Are there any other Kendall's in Florida

[KendallKid]

I was wondering if any other city had a neighborhood like Kendall which 5 years ago was considered the perfect example for sprawl but is now considered a success story of suburban urbanization.

[bobliocatt]

The Gateway area, between St. Petersburg and Tampa, is beginning to follow a similar pattern of urban development starting to boom in a previous suburban location.

[Topher1]

What makes Kendall unique is the fact that it is transit oriented. While there are lots of examples of former sprawlburbs that are densifying, Kendall remains the singular one that is densifying AND doing it around a major transit line.

In the Miami metro, most of the South Dade metrorail stops are seeing decent urban development. The South Miami station is developing a nice core, and the Grove station is seeing some momentum too. Obviously Kendall is the largest of Miami's TOD's, but it's happening on a smaller scale at most metrorail stations.

In Orlando metro, Winter Park continues to densify, with a push to make many of the major thoroughfares decidedly urban. There's also talk of more urban projects on International Drive, but I'll believe them when I see them...

[sunshine]

Altamonte Spring and Maitland is building a downtown.

[Urban Catalyst]

Sunrise in SW Broward County is developing a highrise city center clustered around Sawgrass Mills Mall and may soon get a rail transit line sometime in the future.

"Sunrise Goes Highrise" -from Tao Luxury Residences advertisement

[facilities man]

Atlamonte Springs just outside Orlando has been the poster child for suburban sprawl. There are over a dozen high rise buildings getting built in the next five years around a 1.5 mil. sq. ft. town center that will transform this area into it's own urban center to rival a small city.

[GRS328]

^^ the problem with Altamonte's improvements are they're not centered around any transit mode, namely because there are no alternative transit modes here in Central FL...

[Brickell]

I've seen altamonte springs and I applaud their attempt, but without meaningful transit options, I don't think it'll help much. You'll still have everybody driving there.

edit: GRS328 snuck it in there before me. Glad to see we agree. Brings up the question though, are there any plans for a stop there by the central florida commuter rail?

[GRS328]

I've seen altamonte springs and I applaud their attempt, but without meaningful transit options, I don't think it'll help much. You'll still have everybody driving there.

edit: GRS328 snuck it in there before me. Glad to see we agree. Brings up the question though, are there any plans for a stop there by the central florida commuter rail?

Opps, sorry to have cut you off Brickell! I applaud the attempt as well, and didn't mean to sound condescending. I actually live in Altamonte, so I am defintiely glad to see this happening. Altamonte is expected be a stop along the propsed commuter rail line. However, the current CSX tracks that run through the city are approximately a mile to the east of the this town center development, so that's not all that helpful. In addition, the development is clustered in a corner which is only essentially accessed by one effective road, SR-436, which is extremely congested as is. So all in all, much is left to be desired.

[facilities man]

There are extensive plans for mass transit in and around Altamonte Springs, they are just a few years in the future. Altamonte Springs, Maitland ,and even Lake Mary rejected the plan for commuter rail because it was supposed to run on the old train tracks far from those cities growth areas. They want, and need the rail to be near I-4. Altamonte Springs also has a Lynx circulator plan worked out similar to downtown Orlando for the area from Altamonte East and West to Maitland ready to implement as soon as the need is there and these projects are finished being built.

[sunshine]

The setting of downtown Altamonte Spring is not very urban from what I see.

[facilities man]

The setting of downtown Altamonte Spring is not very urban from what I see.

I don't think it is urban or ever will be urban, but it's a good example of an urbanized suburban area. What other suburban area will have a dozen highrises and multiple midrise buildings within a square mile?

[sunshine]

Can we count International Drive? It is pretty urban.

I don't think it is urban or ever will be urban, but it's a good example of an urbanized suburban area. What other suburban area will have a dozen highrises and multiple midrise buildings within a square mile?

It just seem to me like they are gonna put huge parking lots between those towers. No parking garage is built for the condo nor the superchannel tower. The roadway doesnt seem to be grid at all.

[Aessotariq]

What makes Kendall unique is the fact that it is transit oriented. While there are lots of examples of former sprawlburbs that are densifying, Kendall remains the singular one that is densifying AND doing it around a major transit line.

