Hourglass District

[Jolly Roger's Crackers]

On 9/24/2020 at 5:56 PM, orlandoguy said:

It fosters a sense of community and place for what previously was a unique-if-boring amalgam if upscale neighborhood (Bel Air), middle class residences (Lake Como), and nondescript county residential (south of CF) - dotted with businesses that were nothing special. Now I actually patronize the businesses in this district

Wow...that's harsh....but good for you.

23 hours ago, JFW657 said:

The project is out of scale with its surroundings and doesn't fit the overall "feel" of the neighborhood.

I'd like to have seen the old garage building reno'd and turned into a nice, friendly little establishment.

And the car wash conversion completed, too.

Those would have constituted a major improvement that also fit in.

Agreed.

22 hours ago, codypet said:

Its way out of scale for the neighborhood

Yes it is.

12 hours ago, HankStrong said:

As someone who has an investment property here, I agree it's a tad out of scale, but I think complaining about what it is replacing is just nuts.

You are taking away mostly GARBAGE and replacing it with retail and housing for people who are actively interested in improving this neighborhood.

Got it.

11 hours ago, JFW657 said:

I can't agree with you there, Hank. Certainly in its present state, the old garage is trashy looking. But the building has some character and could easily be renovated into something exceptional Surround it with the proper landscaping, put the parking in back and you'd have something that not only preserves the history of the neighborhood, but retains the character of it as well.

This.

10 hours ago, jack said:

As an outsider, it looks and feels very nice. 

Also this.

I am resigning from this topic for now.  My feathers have been "in a bunch" for a couple of days (for other reasons)....and I mean no disrespect to anyone. I have lived in the downtown Orlando "area" for a long time. Some changes I welcome. Others I do not. We can all agree to disagree (or vice versa). Have a nice weekend (and get on your damn bicycles and go for a ride). Cheers. JRC.

Edited September 26, 2020 by Jolly Roger's Crackers

[AmIReal]

Orlando's Black Rooster Taqueria is opening another location in Curry Ford West

In the old ABC liquor spot.

https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2020/11/13/orlandos-black-rooster-taqueria-is-opening-another-location-in-curry-ford-west

[codypet]

With and outdoor patio and all.  Good move.

[Jernigan]

Trump warned us about a taco stand on every corner if he wasn’t elected 

[Jolly Roger's Crackers]

 

On 11/14/2020 at 7:49 AM, AmIReal said:

In the old ABC liquor spot.

 

Passed by there today. Looks like all the retail spots have transparent "roll-up" garage door store fronts. Interesting concept (I guess). We shall see. Cheers.

[codypet]

A lot of Floyd's locations are in ancient gas stations and they make use of the roll up door.  Too bad they couldn't get the old Phillips 66 across the street that's currently ACE cash advance.  I was bummed ABC left the neighborhood after 60+ years on that corner.  I'm just glad it didn't sit abandoned.

[Jolly Roger's Crackers]

Yeah...I remember the car dealership that is now a Floyd's on Mills Ave (I pass by it on Urban Trail bike rides often). It was a used car lot with a garage (with the rolling door). I'm happy the ABC building is getting recycled.  That ABC was my go to "refreshments" store for many years. There wasn't any room for them to expand there (aka the ABC Superstore on South Orange Ave) so I reckon it was eventually doomed anyway.  I'm just glad they repurposed the existing ABC structure. Cheers.

[spenser1058]

Another winner on Curry Ford West’s Restaurant Row in the strip center with @JFW657 ‘s favorite Winn -Dixie, according to Scott J.:

https://www.scottjosephorlando.com/reviews/190-peruvian/5454-papa-llama

The cuisine is Peruvian and they call it Papa Llama. The design firm that set up the interior seems to have done a great job given the location at a plaza somewhat past its prime.

[spenser1058]

Mixed-use project with 250 apartments coming to Bumby and Curry Ford:

https://bungalower.com/2020/12/21/mixed-use-project-coming-to-hourglass-district/

From Bungalower 

 

The architects are Baker Barrios (can this town not afford anyone else)?

 

 

[JFW657]

A group called Slice Creative Network, who are from what I understand, a collection of COVID unemployed artists and scenic designer types, got together and with sponsorship from local businesses, designed and built 5 Christmas themed photo backdrops where you can go and pose in front of and have someone take your pic. And they are decorative, too. 

This is the location map:

On my daily afternoon walk today, I took some pics....

