55 West

[nite owℓ]

@camstrang Welcome & thanks for sharing your journey. I don't think his advice was meant to be a dig per se, but downtown leased spaces seem to experience a revolving door of businesses opening and later closing (unfortunately). Regardless, I don't think anyone is trying to rain on your parade and you obviously know what you're doing if you've been around for 17 years

Care to share a few pics of the space before/during/after? I love renovations/architecture and it would be interesting to see what you do with the space. We have a photo thread that might be suitable for that. Much success & continued growth to you.

Edited September 2, 2017 by nite owℓ

[dcluley98]

23 minutes ago, camstrang said:

Quite a presumption you made about my company and staff if you don't think we know what kind of work environment fits our culture and business. We've been in the design and construction process on the new space at 55 W for a year now with plenty of input and buy-in from our team. Everyone's excited about the move, but thanks for your advice.

[Now remembers why I don't post on this board.]

Let me just say I mean no offense to either you or your employees, but given the history of the space itself, I was implying I hope you do well and stay in business there. A lot of tenants have come and gone.

I am sorry if that was too forward.

 
 

9 minutes ago, nite owℓ said:

@camstrang Welcome & thanks for sharing your journey. I don't think his advice was meant to be a dig per se, but downtown leased spaces seem to experience a revolving door of businesses opening and later closing (unfortunately). Regardless, I don't think anyone is trying to rain on your parade and you obviously know what you're doing if you've been around for 17 years

Care to share a few pics of the space before/during/after? I love renovations/architecture and it would be interesting to see what you do with the space. We have a photo thread that might be suitable for that. Much success & continued growth to you.

Thank you Nightowl!  That was exactly what I meant. 

[smileguy]

3 minutes ago, dcluley98 said:

Let me just say I mean no offense to either you or your employees, but given the history of the space itself, I was implying I hope you do well and stay in business there. A lot of tenants have come and gone.

I am sorry if that was too forward.
 

Thank you Nightowl!  That was exactly what I meant. 

I see it as a whole different thing.  @camstrang is putting in an office, where people come everyday for work. He has relatively predictable expenses and revenue, just as he does now in Winter Park.  In the case of a restaurant or bar, there are many more variables to profitability, from location, to event schedule, to quality of food and number of people passing on the street (not to mention that second floor locations are much harder because nobody passes by on the street.) 

I'm happy that the space is filled and the area will have more folks coming and going, no matter what the interior looks like (and it sounds like a nice place to work to me.) 

[JFW657]

39 minutes ago, camstrang said:

Quite a presumption you made about my company and staff if you don't think we know what kind of work environment fits our culture and business. We've been in the design and construction process on the new space at 55 W for a year now with plenty of input and buy-in from our team. Everyone's excited about the move, but thanks for your advice.

[Now remembers why I don't post on this board.]

Looks like you might have a halfway decent view of the Tremont Tower construction site.

If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion/request (that would make you a U.P./Orlando rock star)...

Maybe set up a webcam in one of your south/west facing windows and point it at the site with a link to it? 

Just a suggestion.... 

[camstrang]

10 hours ago, smileguy said:

I see it as a whole different thing.  @camstrang is putting in an office, where people come everyday for work. He has relatively predictable expenses and revenue, just as he does now in Winter Park.  In the case of a restaurant or bar, there are many more variables to profitability, from location, to event schedule, to quality of food and number of people passing on the street (not to mention that second floor locations are much harder because nobody passes by on the street.) 

I'm happy that the space is filled and the area will have more folks coming and going, no matter what the interior looks like (and it sounds like a nice place to work to me.) 

Thank you. My business is 17 years old, I know what I'm doing haha. The only reason I posted the details about the build-out design is because a lot of the people on this board are interested in architecture and design, and what types of businesses are coming and going. An established media company is replacing a bar. That's notable.

Our employees are, on average, mid-20s. Very different from the lawyer and bank offices a few blocks away. It's interesting to see the demographic shift on this part of Church, honestly. With Uproar and the co-working spaces on this block, most of the lunchtime foot traffic is trendy kids rather than accountants in suits. To me, that bodes well about the continued evolution of this part of Church. It'll be interesting to watch the next couple of years. 

9 hours ago, JFW657 said:

Looks like you might have a halfway decent view of the Tremont Tower construction site.

If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion/request (that would make you a U.P./Orlando rock star)...

Maybe set up a webcam in one of your south/west facing windows and point it at the site with a link to it? 

Just a suggestion.... 