Kendall was the first suburban area in Florida to undergo this "build an urban downtown from scratch, out of parking lots" experiment using New Urbanist principles. So far, so good. Without the two Metrorail stops, this thing would simply not work.

It's pretty impressive to see how more folks jumping on the TOD bandwagon in South Florida. There's already some talk about what to build along the future Metrorail corridors when the system gets expanded.

Four new "Urban Center Districts", "mini-Kendalls", were approved recently for areas along the South Dade Busway, which I think is a vindication to the Kendall project. It's also a chance for areas that totally recover from Hurricane Andrew to revitalize without duplicating more sprawl.

Broward County has Eastward Ho! and the State Road 7 Collaborative. Right now they're just plans, but the idea is to take the 25 miles of 441/SR7 that run through Broward and transform it into a high-density transit corridor, with bus rapid transit and/or light rail. Broward County's mayor was promoting this initiative on a local radio program a few months ago.

[prahaboheme]

I-Drive has some urban elements, but they are counteracted by the endless strip malls and parking lots. It will be interesting to see how the Aqua development changes the face of that area, both in terms of urban design and quality.

[Aessotariq]

I agree... it's pretty egregious to see a tower stick out in a sea of parking. It would be neat to neat some parts of I-Drive without setbacks and parking in the back.

[facilities man]

It just seem to me like they are gonna put huge parking lots between those towers. No parking garage is built for the condo nor the superchannel tower. The roadway doesnt seem to be grid at all.

The parking for the Superchannel building is the first five levels of the building, it's integrated. I think the condo buildings will have integrated garages too, so no massive surface lots there either. The Uptown Altamonte project will have multiple parking garages behind the retail.

There isn't a grid. The lake prevents any type of grid. I guess that's why it would be considered urbanized suburban instead of urban.

[Aporkalypse]

I was wondering if any other city had a neighborhood like Kendall which 5 years ago was considered the perfect example for sprawl but is now considered a success story of suburban urbanization.

It reminds me of Irving, TX 20 yrs ago.

[Jahi98]

The Gateway area, between St. Petersburg and Tampa, is beginning to follow a similar pattern of urban development starting to boom in a previous suburban location.

And, the current plan for the Pinellas rail line has five stops in the area, including one at the St. Pete/Clwtr. Airport, one at the entrance to Carillon and at the new park under construction called La Entrada (I believe). Both Carillon and La Entrada have office, residential and retail uses planned, built and/or under construction. Additionally, the high-speed commuter rail will have a stop in the area. So, hopefully, if we can get the rail projects going (on both sides of the bay), that will really set that area off more than it is currently.

I'm glad similar things are happening in other places. The difference with Kendall is, as has been said, the transit infrastructure was already in place. In most other cases, it just has to be planned for in the design of the project.

[KendallKid]

And, the current plan for the Pinellas rail line has five stops in the area, including one at the St. Pete/Clwtr. Airport, one at the entrance to Carillon and at the new park under construction called La Entrada (I believe). Both Carillon and La Entrada have office, residential and retail uses planned, built and/or under construction. Additionally, the high-speed commuter rail will have a stop in the area. So, hopefully, if we can get the rail projects going (on both sides of the bay), that will really set that area off more than it is currently.

I'm glad similar things are happening in other places. The difference with Kendall is, as has been said, the transit infrastructure was already in place. In most other cases, it just has to be planned for in the design of the project.

Is this a HRA? or a communter line? Is the rail line proposed or under construction? Has funding been allocated?

[Jahi98]

Is this a HRA? or a communter line? Is the rail line proposed or under construction? Has funding been allocated?

It involves a commuter line and a local line. The plan has been approved. It's not funded yet, at least not fully funded.

[KendallKid]

I must say im a little upset. I want the only metrorail type train to stay in Miami But congrats You guys really needed rail. The high speed communter train is that the stae proposed one? or a local bay area one

[Jahi98]

That part I'm not sure of. The state's plan has the high speed train running into DT St. Pete. The plan that was approved has the final destination at a hub in the Gateway area. So, I believe they simply incorporated a portion of the state's plan. That connection across the bay is crucial to the sucess of the system. It may be that there is a plan for Pinellas and Hillsborough to jointly fund that connection in case the state's plan doesn't get funded. (shrugs)