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its ok . its an upgrade to what we have now. Why are we so used to saying that. When are we going to be "jaw-dropping" wowed in this town?

That being said...your first impression coming in from the parking lot is very under-whelming. Looks "back-of-house"-ish. Not something grand and inspiring. The nicer side in the other building isn't really appreciated until you exit onto the park area? Seems ass backwards. I hope ive got it all wrong. They also look like two diff and distinct building. Could have atleast given it the same panel treatment to tie the 2 buildings together.

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I love it. So glad they're keeping the original building exterior intact. The outcropping on the side looks a little too much like a utility shed or equipment room, but overall, I'm happy with it.

I just wish that whoever produced that video would have extended the "fly around" so that we could've gotten a better idea of the continuity between the old section and the new.

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The building itself, while underwhelming from the renderings, looks like it will look a lot better in person.  I only wish the parking area was converted into an outdoor exhibit area or more park area to replace the portion that the extension to the building will take over.  It is some of the only park space that serves North Quarter residents. An outdoor sculpture garden would be really cool, like a better version of what is in the plaza in front of the Orange County Regional History Museum.  It is already difficult to drive in that area for most people, so providing off property parking and asking people to walk over may be in their favor.  They'd need a car park sharing agreement with local business/property owners (like that red high rise, the DoubleTree, etc.) because there isn't any public lots or garages nearby that I know of, but it wouldn't be impossible to accomplish.

 

A kosher cafe or deli would also be an interesting inclusion.  It could be located in the green space between the museum and Ivanhoe Blvd near the main entrance.  It'd connect the museum to the road and local area more directly by reaching out to the street.

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17 minutes ago, WAJAS98 said:

Something I never understood about Orlando: Why do we have a miniature Statue of Liberty in the middle of an intersection?  It's just... odd.

It was part of a Boy Scouts program nationwide for the bicentennial. There's 200 of them spread around the country. 

I think it's charming and unique. A better placed plaque explaining why it's there could be handy nearby.

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It was definitely a BSA project along with the Jaycees but it goes back to the '50's. It replaced an earlier WPA fountain that was a huge orange at one point.

The fountain, according to urban legend, was notorious for squirting passersby which probably led to its replacement.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-09-30/features/os-joy-wallace-dickinson-0930-20120930_1_orlando-s-statue-lady-liberty-cheney-highway

From the Sentinel

 

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Don't see an Ivanhoe thread so this is close enough. I'd get your trips into M Lounge now. This sounds realllllllly bad.

From Growthspotter:

The Medical Village of Mount Dora was one such property. Majors Investments bought the bank-owned, 50,000-square-foot building through an affiliate in 2013 for $1.3 million.

After converting it to Class A medical office space, Majors sold the property two years later to a healthcare REIT operated by California-based Griffin Capital and American Healthcare Investors for $16.3 million. At the time, it was purported to be 97 percent leased.

Griffin-American is now suing Majors and his long-time business partner, Jeffrey Cannon, accusing the two of fabricating tenant leases to facilitate sale of the property. The allegations, if true, are devastating.

Many of the so-called phantom tenants were solely owned or controlled by Cannon or members of his family, according to court records. Cannon owns a consulting company but has no medical degree.

At the time, Cannon’s consulting company and Majors maintained offices in the same building at 2106 N. Orange Ave. In the lawsuit, Griffin-American said that when it began making demands for back rent from delinquent tenants in 2016, numerous checks “came pouring in” all signed by Cannon or his brother-in-law, all drawn from different accounts at the same bank, and all with the same 2106 N. Orange Ave. address.

The lawsuit describes a scheme to defraud that was so elaborate Cannon and Majors staged at least five suites with furniture in the lobbies and front office, “but there was little or no medical equipment, patient records or other signs of occupancy.”

Two of the defendants, Vista Clinical Diagnostics and dermatologist/osteopath F. Christopher Manlio, did file defenses. Both asserted in their case filings that they never leased office space in the Mount Dora Medical Village, and that their signatures had been forged on both the leases and estoppel certificates.

Vista Clinical CEO Davian Santana said in court documents that he had been negotiating a lease with Majors in late 2014 but decided not to execute the contract because “the property appeared to be largely vacant.”



http://www.growthspotter.com/news/office-real-estate-developments/gs-medical-village-story-20180501-story.html#nt=oft13a-1gp1

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  • 2 months later...

Two-way avenue conversion & 'complete streets' to be studied for North Quarter

http://www.growthspotter.com/news/transportation/gs-city-of-orlando-to-study-change-to-roads-in-north-quarter-neighborhood-20180706-story.html

I cannot access this article but as the title suggests, there is a study underway to assess conversion of North Quarter Orange Ave to a two-way street.  This sounds like a fantastic idea, IMO, in order humanize this stretch for Orange Ave and promote pedestrian uses.

Maybe someone else can access the article and provide more details.