Once it crests 15' we'll have a perfect view of it, and while maybe not mounting a webcam, I'll definitely post regular pics. 

Edited September 3, 2017 by camstrang

[Jernigan]

I thought of the Uproars, PlanSources and PowerDMSs when I read your post.  You are in great company.  Cheers to your continued success there.

[John Hargrove]

@camstrang Fantastic addition to the area. I dreamed of opening an office in one of these Church Street buildings for quite some time. Not just because I lived in 55 West and wanted to put a permanent end to loud bars outside my window! Unfortunately my software consultancy has not grown to the size where we can afford that type of space (or even require that size of an office.), and we relocated to Winter Garden earlier this year. On the bright side, despite its scarcity, office space is still cheaper out here.

Ever since the Exchange started filling up with tech I thought Church Street would be a good place for a strip of technology/marketing/digital agency type places. Retail and bars certainly don't seem to last.

Good luck and thanks for posting here.

[John Hargrove]

On 9/2/2017 at 0:56 PM, dcluley98 said:

I am sorry if that was too forward.

Wasn't really "forward" so much as it was presumptive, dismissive and somewhat hostile. Not a great way to greet someone coming out of lurker status. This board would be better off if we weren't scaring off people with this type of communication.

 

[JFW657]

1 hour ago, John Hargrove said:

Wasn't really "forward" so much as it was presumptive, dismissive and somewhat hostile. Not a great way to greet someone coming out of lurker status. This board would be better off if we weren't scaring off people with this type of communication.

Oh yeah??????? 

Sez you, buddy!!!!! 

(just kidding) 

[Jernigan]

Just figured out you changed your handle on here.    Have to ask, since I googled to see who this new name was, are you the Sea World trainer?

[John Hargrove]

No, however I do receive constant praise and/or harassment via Twitter that is directed toward him. 

[dcluley98]

I guess I should dispense with the "welcome and good luck" part and jump straight on into the presumption and offending next time. 

[Jernigan]

1 hour ago, John Hargrove said:

No, however I do receive constant praise and/or harassment via Twitter that is directed toward him. 

Ha - you wouldn't be the only Orlando UPer in the news of late

[orlandoguy]

Oooo ... any more details?

[John Hargrove]

A certain professor from UT I'd imagine ... 

[nite owℓ]

Let sleeping dogs lie, lest we bring unwanted media attention scouring this forum for inflammatory comments lol

[spenser1058]

Oh my

[HankStrong]

Weird.

[jrs2]

...maybe not the smartest thing to do on I-4 in a construction zone in downtown, but, hey, it's a dirty job...

So, here we go.  type of blue-grey on the garage.  you should see the north facade right now.  It is offset with a sand color with no browns in it.  The tower itself is another type of grey- maybe a hint of blue-grey which I believe will be offset with the same sand color that the garage will have.

[JFW657]

At least they aren't painting it white.

[popsiclebrandon]

That is so bland you don't even notice the building anymore. Maybe that's good but odd choice.

[alex]

Maybe it's the angle, but it already looks sleeker and less stumpy.

[JFW657]

12 minutes ago, alex said:

Maybe it's the angle, but it already looks sleeker and less stumpy.

Probably is the angle combined with the relatively close proximity.

From far away it will still look squatty.

A better designed roof feature or crown would've gone a long way towards minimizing that appearance.

[jrs2]

The more I think about it, it really looks like they are trying to "match" it with CSP, knowing that Lincoln may probably build Tower 2, which would look similar.

Notice how it almost matches The Plaza behind there at first glance.  It's almost like they want a series of buildings with blue, grey, glass, and silver in them, stretching from Magnolia to Amway.

Another thought is that a lighter color palette seems to be in right now.  The earth tones from the mid-2000's seem to be out of style right now.  I've seem it with townhomes, houses, and even hotels that have been renovated.  Maybe that's what it's about.

I'll take a photo, but if you are on Church and you look up at 55W right where the panels being painted touch the molding, i.e., the transitional pieces to the bricked areas, it looks like it could work.

Edited February 21, 2018 by jrs2

[spenser1058]

Back during the Frederick administration, when Mayor Bill was all about the ambience of downtown (emphasizing the swan motif, for example, and trying to get "water features" at new buildings to mimic Kansas City), there was an "Orlando Palette" which grew out of an architectural charrette, I think, which tended to lean toward lighter colors as the look for Orlando. Architects and designers seemed to follow its recommendations for quite a while, although I have no idea if it's still a thing but this color scheme is much closer to that ideal than the original paint job.