Cool Stuff in Other Cities

[spenser1058]

Fox Sports announcer’s solution to the problem of the Trop: “Blow up this place”.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2019/06/01/bert-blyleven-twins-rays-tropicana-field/1311933001/

From USA Today

[dcluley98]

15 hours ago, prahaboheme said:

Really hope this whole thing pans out for Tampa. It could finally be the type of project to turn the tide.

I'm with you on that!  Having grown up in the bay area (kinda), Tampa was always like this city with great potential that had a downtown that was dead and dilapidated that nobody wanted to ever live in or even visit really unless they had to. Now it is shaping up to be something that can be truly great with the riverwalk and all the new development. And St. Petersburg has really grown into a great, interesting downtown, where it used to just be where old people lived and there was a pier and some parks to go to. 

What is so cool about this is that if the whole HSR thing does actually happen, we could have a real powerhouse in the Nation of truly connected Urban cities. Tampa Bay/Orlando/Miami and it will benefit ALL of us! 

[spenser1058]

1 minute ago, dcluley98 said:

I'm with you on that!  Having grown up in the bay area (kinda), Tampa was always like this city with great potential that had a downtown that was dead and dilapidated that nobody wanted to ever live in or even visit really unless they had to. Now it is shaping up to be something that can be truly great with the riverwalk and all the new development. And St. Petersburg has really grown into a great, interesting downtown, where it used to just be where old people lived and there was a pier and some parks to go to. 

What is so cool about this is that if the whole HSR thing does actually happen, we could have a real powerhouse in the Nation of truly connected Urban cities. Tampa Bay/Orlando/Miami and it will benefit ALL of us! 

Don’t worry, dcluley - Manatee County is the next BIG thing!

[dcluley98]

34-story condo tower planned for the heart of downtown Tampa

The 80-unit Arris is expected to rise at the corner of Ashley Drive and Twiggs Street on what is now a surface parking lot. At 34 stories, it would be among the tallest condo towers in the Tampa Bay area.

"Downtown Tampa has a new level of excitement and vibrancy that people across the country are noticing,'' Jay Tallman, president of Ascentia Development Group, said in a release. "Arris Tampa will be a beautiful architectural statement that adds to the downtown skyline, and residents will have world-class art, restaurants and entertainment just steps from their front door.''

Sarasota-based Ascentia and Batson-Cook Development are joint venture partners in the tower, which would overlook Curtis Hixon Riverfront Park, the Hillsborough River and the minarets of the University of Tampa.

http://www.tampabay.com/business/34-story-condo-tower-planned-for-the-heart-of-downtown-tampa-20190606/

 

I wish we could get a taller, well designed "statement" building like this. 

[Uncommon]

11 minutes ago, dcluley98 said:

34-story condo tower planned for the heart of downtown Tampa

The 80-unit Arris is expected to rise at the corner of Ashley Drive and Twiggs Street on what is now a surface parking lot. At 34 stories, it would be among the tallest condo towers in the Tampa Bay area.

"Downtown Tampa has a new level of excitement and vibrancy that people across the country are noticing,'' Jay Tallman, president of Ascentia Development Group, said in a release. "Arris Tampa will be a beautiful architectural statement that adds to the downtown skyline, and residents will have world-class art, restaurants and entertainment just steps from their front door.''

Sarasota-based Ascentia and Batson-Cook Development are joint venture partners in the tower, which would overlook Curtis Hixon Riverfront Park, the Hillsborough River and the minarets of the University of Tampa.

http://www.tampabay.com/business/34-story-condo-tower-planned-for-the-heart-of-downtown-tampa-20190606/

 

I wish we could get a taller, well designed "statement" building like this. 

Zoi House?

[dcluley98]

Yeah, Zoi house would be nice, but hasn't been approved yet. The architecture is not as good as this project and it is not in as prominent location. The location of this is overlooking the major DT Tampa park, Riverwalk, Tampa Museum of Art, Children's Museum, Photographic Museum, and the Hillsborough River and University of Tampa in the distance across the river. 

It would be more like if Zoi House was proposed on the southwest corner of Lake Eola that the one City Centre tower was planned for, but with better architecture and more amenities around it. 
 

