Hypothetical: A second "Lake Eola Urban Park"

[Boomer136]

Just an observation on one of the original problems cited about the Farmers' Market I think the new space at Eola and Washigton is not being used well. If the walkways were broadened to allow for tents on either side of a walkway (like the size of the bridge) the whole corner would be about the size of the Hippie Faire in Rio. Right now they put out fences to prevent tents setting up on the grass. That is I'm sure to protect the grass but I'm unsure why such large lawns are desired over an obvious support of a weekly event. You could still play soccer and throw a frisbie or football in the lawn space even after lined with tents.

 

[Jernigan]

I think it will happen but only at the speed of development around the lake.   So far there is the hotel...

[sunshine]

I was driving around downtown and make me wonder.... they assembled a huge plot of land right next to "creative Village" to build a school. Can they not assemble another plot of land in Paramorre area to create a central park?

As for the farmer market, Lake Eola has became a very popular park in Orlando. Most of the time it is crowded. Can the city build a permanant Market place ala Chelsea market? Or move the farmer market to the fron of the performing art centre to move the people around?

[FLheat]

Since they are building the Soccer stadium on top of what used to be a park around a retention pond, I think the area warrants another park nearby.  Unfortunately I think it would be a hard draw to get vendors to move from its current location.  The farmers market has moved several times over the past 15 years with the current location finally being the most successful.  I think the shade cover of Lake Eola is it's greatest asset.  It would be too hot to relocate somewhere like the Seneff Plaza, people would not want to linger.

[John Hargrove]

Agreed, the current Farmer's Market location is pretty good ... 

More parks would be a good thing. I like that idea.

[sunshine]

Lake Dorna is getting a mini makeover, it can be a downtown Eola park if the city has some vision instead of making it a local park.  If the park is designed right, it will improve the neighbourhood, but that doesnt seem to be the case here.

Secondly, can they move the executive airport out to lake nona and create a real Central Park with museums on that land?

[spenser1058]

It's interesting to me that folks are always trying to move Herndon Airport (Orlando Exec, if you must) when it's one of the prime selling points to the movers and shakers who decide whether to relocate downtown or not. Flying private and convenient access to the office is one of the great perks of the 21st century as anyone who has ever read a John Grisham novel knows.

[sunshine]

Well, that airport has been there forever, downtown Orlando is not exactly filled with block and block of office towers. Per your logic, area around Fashion Square Mall or Semoran should be developed with block of offices but yet they are not. Office buildings are being built at Lake Nona, Lake Mary and UCF area.
With Orlando agenda of growing Lake Nona into a suburban sprawl-land, so I think they should take the airport with them.

And as for downtown Orlando, looking at the google map, this is the only big piece of land that can give an impact of a central park that every world class cities have.

[JFW657]

That is a huge chunk of land. Would cost the city a huge amount of money to convert it from its current use to a park with recreational facilities. Right now it's making money for the city so I doubt you'll see the airport moving out of there any time in the foreseeable future.

[spenser1058]

41 minutes ago, sunshine said:

Well, that airport has been there forever, downtown Orlando is not exactly filled with block and block of office towers. Per your logic, area around Fashion Square Mall or Semoran should be developed with block of offices but yet they are not. Office buildings are being built at Lake Nona, Lake Mary and UCF area.
With Orlando agenda of growing Lake Nona into a suburban sprawl-land, so I think they should take the airport with them.

And as for downtown Orlando, looking at the google map, this is the only big piece of land that can give an impact of a central park that every world class cities have.

In fact, Koger Executive Center behind Fashion Square was one of the first and largest office parks in the area (after Orlando Central Park, I think).

[metal93]

I say keep Orlando Executive, but it needs an extensive redesign. It's a little too sprawling and could certainly be compacted. It would be great if the various companies can move their operations into a centralized area instead of being all over the place. Imagine a real and large terminal building at the end of Herndon Avenue, with a parking garage to take care of parking demand, and a lynx station built in. It would be great if the City and the private airlines/charters could reach some kind of agreement like that.

I've made a rough map of what could be done, let's say all air operations are moved into the red area (a good amount of them already are here), and open up the green areas for park spaces. Using an area calculator, the big green area along Crystal Lake Drive is about 82 acres, this excludes the Orlando Festival Park and other empty land on the other side of the road which it could tie into. The green area on the lower left is the Kittinger Park and possible expansion, beefing it up to 18 acres. The massive area on the right is about 200 acres, and if the Expressway Authority and City of Orlando could relocate its facilities out of that area, it adds an additional 25 acres. Adding Park of The Americas and the rest of the land beyond (another 25 acres), you can have a huge 250 acre park, the only issue besides the obvious airport noise would be that it would be kind of isolated.

[spenser1058]

One challenge that may crop up is that, since the infamous Champ Williams Kruggerrand (sp?) scandal, GOAA has been operated by the state rather than the City. Certainly, Buddy is a member of the Authority but other appointments are by the governor and recent choices have been anything but community-oriented. I'm not certain how this would impact any changes - parts of Herndon (OEA) have been made available for park space in the past.

[popsiclebrandon]

2 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

One challenge that may crop up is that, since the infamous Champ Williams Kruggerrand (sp?) scandal, GOAA has been operated by the state rather than the City. Certainly, Buddy is a member of the Authority but other appointments are by the governor and recent choices have been anything but community-oriented. I'm not certain how this would impact any changes - parts of Herndon (OEA) have been made available for park space in the past.

This post made me google Champ Williams. Wow that is a crazy story.