The Edge | 32-Story Mixed Use + SunRail Station [Proposed/Demo Underway]

[orange87]

It's time.

Article: https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2023/03/23/church-street-ballroom-starts-demolition-photos.html?csrc=6398&utm_campaign=trueAnthemTrendingContent&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR3yC-aJLux8vOXDey0z0mbDhYqwEXzQxYS6K1dMhm1wm20umeWygeUan68

[dcluley98]

Was going to go take a photo, but saw you already posted. I will be posting updates periodically on here, as I work in 200 SOA now.

I was expecting to take the skylight down first before going at the building. Thought they had to remove and preserve that to relocate to the City Arts space.  

[Uncommon]

2 hours ago, prahaboheme said:

Please, please, please don’t let this lot sit vacant for another few years post-demo.

I’ll admit that it’ll be change to see this area without the ballroom, a downtown fixture for decades.

I agree wholeheartedly. This is my worst fear. It is such an Orlando thing to tear down this beautiful, old building and let the lot sit vacant for 15 years as funding dried up for The Edge. I don't expect that to happen or anything, but I would be lying if I said this wasn't a very real fear of mine.

[orange87]

1 hour ago, Uncommon said:

I agree wholeheartedly. This is my worst fear. It is such an Orlando thing to tear down this beautiful, old building and let the lot sit vacant for 15 years as funding dried up for The Edge. I don't expect that to happen or anything, but I would be lying if I said this wasn't a very real fear of mine.

Someone on here told me it was built in the 80s, which isn't old in my opinion.

[JFW657]

1 minute ago, orange87 said:

Someone on here told me it was built in the 80s, which isn't old in my opinion.

I think it was built in the 90's.  

[Uncommon]

14 minutes ago, orange87 said:

Someone on here told me it was built in the 80s, which isn't old in my opinion.

According to Orlando Biz Journal link you posted, "Church Street Ballroom, the 23,273 -square-foot iconic building dates back to 1901, according to Orange County Property Appraiser records. It most recently was used as an event venue for weddings and other events, before it was closed in 2019."

[Tim3167]

Yeah that’s wrong. I’m pretty sure that part being demolished was built in the 90s soon after I moved here. I think the 1901 date may be the Bumby Arcade portion.

Edited March 24, 2023 by Tim3167
Add info

[JFW657]

1 hour ago, Tim3167 said:

Yeah that’s wrong. I’m pretty sure that part being demolished was built in the 90s soon after I moved here. I think the 1901 date may be the Bumby Arcade portion.

It was. 

Sun Trust tower, Church St. Market w/garage and the Exchange all went up around '88 - '90. 

The ballroom went up soon after those three opened.

.

Edited March 24, 2023 by JFW657

[dcluley98]

Yeah, odd. Maybe they are talking about the older buildings/facades fronting Church St?  

[F-L-A]

5 hours ago, dcluley98 said:

Yeah, odd. Maybe they are talking about the older buildings/facades fronting Church St?  

Those are staying, right?  

Right?  

*stares in the general direction of Buddy Dyer*

[JFW657]

5 hours ago, F-L-A said:

Those are staying, right?  

Right?  

*stares in the general direction of Buddy Dyer*

Yes, they are staying. 

[Uncommon]

10 hours ago, dcluley98 said:

Yeah, odd. Maybe they are talking about the older buildings/facades fronting Church St?  

Ahh ok then 

[dcluley98]

"OOOOOOHHHHHH, you said 19 NINETY 1, not 19 OH 1. . . Sorry, we're Shills, so going to go with what sounds right" 

- Local "news" reporter

[JFW657]

4 minutes ago, dcluley98 said:

"OOOOOOHHHHHH, you said 19 NINETY 1, not 19 OH 1. . . Sorry, we're Shills, so going to go with what sounds right" 

- Local "news" reporter

Maybe the reporter just fat-fingered the 0 & 9 keys while typing.

After which they were too lazy to proof read it, then their editor missed it, too. 

Typical of the level of quality we've become used to in modern day journalism. 

[jgardnerucf]

Yesterday before game 6:30pm.

[dcluley98]

The glass skylight is gone.   I think they must have removed it last night. 

[codypet]

Was it removed? Or is it in that pile of rubble at the bottom of the building.  Either way.  So long Club Paris, we hardly knew you.

[jrs2]

3 hours ago, JFW657 said:

Maybe the reporter just fat-fingered the 0 & 9 keys while typing.

After which they were too lazy to proof read it, then their editor missed it, too. 

Typical of the level of quality we've become used to in modern day journalism. 

to this board, the number of floors, height in feet, and year something was built is, for the most part, noteworthy and/or worth committing to memory.  it's a stat.  to an average journalist, it's not important (and you would think it would be).  to the average person, it's not either.  when I realized that years ago, I wondered what was wrong with society.  Then I thought there was something wrong with me.  People I knew once called me a window counter b/c while driving by a tall building I would try to see how many stories it was (kinda like that vampire in Dracula 2000 who impulsively has to count every grain of rice before continuing on to kill his next victim).  ADD? Dunno...