[spenser1058]

Hillsborough and other Tampa Bay counties to pursue I-275 widening and officially saying NO to Lexus Lanes; Urban neighborhoods don’t want widening at all:

https://www.tampabay.com/transportation/a-fix-for-tampas-i-275-bottleneck-pits-planners-against-neighbors-key-vote-is-near-20190608/?template=amp

From the St Pete Times 

Edited June 8, 2019 by spenser1058

[spenser1058]

Tampa General Hospital is coordinating with the USF Medical School on a downtown Tampa “medical district”.

Maybe we need to get OH/AH and UCF on that for Orlando. I like that idea a lot more than VMC...

Downtown Tampa needs a 'medical district,' hospital CEO says

https://www.tampabay.com/health/downtown-tampa-needs-a-medical-district-hospital-ceo-says-20190606/

 

(Via Tampa Bay Times)

[smileguy]

On 6/9/2019 at 7:37 AM, spenser1058 said:

Tampa General Hospital is coordinating with the USF Medical School on a downtown Tampa “medical district”.

 Maybe we need to get OH/AH and UCF on that for Orlando. I like that idea a lot more than VMC...

 Downtown Tampa needs a 'medical district,' hospital CEO says

 https://www.tampabay.com/health/downtown-tampa-needs-a-medical-district-hospital-ceo-says-20190606/

 

(Via Tampa Bay Times)

Ours is out in Lake Nona!

[spenser1058]

Most folks don’t know that Jacksonville once had the largest passenger train terminal in the South. If you were going to or from peninsular Florida it was almost impossible to avoid.

It sat empty for close to two decades but, even as the city brought it back to life as a convention center, much of it still goes unused.

Heading north on Interstate 95 it can be seen, a huge vision from the past just north of the junction with Interstate 10.

https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/the-hidden-tunnels-of-union-terminal/

As always, Ennis Davis goes in-depth about this amazing building.

From The Jaxson

 

 

 

Edited June 13, 2019 by spenser1058

[spenser1058]

The latest on St. Pete’s new Pier:

https://www.tampabay.com/st-petersburg/the-st-pete-pier-is-expected-to-open-next-spring-but-the-restaurant-at-its-end-will-be-delayed-20190619/?template=amp

From the St Pete Times 

[dcluley98]

Man, I miss going to the Columbia in the Pier. 

Great real Tampa Bay classic in the old waterfront setting. I remember going there as a kid and walking through the parks and down the pier with the old up-side-down pyramid.   

[spenser1058]

So, if you have half-a** attendance what do you do? Play half your season some where else!

The Tampa Bay Expo Rays?

[spenser1058]

Meanwhile, the cannons speak for war. Civil War. Broadsides are already firing across Tampa Bay.

The St Pete Times is not amused. Central Florida is looking peaceful and serene these days compared to the Gasparilla Gang...

The Rays launch a Montreal missile. Don't let it divide Tampa Bay.

https://www.tampabay.com/opinion/editorials/the-rays-launch-a-montreal-missile-dont-let-it-divide-tampa-bay-20190620/

 

(Via Tampa Bay Times)

[Uncommon]

6 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

So, if you have half-a** attendance what do you do? Play half your season some where else!

The Tampa Bay Expo Rays?

Montreal Ex-Rays

[spenser1058]

Reading between the lines in this column from the Hartford Courant’s sports columnist about the impending move of UConn to the Big East conference, one quickly realizes football simply doesn’t matter. 

This comes as a shock to exactly no one - other than Boston College, there just isn’t a significant P5 team north of New York.

As the Yankees are so happy to tell us silly Southerners, they’re fine with that. After all, when the Patriots do so well year after year in the big leagues, who needs the NCAA?

Coming from a family that’s been in the South for almost 250 years and college football fans for the better part of a century, I could beg to differ. (If you’re curious how a Southern team would handle the deemphasis of football, see UAB.)

Nevertheless, it’s a valid point and one Tampa Bay needs to take to heart - based on attendance, Floridians simply don’t care much about MLB. (They don’t care much about the minor leagues, either: the FSL single-A and even the Jax double-A teams pale in success compared to teams like the Nashville Sounds.)

What UConn has demonstrated so clearly is that regional preferences  differ. They’re moving on and maybe we should, too. It’s not like Florida is lacking in other civic priorities.

https://www.courant.com/sports/hc-sp-uconn-big-east-column-20190623-w4s4rlneqfbjpbtjqvbqalrkim-story.html

Edited June 23, 2019 by spenser1058

[smileguy]

As we talk about the exterior finishes on The Piano, it came to my attention that one of the new supertalls (247 Cherry St.) coming to the Two Bridges area of Manhattan's Lower East Side will be clad in green terracotta. I think it looks stunning.