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Article is focused on retail and walkability, which is sorely needed.  Discussion was there about public parking necessity and the lack of viable tenants for the ground-floor retail spaces due to lack of parking, traffic, and one way streets making it inconvenient for the people who do not live within walking distance to patronize business. All of this is true. the actual "walkability" of those who live in apartments and condos in the NQ is quite good. They said that it is difficult to cross one way Orange, which is not true. It is easy to cross Orange and that is counter to another point made that there is not enough traffic on North Orange to support retail. It IS difficult to cross Colonial. That and the parking is why the businesses fail, not walkability. Once you are in NQ, it is very walkable and somewhat cozy.

Quote from the article makes me hopeful: "They'll try to reach a consensus on what the streets and intersections should look like for everyone from motorists to cyclists, pedestrians, business owners and residents."

I think 2- waying   Orange and Magnolia north of Colonial would be a great idea, but still keep it somewhat directional with more lanes Southbound on Orange and more lanes Northbound on Magnolia, I would love to see protected bike lanes too, but that means street parking would suffer. RE: the garage to serve the area, it is a Chicken vs. Egg thing. The businesses say they need parking to draw more traffic, but they won't put a garage there unless there is draw for people to go there. Several restaurants have rotated in and out. Shin is the best sushi place in downtown, and it is still kicking, but would do much better if it was in CBD. Retail in Sevens (or whatever it's called now) has all been vacant for over a year. They should focus on getting an urban grocery, bodega, or Walgreens/CVS, or something to keep the people here rather than trying to build a garage and get traffic from other areas. Really, it is about making it a destination for those that can walk the area, and the large hotels on Ivanhoe. Focus on the walkability, not the parkability/drivability, you will never win that game. 

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1 hour ago, prahaboheme said:

Two-way avenue conversion & 'complete streets' to be studied for North Quarter

http://www.growthspotter.com/news/transportation/gs-city-of-orlando-to-study-change-to-roads-in-north-quarter-neighborhood-20180706-story.html

I cannot access this article but as the title suggests, there is a study underway to assess conversion of North Quarter Orange Ave to a two-way street.  This sounds like a fantastic idea, IMO, in order humanize this stretch for Orange Ave and promote pedestrian uses.

Maybe someone else can access the article and provide more details.

Interesting, downtown Fort Lauderdale is considering going one-way.

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58 minutes ago, Dale said:

Interesting, downtown Fort Lauderdale is considering going one-way.

Not on Las Olas, I hope?

59 minutes ago, dcluley98 said:

Article is focused on retail and walkability, which is sorely needed.  Discussion was there about public parking necessity and the lack of viable tenants for the ground-floor retail spaces due to lack of parking, traffic, and one way streets making it inconvenient for the people who do not live within walking distance to patronize business. All of this is true. the actual "walkability" of those who live in apartments and condos in the NQ is quite good. They said that it is difficult to cross one way Orange, which is not true. It is easy to cross Orange and that is counter to another point made that there is not enough traffic on North Orange to support retail. It IS difficult to cross Colonial. That and the parking is why the businesses fail, not walkability. Once you are in NQ, it is very walkable and somewhat cozy.

Quote from the article makes me hopeful: "They'll try to reach a consensus on what the streets and intersections should look like for everyone from motorists to cyclists, pedestrians, business owners and residents."

I think 2- waying   Orange and Magnolia north of Colonial would be a great idea, but still keep it somewhat directional with more lanes Southbound on Orange and more lanes Northbound on Magnolia, I would love to see protected bike lanes too, but that means street parking would suffer. RE: the garage to serve the area, it is a Chicken vs. Egg thing. The businesses say they need parking to draw more traffic, but they won't put a garage there unless there is draw for people to go there. Several restaurants have rotated in and out. Shin is the best sushi place in downtown, and it is still kicking, but would do much better if it was in CBD. Retail in Sevens (or whatever it's called now) has all been vacant for over a year. They should focus on getting an urban grocery, bodega, or Walgreens/CVS, or something to keep the people here rather than trying to build a garage and get traffic from other areas. Really, it is about making it a destination for those that can walk the area, and the large hotels on Ivanhoe. Focus on the walkability, not the parkability/drivability, you will never win that game. 

Thank you for the detailed description.  I think 2-way streets tend to work well when it is 2 lane street (1 lane in each direction) such as Park Ave or Central Ave.  I would say that these are two of our best examples of truly "complete streets" in the Orlando area.  Park Ave has been this way for decades, with improvements over the years, while Central has evolved into one with a legitimate street wall in the last 15 years.  I would hope that Orange and Magnolia are both reduced to 2-way streets (1 lane in each direction) to promote a more intimate, neighborhood and "cozy" feel, as you suggest.  I don't think this would have a major impact on traffic patterns, as Orange Ave is already a 2-way street through Lake Ivanhoe and all the way to Winter Park.

Edited by prahaboheme
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8 minutes ago, Dale said:

"“It’s almost like a faux train,” said Broward County Commissioner Tim Ryan, who serves on transportation planning boards.

