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Orlando City Place


Jaybee

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Perhaps a better and cheaper use of the space would be to turn the parking lots under the interstate into urban basketball courts, or even a skatepark. Basketball courts are typically hard to come by in any city's downtown and these could turn dark, desolate areas into park-like spaces with shade, ensuring that pick-up games will continue deep into the summer. In addition, their unique location would attract Parramore residents, downtown residents and workers, possibly helping to bridge the socioeconomic gap.

bic, this is really a great idea. Something so simple and relatively inexpensive could really make a significant impact.

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Why are we even talking about burying I-4 through downtown anyway?

While it would be a great idea to open up downtown and reconnect both sides, this is an engineering nightmare.

Case in point, Boston's Big Dig, the burying of the city's outdated elevated expressway

This is project that began in 1991-1992 and was projected to cost about 2.2 billion dollars and take roughly 4-5 years

The Big Dig is still very much under construction in 2006 and has cost Boston taxpayers more than 14 billion dollars and counting

The though of doing this here in Orlando in my opinion is impossible, there can't be any feasible way to do it even if it's only just the downtown corridor portion of the road

The cost does not justify it

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Why are we even talking about burying I-4 through downtown anyway?

While it would be a great idea to open up downtown and reconnect both sides, this is an engineering nightmare.

Case in point, Boston's Big Dig, the burying of the city's outdated elevated expressway

This is project that began in 1991-1992 and was projected to cost about 2.2 billion dollars and take roughly 4-5 years

The Big Dig is still very much under construction in 2006 and has cost Boston taxpayers more than 14 billion dollars and counting

The though of doing this here in Orlando in my opinion is impossible, there can't be any feasible way to do it even if it's only just the downtown corridor portion of the road

The cost does not justify it

Why cant they redirect it? I think that is fairly easy to do... I mean you can see some potential routes on the map...

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I'm not sure if there is a way to redirect traffic downtown

I haven't seen anything on a map that would indicate there's much of an option there especially when you think of the close proximity of the 408, how would you gain access to that if I-4 is put underground?

I think we're stuck with it as is and City Place will just have to be that close to the road and be on that side of town

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When the local powers-that-be have already drawn up plans and approved spending hundreds of millions of dollars to widen I-4, which includes the buying up of residential properties along side the current right-of-way to make room for said widening, I don't see much of a chance that anything other than that is going to take place in your or your childrens' lifetimes.

And with regards to my earlier statement/question re: building a public space where nobody goes, that parcel of land is so far outside the core area of downtown which is of course, Orange Ave. to lake Eola, and City Hall to say, the Courthouse/PBLT site, that large numbers of downtown visitors, customers, diners, partiers, etc. etc. wouldn't walk there no matter how spiffy it looked. Even if the Lymmo stopped there it probably wouldn't attract large numbers of people. It's just too far away. You could put in a couple of nice restaurants and maybe a club or something, but it's still a drive-your-car-there-and-leave-when-you're-finished type destination and will be for a long long time.

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It's just too far away. You could put in a couple of nice restaurants and maybe a club or something, but it's still a drive-your-car-there-and-leave-when-you're-finished type destination and will be for a long long time.

Yes, but it's a start. If Presidential Tower went up and other buildings closer and closer to the edge, they will come. They'd only need to build up and closer to I-4 on the West Side.

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people walk from the orena to downtown after orlando magic games all the time. I have frequently walked from the arena to manuels or scruffy murphys to grab drinks after a game, and I'm always accompanied by a very large group of other arena-goers. It's not as far as you might think. It's not a seamless transition, but people are more willing to walk than you give them credit for. If there is something worth checking out at city place people WILL walk from downtown to get there, I fully believe they will.

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  • 1 month later...

Anything new on this, is funding still an issue on this project at all that anyone knows of?

Just occured to me based on looking at downtown through Google Earth today, wouldn't it be great if this project was built on the site of 385 N. Orange, right next to the OC Courthouse on that entire block?

It's not only a comprabale size but I think it's larger than the old Holiday Inn site

Would be great if it was the 3 main towers and perhaps the spa in the middle, could have a nice open courtyard on both sides and would absolutely re-define the skyline on the east side of I-4

Would be one hell of a section of town with OC Courthouse, VUE, Dolive, B of A, Pizzutti and Rdgely Manor (sorry, couldn't resist)

Oh well, one can dream....

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Anything new on this, is funding still an issue on this project at all that anyone knows of?

Just occured to me based on looking at downtown through Google Earth today, wouldn't it be great if this project was built on the site of 385 N. Orange, right next to the OC Courthouse on that entire block?

It's not only a comprabale size but I think it's larger than the old Holiday Inn site

Would be great if it was the 3 main towers and perhaps the spa in the middle, could have a nice open courtyard on both sides and would absolutely re-define the skyline on the east side of I-4

Would be one hell of a section of town with OC Courthouse, VUE, Dolive, B of A, Pizzutti and Rdgely Manor (sorry, couldn't resist)

Oh well, one can dream....

don't forget Dynetech. I say that b/c I keep forgetting about Dynetech myself. this thing's a go and its going and I keep forgetting that we'll be seeing some cranes soon.

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Anybody knows if they are still going to break ground on the first tower (Spa) next month (August)?

who knows. I'm still waiting to see if they ever take the masking tape off the windows of the Lexington. They are just now getting to the central pyramid of the roof. But I will say, that when this is done, the exterior lighting should make it look stunning from I-4.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just a small blurb in the CFB of the sentinel today, but it states that a company has been selected to market the CityPlace project. It still looks like this project is moving forward.

This project seems to get little fanfare for a potential new tallest, even if it is by only a few feet. I really like it though. The impact on the skyline will be huge.

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Just a small blurb in the CFB of the sentinel today, but it states that a company has been selected to market the CityPlace project. It still looks like this project is moving forward.

This project seems to get little fanfare for a potential new tallest, even if it is by only a few feet. I really like it though. The impact on the skyline will be huge.

... and perhaps it will begin a renaisance on the west-side of I-4. Are the FAA "restrictions" the same as on the east side? Maybe there can indeed be scrapers on the west-side.

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  • 2 weeks later...

But would residents walk east to Orange Ave?

this goes back to what I and someone else had mentioned a while ago-- why not alter the sidewalks under I-4 and promote businesses to go there to get more foot traffic there. fill in the parking with 1 story bldgs with deli's, etc., and turn a liability into an asset. Or, beautify and light up the underside big time. I don't know... put something there that can work and link E and W together.

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this goes back to what I and someone else had mentioned a while ago-- why not alter the sidewalks under I-4 and promote businesses to go there to get more foot traffic there. fill in the parking with 1 story bldgs with deli's, etc., and turn a liability into an asset. Or, beautify and light up the underside big time. I don't know... put something there that can work and link E and W together.

Best Idea yet! Call it the Pseudo Underground!

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