Hawaiian "Mele Kalikimaka" theme....

I was going to go back tonight and take a short video of this one all lit up, but I don't feel like it.

Maybe tomorrow night.

"Winter Wonderland" theme....

"Christmas Song Stroll" theme...

One of the trees fell over in this one. 

I tried to stand it back up but the trunk was in two pieces and it started bending so I said screw it.

"Cosmic Christmas" theme....

There was another one over on the east end of the Winn Dixie plaza, but I didn't feel like walking all the way over there and honestly, it's not that great anyway.

https://www.facebook.com/curryfordwest/

.

 

Edited December 22, 2020 by JFW657

[codypet]

It's a cute effort.  I have to hand it to them because they really are trying to engage the community in what is effectively a very suburban area.  The maze they made a while back was cute as well.

@spenser1058

Related to the apt complex, I'm not surprised they scaled this back.  I recall mentioning somewhere I felt like that was going to happen, and that was the intention all along.

[spenser1058]

10 minutes ago, codypet said:

It's a cute effort.  I have to hand it to them because they really are trying to engage the community in what is effectively a very suburban area.  The maze they made a while back was cute as well.

@spenser1058

Related to the apt complex, I'm not surprised they scaled this back.  I recall mentioning somewhere I felt like that was going to happen, and that was the intention all along.

The weird thing to me is that when you go back over our older and historic buildings we had a plethora of award-winning architects. Now, whenever a new building or project is announced, it’s Baker Barrios and... and... and...

Maybe we offer our architecture firms an endless run now like we do our mayors. Heaven knows their visions (or lack thereof) are similar.

[spenser1058]

On 11/17/2020 at 6:34 PM, Jolly Roger's Crackers said:

 

Passed by there today. Looks like all the retail spots have transparent "roll-up" garage door store fronts. Interesting concept (I guess). We shall see. Cheers.

Well it turns out the Black Rooster in the old ABC will be accompanied by... a Floyd’s! So the chat about roll up doors above may have been quite prescient.

Black Rooster Taqueria, Floyd’s 99 Barbershop to share Hourglass District building
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-cfb-hourglass-district-black-rooster-floyds-20210108-ivijwc4tineyff3fhom2xqiuuy-story.html 

From The Sentinel 

[Jernigan]

Curry Ford West is seeking an executive director again.   Seems like more of a revolving door than most main streets 

[spenser1058]

5 minutes ago, Jernigan said:

Curry Ford West is seeking an executive director again.   Seems like more of a revolving door than most main streets 

Oh my. I vote for @codypet !

[codypet]

3 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

Oh my. I vote for @codypet !

I thought about it I assure you. But I think there's a lot on my plate right now. Maybe the next time it comes up. Considering it is a revolving door

[FLClarkKent]

A few quick updates from my local 'hood:

Floyd's is officially open in the old ABC space. Signage is also up for Black Rooster.

The small plaza that's home to Pizza Bruno has received a nice facelift.

We now have Curry Ford West banners, which look nice.

Most importantly, Dairy Queen has Thin Mint Blizzards available for a limited time. 

[codypet]

14 minutes ago, FLClarkKent said:

A few quick updates from my local 'hood:

Floyd's is officially open in the old ABC space. Signage is also up for Black Rooster.

The small plaza that's home to Pizza Bruno has received a nice facelift.

We now have Curry Ford West banners, which look nice.

Most importantly, Dairy Queen has Thin Mint Blizzards available for a limited time. 

The pentacostal church vacated the Pizza Bruno Plaza so now there's a big 'ol spot available for something.  If this district keeps up this pace of improvement, I see Wells Fargo pulling what they did at Sand Lake and OBT or Suntrust did at Michigan and Delaney and build a smaller branch and lease out a the remainder of the parcel.  Although, I do believe in both those cases, that was prompted by Walgreen's.  So maybe not.

[JFW657]

Looks like something is about to get built at 2017  E. Kaley, a couple of lots west of  where the last townhomes went up.

Don't know if it will be multi-family or  not.

Pretty big parcel, though so I'm guessing more townhomes.

Maybe someone who's familiar with the county permitting lookup can find something.

[AndyPok1]

These are lots that were bought by Duke from the Zombie House Flipping show.  He built his personal home around the corner on Hourglass Lake about 4 years ago and has been virtually single-handedly redoing that entire area of Cloverlawn.  My guess is that it will be 2 big ~700k houses since that's largely been his MO.

