Church Street Plaza | 28-Story Office/Hotel [Phase 1 Under Construction]

[Dale]

2 minutes ago, bqknight said:

Confirm - no. But the OBJ article says 28. 

*fingers crossed*

[Jernigan]

Coincidentally learned today that in the past iteration of this project, Fairwinds had sent out an internal email that not only was the building going to have their name on it but the train station would be renamed too.   Hard to believe they would have gone away from Church Street as a name but thought it was interesting.

[metal93]

How long has it been known as Church Street Station? The building is almost 130 years old... I can't imagine it being called anything else, and I shudder to think of the possibility of it being named Fairwinds Station. Nothing against Fairwinds though.

[WAJAS]

39 minutes ago, metal93 said:

How long has it been known as Church Street Station? The building is almost 130 years old... I can't imagine it being called anything else, and I shudder to think of the possibility of it being named Fairwinds Station. Nothing against Fairwinds though.

I'd be fine with Fairwinds Church Street Station or something similar.

[JFW657]

I thought they were building a new train station as part of Tremont Tower.

Wouldn't that be the one they're talking about and that the 130 year old building would not be renamed?

Or am I confused?

[HankStrong]

New being a relative term.

 

Re-working the existing station would be a better phrase.  That station is already an oddball on the route.  This CLAIMED to integrate the station into the building in some fashion.  They made it sound like it was indoors, but with this sort of train and the other use of this track, that's delusional. 

[Jernigan]

OK I'm on board that this is happening - at least that they are serious.   They picked up and PAID for their permit today.    Until now, it was issued but still owed a few thousand to pick it up.    With as much talking as they've done I was waiting to see that fee get paid.

Cant wait.

[orange87]

I don't know the proper terms, but they said "vertical construction may begin in November." Does that mean that construction will begin on this in November, or does it mean that construction will start before November (digging etc.) and the height part of it should begin in November?

[cwetteland]

29 minutes ago, orange87 said:

I don't know the proper terms, but they said "vertical construction may begin in November." Does that mean that construction will begin on this in November, or does it mean that construction will start before November (digging etc.) and the height part of it should begin in November?

The original quote was basically, in the ground by June 1 and vertical by November.  So they missed the first milestone.

[jrs2]

still no movement on site...

[RedStar25]

I did notice that the parking lot has been vacant for a while. 

[Dale]

This is like Charlotte's Tryon Place. Tryon Place was announced in 2014 to start in 2015. It was the "transformative project" to catalyze a building boom.

Although there are reports of substantial leasing -- and there are reasons to believe it will go ahead -- the site remains barren while Charlotte booms around it.

[Jernigan]

Lincoln has taken over the ballroom, Cheyenne, Orchid etc.

The ballroom will be demoed (They aren't taking bookings for after the end of the year) and a new ballroom will be included in the new project.

[codypet]

Wow!  What a loss.  I didn't think they'd go through with it.

[spenser1058]

I had always looked forward to what a Bob Snow owned and/or operated hotel would have been like for this space. Hopefully whatever the result might be won't be too generic.

[orange87]

1 hour ago, codypet said:

Wow!  What a loss.  I didn't think they'd go through with it.

I agree. It's a very elegant looking building. Orlando has a serious problem of not preserving it's historical buildings. While I believe the ballroom was built in the 1980's (which wouldn't make it considered historic), the building is about 30 years old (which certainly isn't new) and few decades from now it would have been considered a beautiful historic building. It's really a shame.

[JFW657]

I think it was built in the early 90's.

Very late 80's at the earliest.

[prahaboheme]

This is quite disheartening, if true.  An adaptable reuse of this space would have been a no-brainer in most cities.

[jrs2]

Okay, so If Tremont is going to demo the Ballroom now, then what are they planning to build on that property?  Are they going to make it a two tower project with a ballroom underneath the second tower?

[orange87]

4 minutes ago, jrs2 said:

Okay, so If Tremont is going to demo the Ballroom now, then what are they planning to build on that property?  Are they going to make it a two tower project with a ballroom underneath the second tower?

Yes. Two towers were being considered, and with this new news I guess this means they do indeed plan on building two towers now.

http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2017/04/19/exclusive-dual-tower-concept-being-considered-for.html

27 minutes ago, prahaboheme said:

This is quite disheartening, if true.  An adaptable reuse of this space would have been a no-brainer in most cities.

It indeed is disheartening because it's a beautiful building, but if they end up putting a 300+ foot tower there I think I won't mind as much.

[Boomer136]

There is no decently sized convention space downtown. The ballroom had horrible logistic problems and the lower half was never finished. Salvage the furnishings an build something that can compete! I yearn for the day to see folks with convention credentials walking the streets of downtown.

[HankStrong]

Having been there for a few events, it wasn't horrible, but it wasn't a historic monument that needs to be kept for all time.  It was more the furnishings than the facility that made it a nice place.

[sunshine]

I am not in convention business, why cant we use Amway or Dr Phillips as convention space?

[Boomer136]

Too big, too small, and not enough breakouts. Both facilities have been used for convention events, but, like Microsoft MGX, attendees were bussed in from the attractions area for a general session and then bussed back out after the session ended. All trade show, training and regional meeting activities took place at the OCCC. All the vast majority of attendees saw of downtown was through the window of a coach. 

So it's not just the big meeting of everybody that event planners need, but all these other  rooms for a true convention. Amway and Dr. Phillips are too big, and too expensive for a group that could stay downtown, or they are too small only having these large single purpose rooms, not to mention that these facilities would be getting away from their primary missions. And then, not enough small (space for 50-100) rooms to soak up the seperate activities of your thousands of attendees you have in your general session.

Convention space really is a way to get people into hotel rooms, and hotels cut really good deals for the space depending on how many rooms you fill. So a hotel with enough convention space has to have a lot of hotel rooms, though frequently they are able to charge a premium for people to stay at the "convention hotel" while expecting other attendees to stay nearby and commute, hopefully close enough to walk for area businesses.

I could see a downtown convention hotel attracting a convention needing the Carr/DPCPA/Steinmetz for the general session because they have maxed out their convention space, but it's the smaller meeting rooms, or more likely the multiple large ballrooms that can be cut to size with airwalls that lands meetings.

[JFW657]

We used to have a downtown exposition center....

  --> 

....attached to a hotel, no less.

Pretty small potatoes, but it was something.