 

[spenser1058]

Orlando is taking a pass on the current kerfuffle between the Rays and whoever wants them:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/orange-county/os-ne-tampa-bay-rays-orlando-20190626-q5c2udvm7ndv3mmuwqxhocbuiq-story.html

From the Sentinel 

[Uncommon]

16 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

Orlando is taking a pass on the current kerfuffle between the Rays and whoever wants them:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/orange-county/os-ne-tampa-bay-rays-orlando-20190626-q5c2udvm7ndv3mmuwqxhocbuiq-story.html

From the Sentinel 

Sucks. I’d be in favor of a Tampa-Orlando split much more than a Montreal split.

[dcluley98]

 Very cool article on SCAD in Savannah. I know we don't have a dedicated A&D public school in Orlando, but hope that UCF/VD and Creative Village can create an environment downtown similar to this.  Art, Design, Business Creativity, Technology, and young people with ideas can drive vibrant growth and great things downtown, with population, energy, and a disruption to the old "status quo" ways of doing things. 

https://www.worth.com/city-2019-savannah/

 

[AmIReal]

11 hours ago, dcluley98 said:

Very cool article on SCAD in Savannah. I know we don't have a dedicated A&D public school in Orlando, but hope that UCF/VD and Creative Village can create an environment downtown similar to this.  Art, Design, Business Creativity, Technology, and young people with ideas can drive vibrant growth and great things downtown, with population, energy, and a disruption to the old "status quo" ways of doing things. 

https://www.worth.com/city-2019-savannah/

Thanks for the great article. I love the impact the school has on Savannah. A true gem of the south.

[spenser1058]

31 minutes ago, AmIReal said:

Thanks for the great article. I love the impact the school has on Savannah. A true gem of the south.

I have long believed that what SCAD did in Savannah rehabilitating old buildings downtown is something we should emulate in our core historic district along Orange Avenue. Whether it be a side project for UCF (I’m reminded of USF picking up the pieces of New College in Sarasota), Valencia or even Rollins or Buddy using the Buddy pulpit to rustle up philanthropists like the late Harriet Lake to seed it, this needs to happen. 

It especially needs to happen before the State Bank and Trust building succumbs to demolition by neglect.

[spenser1058]

Some beautiful old schools at risk in Duval County:

https://www.thejaxsonmag.com/article/five-historic-schools-dcps-still-plans-to-demolish/

From The Jaxson

Jacksonville was a much more populous place than we were back in the heydays of these schools but it set me to thinking of facilities we’ve lost and saved as a comparison:

Kept: Marks St., Princeton, Grand Avenue, Orlando High (Howard), Lakeview, Kaley, Cherokee, Delaney.

Lost (torn down): Concord Park, Memorial, Winter Park Elementary, Orlando Elementary.

Lost (due to fire or other disasters): Hillcrest, whatever the school where Radius is going.

There are some like Gotha, Tildenville, Maitland JHS and Winter Park JHS that I can’t remember if they’re still there or not. There were also an Ocoee Elementary, JHS and high school . One of those three may still be there along Bluford. The front of Callahan is still there but the rest was replaced in the ‘70’s.

Oddly, Boone and Edgewater are from another generation of construction but they’re coming up on 70 years old now also. 

St. James’ downtown is a Catholic school but a wonderful old school kept in terrific shape.

This is by no means exhaustive, just what came to mind. Please feel free to add to the list.

 

Edited June 30, 2019 by spenser1058

[spenser1058]

It’s not just the theme parks rolling out major expansions this year. The Seminole Tribes of Florida have major additions coming to their gaming facilities in both Tampa and Hollywood this fall, with enough bling to even make Vegas pay some attention.

https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2019/07/01/seminole-hard-rock-casinos-in-tampa-and-hollywood-prepare-to-open-new-22-billion-expansions

From Orlando Weekly 

[orlandouprise]

just got back from Miami...man they are on a whole 'nother  level. Brickell is breathtaking. The skyline coming into Miami from Miami Beach on the 836 looks like a mini Manhattan!