downtown Orlando is the king of 12 - 17 story buildings, so when you get teased with the idea that finally a respectably tall structure is going to go up, then after the thing is well underway, find that it's been redesigned to something less spectacular than advertised, some level of annoyance is to be expected. Nationally syndicated columnist Dave Barry (you may have heard of him) once described downtown Orlando as a place where "the tallest building is about the size of a large Burger King."

Regarding "architectural atrocities", the Solaire is no design award winner by any stretch of the imagination. But as I said earlier, it's not really the height of the building that I don't care for, it's the PROPORTIONS. It is too wide for it's height. It seems as though they might've been able to lessen the "cereal box" look of the thing by adding some kind of architectural element to the roof. Possibly extending those "shoulder pads" on either side up a ways and maybe replacing that flat "baseball cap" visor with something that would visually "stretch" the building up a bit.

I felt at the time of that post, that the biggest reason they didn't do that was to save money... to "cheap out" in other words. To increase the developers profits at the expense of the city's image. That's why I lashed out. I just felt that he kind of "threw us under the bus", possibly for his own personal benefit. Given all the financial incentives he received for doing that project, I feel he kind of owed us something a bit classier looking than what we got.

Regarding your "finally starting to look like an actual city!" remark, be careful. Some folks around these here parts don't much cotton to the notion that Orlando isn't already an actual city. This I know from experience.

And finally, your appreciation of obese men's testicles is something for another forum, don't you think? (Sorry, I just couldn't resist that one. Please forgive me.)

good point after good point after good point.

regarding cutin' corners, I'm surprised noone has inquired as to how they plan to face the masonary work on the garage.

the biggest problem I see with Solaire is that I don't understand why they didn't stay with Baker Barrios and the first tower design, which was awesome, and instead went with the, what, Atlanta company instead. THat orig. tower was awesome. I know they changed developers or something.

PTP is nice- very nice- in fact I've heard forumers from other parts of the state on another forum actually state, now here this, that they felt that for its size, Orlando had the best assortment of architecture in all of Florida.

Solaire works. But it doesn't super stand out. Vue will. so will Dynetech and 55W and, knock on wood, TT.

What do you mean Orlando isn't already a city?

[JFW657]

PTP is nice- very nice- in fact I've heard forumers from other parts of the state on another forum actually state, now here this, that they felt that for its size, Orlando had the best assortment of architecture in all of Florida.

Solaire works. But it doesn't super stand out. Vue will. so will Dynetech and 55W and, knock on wood, TT.

What do you mean Orlando isn't already a city?

I agree that PTP is nice, especially from ground level. It really gives Orange Ave. a "big city" feel. Finally. And as for the Solaire in particular, it manages to look pretty impressive when viewed from Magnolia and/or Rosalind Ave. It's just the view from Lake Eola and I-4 that tend to disappoint somewhat.

Re: your final question.... I was just referring to a smart remark I made awhile back.

[Violindude]

Well then, you haven't spent the past twenty years watching downtown Orlando get stuck with one stubby looking disappointment after another. I understand fully well that the height of a building isn't necessarily the most important thing to consider when judging it's merits, but given the high profile location of that particular building, and taking into consideration the underwhelming heights of the rest of the buildings in the general vicinity, save Suntrust, and considering that it's going to be standing there for a long, long, time, one might be a bit more understanding of the feeling of frustration caused by seeing yet one more added to the list.

It seems like downtown Orlando is the king of 12 - 17 story buildings, so when you get teased with the idea that finally a respectably tall structure is going to go up, then after the thing is well underway, find that it's been redesigned to something less spectacular than advertised, some level of annoyance is to be expected. Nationally syndicated columnist Dave Barry (you may have heard of him) once described downtown Orlando as a place where "the tallest building is about the size of a large Burger King."

Regarding "architectural atrocities", the Solaire is no design award winner by any stretch of the imagination. But as I said earlier, it's not really the height of the building that I don't care for, it's the PROPORTIONS. It is too wide for it's height. It seems as though they might've been able to lessen the "cereal box" look of the thing by adding some kind of architectural element to the roof. Possibly extending those "shoulder pads" on either side up a ways and maybe replacing that flat "baseball cap" visor with something that would visually "stretch" the building up a bit.

Regarding your "finally starting to look like an actual city!" remark, be careful. Some folks around these here parts don't much cotton to the notion that Orlando isn't already an actual city. This I know from experience.

When I moved here I felt like it was lacking total height but I feel that the density that this new wave of buildings are putting in is great. Alot of the bulidings that are under construction are taller then most of the current ones. i.e. the vue, 55 west, dynetech. While it's sad that cities like Jacksonville and Nashville that have smaller metros then us have got us beat on height we make up for it with a very clean downtown. + we're catching up with commuter rail, new PAC, new arena, fixed citrus bowl. I think Orlando is an awsome city already but it's only getting better.

[bulldogger]

I was watching MNF last night. It was the Raiders at the Vikings. There was a building in Minneapolis that had the same type of crown on the top as the Plaza. It was a singular building that looked like the Bank of America building from Miami with a crown on top like The Plaza. During the daylight shots, I didn't think too much of it. It looked OK, but once the sun went down and they lit up the crown, that thing was magnificent above all the other buildings. I can't wait to see the Plaza lit up at night.

[otowner]

I was watching MNF last night. It was the Raiders at the Vikings. There was a building in Minneapolis that had the same type of crown on the top as the Plaza. It was a singular building that looked like the Bank of America building from Miami with a crown on top like The Plaza. During the daylight shots, I didn't think too much of it. It looked OK, but once the sun went down and they lit up the crown, that thing was magnificent above all the other buildings. I can't wait to see the Plaza lit up at night.

Is that the Target Center? I know which building that is, dont remember the name. The is one of my favorite buildings in the US, looks magnificent especially driving into the city on I35.

[JRS1]

Re: your final question.... I was just referring to a smart remark I made awhile back.

oh, my bad, I forgot to say I was just kidding...

[Tim3167]

Update 8/15/2006

[bic]

Great pictures, thanks.

That Regions Building Plaza, which once looked a bit a bit out of place when Downtown Orlando was more sparse, now looks like genius planning. With high-rise office buildings now forming a wall around it and more eateries filling up the surrounding ground floor retail (especially the new Marketplace at SunTrust), it seems like this plaza could turn into a major lunchtime hangout spot for the white collars.

[bboehlert]

Great pictures, thanks.

That Regions Building Plaza, which once looked a bit a bit out of place when Downtown Orlando was more sparse, now looks like genius planning. With high-rise office buildings now forming a wall around it and more eateries filling up the surrounding ground floor retail (especially the new Marketplace at SunTrust), it seems like this plaza could turn into a major lunchtime hangout spot for the white collars.

On a different note, I recieved the email from the Solaire Sales Center wherein they were trying to upsell the wood flooring. It's nice that they are offering to roll it into the closing price, but I think the wood I was looking at was about 2 1/2 times the price they paid for it