1 hour ago, codypet said:

Was it removed? Or is it in that pile of rubble at the bottom of the building.  Either way.  So long Club Paris, we hardly knew you.

Orlando had a good thing going on back then for a minute; rave and the music production.  I feel like regardless of what the media told us about Pearlman, the Hollywood music mafia was behind destroying any traction Orlando had to tap into that market- fad or no fad.  It even attracted Paris Hilton here. Kinda ticks me off.

4 hours ago, JFW657 said:

Maybe the reporter just fat-fingered the 0 & 9 keys while typing.

After which they were too lazy to proof read it, then their editor missed it, too. 

Typical of the level of quality we've become used to in modern day journalism. 

bingo

[jack]

2 hours ago, jrs2 said:

to this board, the number of floors, height in feet, and year something was built is, for the most part, noteworthy and/or worth committing to memory.  it's a stat.  to an average journalist, it's not important (and you would think it would be).  to the average person, it's not either.  when I realized that years ago, I wondered what was wrong with society.  Then I thought there was something wrong with me.  People I knew once called me a window counter b/c while driving by a tall building I would try to see how many stories it was (kinda like that vampire in Dracula 2000 who impulsively has to count every grain of rice before continuing on to kill his next victim).  ADD? Dunno...

But getting something like that so fundamentally wrong causes outrage amongst people that think it is an old building. We all know it was built fairly recently, but the average reader does not. 

FYI Lincoln residential and commercial has split apart. I don't know what that means for this deal, (probably nothing) but may have to do with the delay. 

[RedStar25]

21 hours ago, Uncommon said:

I agree wholeheartedly. This is my worst fear. It is such an Orlando thing to tear down this beautiful, old building and let the lot sit vacant for 15 years as funding dried up for The Edge. I don't expect that to happen or anything, but I would be lying if I said this wasn't a very real fear of mine.

Old? It was built in 1994. By your standards of old I'm ancient!

19 hours ago, Uncommon said:

According to Orlando Biz Journal link you posted, "Church Street Ballroom, the 23,273 -square-foot iconic building dates back to 1901, according to Orange County Property Appraiser records. It most recently was used as an event venue for weddings and other events, before it was closed in 2019."

It was a parking lot before the Ballroom was built in 1994. 

[JFW657]

53 minutes ago, jack said:

But getting something like that so fundamentally wrong causes outrage amongst people that think it is an old building. We all know it was built fairly recently, but the average reader does not. 

FYI Lincoln residential and commercial has split apart. I don't know what that means for this deal, (probably nothing) but may have to do with the delay. 

Yeah, people on Facebook are moaning about what a shame it is that "such a lovely old historic building is getting torn down for an ugly high rise" and how it's "another example of how Orlando destroys its past" etc, etc. 

Silly amateurs....   

[IAmFloridaBorn]

This is great. Glad to see this being torn down. Means I'm gonna be able to get pictures. 

[orlandocity87]

The only historical parts of the building were the decorative additions, e.g., clocks, stained glass, and lighting fixtures rescued from demolished train stations. Hopefully some of that was salvaged. 

[jliv]

On 3/25/2023 at 5:32 PM, IAmFloridaBorn said:

This is great. Glad to see this being torn down. Means I'm gonna be able to get pictures. 

I feel more bittersweet about it.   It was one of the last additions to the overall Church Street ecosystem, before the theme parks got greedy and pulled the tourist dollars back on to their premises.  These dollars were driving an Orlando urban revitalisation in the 1980's and 1990's most cities at the time were envious of.   RIP Ballroom ;(

[jrs2]

2 hours ago, jliv said:

I feel more bittersweet about it.   It was one of the last additions to the overall Church Street ecosystem, before the theme parks got greedy and pulled the tourist dollars back on to their premises.  These dollars were driving an Orlando urban revitalisation in the 1980's and 1990's most cities at the time were envious of.   RIP Ballroom ;(

I thought it was a great venue; been there a handful of times over the years.

If Lincoln could've built CSP 2 across the tracks from CSP1 and partly on top of the empty lot and partly on top of the parking deck there, I would have opted for that instead...but...it is what it is...

I would hang Orlando an effigy but I've seen stuff torn down in Chicago by comparison that boggles the mind; there, Chicago can be seen as a "wasteland of old buildings;" the problem here is that there aren't that many of them...which places more value on each one...this one wasn't that old, but, the City tore down the Cylinder Building at Orange & Anderson a few years ago and that was built in the'70's (I think; I can't remember but @JFW657knows b/c of that big data dump on that and The ATL and Sharky's Machine a couple of years back).