55 West

[prahaboheme]

Great announcement orlandonative. We deserve this project after all the waiting. Do you know if they've made any revisions to the design?

[orlandonative]

Great announcement orlandonative. We deserve this project after all the waiting. Do you know if they've made any revisions to the design?

He didn't mention anything about it. Being so construction oriented I didn't really bring it up too much. I do know that there was no floor revision as far as additional floors as previously suggested on this thread. The biggest thing that suprised me, and nobody has commented on it yet, is that fact that they have considered 4 cranes. I'm actually suprised they are using three. They're also going to be starting the 408/I4 interchange. That whole side of town is going to be nothing but PCL trucks.

Edited December 12, 2005 by orlandonative

[JRS1]

So... what exactly is getting torn down, preserved, and/or built back up again?

Church St. Market is going down. What about the bridge to the south side of Church with those stores in the two-story structure there?

Cranes-- well, 3 is understandable b/c you need one for the garage, and one each for each end of the building. Its a big parcel they are developing.

[Tim3167]

I still need to hear a final height for this thing. The 396' we last heard was before the last crown re-design for pete's sake. It's now listed as 33 stories right? Maybe 400'???

[orlandonative]

I believe they are tearing down everything. Basically if your looking at the building from Church, it starts at Antiguas and stretches to the railroad tracks and back to Pine. Everything that would be behind you from that perspective is also gone, including the bridge. Basically, if it's brick it's gone.

[jack]

Church Street is going to be crazy shortly. anyone know for sure that they've started on the Suntrust food court ?

They are just doing interior work. But should do some exterior work by late Feb.

[JRS1]

that's a LOT of bricks

[orlandonative]

I still need to hear a final height for this thing. The 396' we last heard was before the last crown re-design for pete's sake. It's now listed as 33 stories right? Maybe 400'???

The thing is that even though the crown is higher they sacrificed office space for more units. That being said if the number of new units were enough make up one or two floors worth of volume, the roof height for those floors would have to be lowered. Therefore any height increase gained on top would be lost in the middle. In the end the height would probably be the same. Just my opinion.

Edited December 12, 2005 by orlandonative

[Dale]

They are just doing interior work. But should do some exterior work by late Feb.

Thanks, jack.

[WeNeed2Progress]

I believe they are tearing down everything. Basically if your looking at the building from Church, it starts at Antiguas and stretches to the railroad tracks and back to Pine. Everything that would be behind you from that perspective is also gone, including the bridge. Basically, if it's brick it's gone.

Aww... but the bridge gave the area so much personality.

[sunshine]

they are supposed to expand the bridge and add a restaurant there.

[orlandonative]

Yeah, we'll get a new one but it's nothing like the old one.

[prahaboheme]

Change is good, especially for Church St.

[WeNeed2Progress]

Change is good, especially for Church St.

I definitely agree with that. As long as a new bridge is made, I'll be happy. I'm happy it's even being done! I do like the design of the Esplanade though it has a Barnie's Coffee & Wine Bar.

Oh yea, as for that statement about there being a lot of bricks; they can be recycled. A wall in the Magic Kingdom's Liberty Square is built from bricks salvaged from a building that was demolished downtown. There's some useless trivia for you!

Edited December 13, 2005 by WeNeed2Progress

[radiostatic102]

I really like the 55 West design. It is massive! I like its position in relation to SunTrust. In my mind, I don't think it will make SunTrust appear short. 55 West along with the Plaza is going to help bring some healthy balance to the skyline.

And about Church Street Station - The Exchange was such a fun place to go to back in the days before Downtown Disney. I haven't been there in a long while, though. Does anyone know if it is still open? Is there anything there? I really, really hope that the completion of 55 West will bring back the glory days of Church Street Station. It was a very unique place that didn't deserve what happened to it. I blame Glenda Hood.

Ok I'm stepping down from the soapbox now!

[Dale]

Blah, blah, blah Glenda Hood. I blame her for all of Grant Hill's injuries too.

[prahaboheme]

I really, really hope that the completion of 55 West will bring back the glory days of Church Street Station. It was a very unique place that didn't deserve what happened to it. I blame Glenda Hood.

Start with blaming Disney and Universal. Glenda more or less just sat back and did nothing about it.

[tm68]

Or the [former] owners of Church Street Station who couldn't deliver a good enough product and compete with the times. Baltimore electric, eat your heart out.

[prahaboheme]

Though I suppose we can blame her for cutting deals with Orlando's most infamous crook, who still hasn't delivered on his promises.

[GRS328]

To the longer-tenured resident/forumers, I'm curious - was the death/dying of Church St immediate after the introduction of CityWalk and DT Disney, or was it a somewhat gradual process?

[orlandonative]

Im pretty young so I could be wrong, but I think Church St. started to lose most of it's draw a couple of years prior to the opening of Pleasure Island. I do believe that it was probably the nail in the coffin though. A lot of the lack of appeal has to do with the reidentfication of downtown as a party spot. At that time Church St. lost it's appeal almost at the same time downtown did. In the end downtown regained it's spot by finding the new appeal, and realizing what was once popular had completely outdated itself. Had Church St. been able to do the same I think things might've been different now.

Edited December 13, 2005 by orlandonative

[WeNeed2Progress]

Ironically, Pleasure Island has been gradually losing it's appeal and audience. Even after allowing visitors to walk through it's sreets at night, it has yet to recover as an ultimate night spot. Several of the buildings/ clubs on the lake side of PI are scheduled for demolition and redevelopment sometime next year; or so they say.

[corpkid]

How about Universal's CityWalk? Albeit very touristy, I still enjoy a nice night there with friends... It seems pretty busy while I agree, Pleasure Island can seem dead at times....

[prahaboheme]

How about Universal's CityWalk? Albeit very touristy, I still enjoy a nice night there with friends... It seems pretty busy while I agree, Pleasure Island can seem dead at times....

Citywalk seems to have an appeal that Pleasure Island cannot create. Bringing in the outside venues (Pat OBriens, Margaritaville, Bob Marley's, Hard Rock etc) makes a huge difference, not to mention its genius layout between Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure.

Edited December 14, 2005 by prahaboheme

[bic]

However a couple of Saturday nights ago, I met up with some friends at CityWalk for drinks and was surprised to see that Universal security now ID's everybody entering from the parking garage to ensure that they are over 21. Once inside CityWalk there was hardly anybody walking around and relatively few people inside the various venues. I've become used to CityWalk being dead on a weeknight after the parks close, but for it to be dead during prime time going out hours on a Saturday night was news to me.

It seems like there are far fewer people roaming CityWalk at night now than a few years ago, aside from when the parks close late. Maybe it's just me?