500 N Orange Ave Renovation | 5-story mixed use/office renovation [Under Construction]

[codypet]

@smileguy And you didn't pay the cat tax?

Explanation for the uninitiated.

[JFW657]

43 minutes ago, codypet said:

@smileguy And you didn't pay the cat tax?

Explanation for the uninitiated.

  

[TRENCH]

Todays view 

[codypet]

[spenser1058]

5 minutes ago, codypet said:

Oh my!

[jrs2]

[JFW657]

She's naked!!!!!        

[codypet]

Edited June 9, 2022 by codypet

[dcluley98]

Stupid, sexy Flanders. . . 

[IAmFloridaBorn]

18 hours ago, jrs2 said:

Massage this ugly thing under construction this morning when I was driving around downtown. I didn't know what the hell was going on

[codypet]

This thing might be done in really short order.  Considering how fast the skin came off.

[codypet]

[Gtothree2748]

From last Friday.. Featuring society in the background. 

[jrs2]

^^

because of it's utilitarian "skin" this thing looked more or less like a wall all these years with no sense of scale and perspective.  Look at it now; the lines exist now ala perspective, ala a "real" building versus a non-descript box.  I did not realize how big of an impact changing this building would have on that block.  it looks like a "real" building now even as a skeleton.  Great shot above.

[prahaboheme]

Keeping the concrete (polished up) exposed under a translucent glass would be a cool effect.

[TRENCH]

Today 

[JFW657]

Wouldn't it be just so "Orlando" if something were to go wrong with the financing, work were to stop and we ended up stuck with that bare skeleton for the next decade?

Or two....   

[jrs2]

2 hours ago, JFW657 said:

Wouldn't it be just so "Orlando" if something were to go wrong with the financing, work were to stop and we ended up stuck with that bare skeleton for the next decade?

Or two....   

I don't think anyone will "like" your comment for fear of jinxing the project, LOL.

But you're right.  Man I really hope it goes as planned b/c I never visualized how much of an impact this would have in the area if improved...

as is, it actually resembles the average Chicago brick & concrete warehouse (sans the brick).  I think its the dimensions of the "rectangles;" they are very Chicago.

[dcluley98]

It would look better like this than what was there previously. 

LOL.

 

They are not losing funding.  The tenant is the federal government. The developer has the construction loan secured for the completion of this unless the United States default in the next 2 years. (I'll leave that up to you all to argue about). 

Edited June 30, 2022 by dcluley98

[dcluley98]

One of the other more interesting things of this re-development is that because it was a reno / adaptive re-use, they did not have to comply with as strict rules of development.  They had to comply with some MPB and ARB rules, but not stupidity like vacant ground-floor retail and other expensive non-functional stuff to build it. 

So, we get a functional office building with a very stable tenant and hundreds of actual in-office/come and go to office workers DT close to the courthouse and other adjacent properties. The GF retail of walkable properties nearby such as "Radius" and the revolving door SkyHouse place (the seem to be doing better now) and the Sevens/North Quarter may do better just because of the influx of activity. 

@ChiDev may be able to better elaborate on the economics of adjacent demand. 

As I have said before, it is somewhat of a fool's errand to require GF retail when the demand is not there and the cost to maintain prohibits any tenants from being viable.  

This code is not very thoughtful of actual use and results, in service of a cookie-cutter ideal of urban planning.  I hope that perhaps this project will show that a bit. 

@ChiDev may not like us tree-hugging ground-walkers anyway.  .  . 

Edited June 30, 2022 by dcluley98

[JFW657]

1 hour ago, dcluley98 said:

It would look better like this than what was there previously. 

LOL.

Sadly, that is true.  

[JFW657]

On another note:

Regarding those old palm trees in front out on Orange Ave which probably date back to he 50's... I would imagine that their days are numbered too.

Have to check the last rendering to see if there's any indication of sidewalk improvements and new trees, I guess. 

 

***************************

Looks that way.....

[spenser1058]

35 minutes ago, JFW657 said:

On another note:

Regarding those old palm trees in front out on Orange Ave which probably date back to he 50's... I would imagine that their days are numbered too.

Have to check the last rendering to see if there's any indication of sidewalk improvements and new trees, I guess. 

 

***************************

Looks that way.....

I think those are from Mayor Langford’s Orange Ave streetscape in the ‘70’s. We learned a few things about them: they provide little to no shade, they’re buggy and fronds kept falling on people.

Mayor Bill’s early ‘80’s version (when the library was expanded in the mid-80’s they went with a similar format) was somewhat more successful using deciduous trees that were leafy when it tended to be hot and then the leaves fell as the cooler weather left pedestrians wanting sunshine.

It also gave us our own sense of place - no matter how much transplanted northerners think otherwise, we ain’t South Florida and don’t wish to be. Orange trees once made that difference clear, but after the ‘80’s freezes, we had to go with Plan B.

Most if you will never know what the fragrance of thousands of acres of orange blossoms in the spring was like, but it was something unique to only a few places in the world, including us.

Edited June 30, 2022 by spenser1058

[JFW657]

1 minute ago, spenser1058 said:

Mayor Bill’s early ‘80’s version (when the library was expanded in the mid-80’s they went with a similar format) was somewhat more successful using deciduous trees that were leafy when it tended to be hot and then the leaves fell as the cooler weather left pedestrians wanting sunshine.

Those trees are Drake Elms.

I remember reading about them in the Sentinel back in the 80's when the streetscape was underway.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulmus_parvifolia_'Drake'  

Don't know if I'd credit Bill Frederick for choosing them, though. 

[spenser1058]

6 minutes ago, JFW657 said:

Those trees are Drake Elms.

I remember reading about them in the Sentinel back in the 80's when the streetscape was underway.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulmus_parvifolia_'Drake'  

Don't know if I'd credit Bill Frederick for choosing them, though. 

Not specifically- he just hated the palm trees and left the rest up to staff. I know you think this is impossible but some politicians see things that don’t match the vision they have for their communities and ask for solutions. That’s why they have staffs.

Then there are those who are oblivious to what’s around them and do nothing. It’s the difference between Casselberry and Winter Garden.

Edited July 1, 2022 by spenser1058