The idea is in its earliest stages, slowly gaining momentum as officials seek a replacement for the proposed Wave streetcar system. That system would have run from six blocks north of Broward Boulevard to 17 blocks south of it, mostly along Andrews and Third avenues. The project, more than 16 years in the making, was nixed in April."

:tw_smirk:

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36 minutes ago, prahaboheme said:

Not on Las Olas, I hope?

Thank you for the detailed description.  I think 2-way streets tend to work well when it is 2 lane street (1 lane in each direction) such as Park Ave or Central Ave.  I would say that these are two of our best examples of truly "complete streets" in the Orlando area.  Park Ave has been this way for decades, with improvements over the years, while Central has evolved into one with a legitimate street wall in the last 15 years.  I would hope that Orange and Magnolia are both reduced to 2-way streets (1 lane in each direction) to promote a more intimate, neighborhood and "cozy" feel, as you suggest.  I don't think this would have a major impact on traffic patterns, as Orange Ave is already a 2-way street through Lake Ivanhoe and all the way to Winter Park.

Traffic was also too/from I-4 ramp and connector to Edgewater. The local traffic is not that much, but people did get off and on I-4 at Lakeview and Magnolia ramps. It is kind of weird that they are doing a study before the Ultimate project full effects are realized. I would think much would be changed with the final Ultimate revisions and stacking lanes on Colonial 50. There is always a lot of backup turning westbound from Orange onto 50 from the construction projects and SunRail at times. I would think they would want to keep some stacking lanes for the turn and traffic throughput across 50, but north of that intersection, there isn't much of a problem right now. I would say a 2/1 with additional stack at 50 would probably work just fine. North of Park Lake and Marks could have a split road with protected bike lanes to connect the OUT to the pedestrian bridge.  

Another thing to think about is the Lymmo route. There is a dedicated loop that runs here, but I don't ever see anybody using it much.  Taking that up to Ivanhoe Village/Virginia/The Yard would make a lot more sense IMO to have people actually use it. Do you get dedicated lanes that could run all the way up to an area where it would make sense to commute via bus to downtown?  There is a Lymmo stop literally 40 feet from my doorstep and I never have the impetus to use the limited service route even once. It is a ridiculous loop to have it only running  around Magnolia and Orange and then transfer. Make an actual route from downtown Lynx Central/BOA/Courthouse to Virginia and people might actually give it a shot. As it is now, I don't think anybody actually uses it. Total waste of funds. Would be better off spending the money on dedicated covered bike/pedestrian pathways from NQ/Ivanhoe. Hell, for the upkeep you could even put solar panels on top of them and add some fans/misters/AC so that people could use them year-round despite the usual Florida obstacles of Heat and Daily Showers!  (now that is something I would love to see!)

Edited by dcluley98
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10 hours ago, dcluley98 said:

Another thing to think about is the Lymmo route. There is a dedicated loop that runs here, but I don't ever see anybody using it much.  Taking that up to Ivanhoe Village/Virginia/The Yard would make a lot more sense IMO to have people actually use it. Do you get dedicated lanes that could run all the way up to an area where it would make sense to commute via bus to downtown?  There is a Lymmo stop literally 40 feet from my doorstep and I never have the impetus to use the limited service route even once. It is a ridiculous loop to have it only running  around Magnolia and Orange and then transfer. Make an actual route from downtown Lynx Central/BOA/Courthouse to Virginia and people might actually give it a shot. As it is now, I don't think anybody actually uses it. Total waste of funds. Would be better off spending the money on dedicated covered bike/pedestrian pathways from NQ/Ivanhoe. Hell, for the upkeep you could even put solar panels on top of them and add some fans/misters/AC so that people could use them year-round despite the usual Florida obstacles of Heat and Daily Showers!  (now that is something I would love to see!)

I can vouch for this.  Part of the problem I see is it runs too infrequently.   15mins  is a long time to wait when downtown barely waits 3 minutes.  I use the doublemap map to wait for buses and even then I've found myself either running after the bus in front of the 7's or just deciding to walk downtown.  If it came more frequently, I'd ride it more.

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I’ve used it a few times but it’s  not efficient.   I’d love to see Lymmo blown up and started over.   This isn’t hating on LYNX, they just operate the city’s project.   The city is killing the BRT brand by not having dedicated lanes, by having no smart signals on Magnolia causing drivers to often wait for no bus and buses to wait for no cars, having no solution for the use of Lymmo as a shelter among other things.    They are focusing now on going green and automating/electrifying it but what’s the point if it’s this bad now?   

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They seem to not even enforce people driving on the dedicated bus lanes.  This same thing happens on I-drive on their BRT lanes.  They need pylons.  Rather than go bi directional in NQ, they should dedicate the BRT lanes.   Have Lymmo go opposite of the regular traffic on the separated BRT lane. 

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I think making Orange and Magnolia 2-way (1 in each direction) with an additional BRT and Bike lane on each going opposite directions would be a good idea. The fourth lane on each can be used for parking during off peak hours and a third general use game during rush hour.

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