[AmIReal]

This project at the corner of Bumby and Curry Ford was mentioned previously (https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2020/09/22/apartment-project-hourglass-district.html) , but I don' think they have presented the development to the City yet.

Regardless, they are requesting demo permits- https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2021/08/10/florida-orlando-international-drive-apartment.html?cx_testId=40&cx_testVariant=cx_11&cx_artPos=0#cxrecs_s

[spenser1058]

Scott J says the pizza from Brad’s Underground is really good but whether you’ll ever get to have one is an open question:

https://www.scottjosephorlando.com/reviews/67-pizza/5768-brad-s-underground

 

[AndyPok1]

On 9/29/2021 at 11:40 AM, spenser1058 said:

Scott J says the pizza from Brad’s Underground is really good but whether you’ll ever get to have one is an open question:

https://www.scottjosephorlando.com/reviews/67-pizza/5768-brad-s-underground

 

Insert my usual rant about how Scott Joseph is a pretentious twat who doesn't do NEARLY enough (I would argue any) research before he just writes random things.  The main appeal of Brad's is that its an authentic/good Chicago Deep Dish like Lou Malnatis that Orlando otherwise doesn't have beyond the crap that is Uno.  So of course he orders a thin crust

The one that set me off the most about him was like 4 years ago when he reviewed Church St Tavern (what became Pepe's next to Marys), which by the decorations was VERY obviously a Pittsburgh bar/restaurant... and proceeded to make a whole fuss about why there were french fries on the sandwich.  When if you know anything about localized cuisines/traditions, you know that Primanti Bros is a Pittsburgh institution and the sandwiches were copying them.  Plus, there's Primantis in South Florida, so its not even that localized of a thing anymore.  AND EVEN MORE... googling "pittsburgh french fry sandwich" gives you all the detail you need without even needing to click a link.

I'm very tough on journalism, and I believe bloggers are just a new era of journalism.  I firmly believe in, "If you're putting your name on something, make it count."  I've often taken upwards of 15-30 minutes to make a post on this very forum because I cross reference OCPA/permits/google/etc because if I'm making a point, I want it to be as accurate as I can make it.  This is why I used to get in fights with Bungalower and the Downtown South facebook page and why I'm banned from the Wadeview Park Facebook group (which I really feel they shouldn't be allowed to do since I live here but y'know).  They don't take the time for excellence in their publishing.  And I get it, it's a business.  You can't spend 3 hours on every post, there's marketing and economics.  But I just can't excuse it.  Be best.

[spenser1058]

15 minutes ago, AndyPok1 said:

Insert my usual rant about how Scott Joseph is a pretentious twat who doesn't do NEARLY enough (I would argue any) research before he just writes random things.  The main appeal of Brad's is that its an authentic/good Chicago Deep Dish like Lou Malnatis that Orlando otherwise doesn't have beyond the crap that is Uno.  So of course he orders a thin crust

The one that set me off the most about him was like 4 years ago when he reviewed Church St Tavern (what became Pepe's next to Marys), which by the decorations was VERY obviously a Pittsburgh bar/restaurant... and proceeded to make a whole fuss about why there were french fries on the sandwich.  When if you know anything about localized cuisines/traditions, you know that Primanti Bros is a Pittsburgh institution and the sandwiches were copying them.  Plus, there's Primantis in South Florida, so its not even that localized of a thing anymore.  AND EVEN MORE... googling "pittsburgh french fry sandwich" gives you all the detail you need without even needing to click a link.

I'm very tough on journalism, and I believe bloggers are just a new era of journalism.  I firmly believe in, "If you're putting your name on something, make it count."  I've often taken upwards of 15-30 minutes to make a post on this very forum because I cross reference OCPA/permits/google/etc because if I'm making a point, I want it to be as accurate as I can make it.  This is why I used to get in fights with Bungalower and the Downtown South facebook page and why I'm banned from the Wadeview Park Facebook group (which I really feel they shouldn't be allowed to do since I live here but y'know).  They don't take the time for excellence in their publishing.  And I get it, it's a business.  You can't spend 3 hours on every post, there's marketing and economics.  But I just can't excuse it.  Be best.

Tell it, Brother Andy! I thought the thin crust looked quite tasty (although I am partial to it anyway).

Edited September 30, 2021 by spenser1058

[AndyPok1]

Yeah I mean, it looks good, and he did say it was good.  But its not a... wait a month to get pizza.