Mills/50

[RedStar25]

On 4/7/2021 at 6:49 PM, spenser1058 said:

@RedStar25 is gonna love this thread soooo much. Oh Thank Heaven!

Excellent! MUAHAHAHAHAHA

[dcluley98]

Driving down 50 tonight. . . .2 work projects. The Chic-Fil-A at Colonial Plaza is undergoing renovations with multiple Conex boxes on site and looks temporarily shut down (maybe not, but there was a fence around it and a lot of material there).  It looks like the Bento Test-Kitchen, Food Hall, HQ is underway with multiple pieces of equipment on site and dirt moving.  https://bungalower.com/2021/01/03/bento-building-colonialtown-food-hub/

[spenser1058]

Thankfully, my last trip back I went across to Coytown for some Chicken Fire and I’m ruined for CFA for good. On the chain side, Popeye’s is more interesting , too.

[jgardnerucf]

Colbie's Southern Kissed Chicken coming in hot down yonder on Vineland.

[codypet]

10 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

Thankfully, my last trip back I went across to Coytown for some Chicken Fire and I’m ruined for CFA for good. On the chain side, Popeye’s is more interesting , too.

This is my reality.  Every time.  I went to go try Pollo Tropical's new sandwhiches and ended up at Chicken Fire too.

[Uncommon]

12 hours ago, dcluley98 said:

Driving down 50 tonight. . . .2 work projects. The Chic-Fil-A at Colonial Plaza is undergoing renovations with multiple Conex boxes on site and looks temporarily shut down (maybe not, but there was a fence around it and a lot of material there).  It looks like the Bento Test-Kitchen, Food Hall, HQ is underway with multiple pieces of equipment on site and dirt moving.  https://bungalower.com/2021/01/03/bento-building-colonialtown-food-hub/

This is good news. Hopefully Mills 50 continues to get businesses and housing to fill those couple of empty lots and storefronts sprinkled throughout. Everyone talks about Mills 50 like it’s some hot, charming, up-and-coming district, but personally I think it’s kind of ugly. Lots of graffiti, grime, not very walkable. It could definitely use a facelift. Hopefully this is a good start.

[nite owℓ]

29 minutes ago, Uncommon said:

This is good news. Hopefully Mills 50 continues to get businesses and housing to fill those couple of empty lots and storefronts sprinkled throughout. Everyone talks about Mills 50 like it’s some hot, charming, up-and-coming district, but personally I think it’s kind of ugly. Lots of graffiti, grime, not very walkable. It could definitely use a facelift. Hopefully this is a good start.

One of my first rentals out of high school was located in Mills/50 district so it will always hold a special place in my heart. But you're right... It was always a bit rough looking and it lost a bit of its edge. To be honest, I'm shocked the area hasn't seen a complete revitalization after all these years (similar to SoDo) because it really has potential. Kobe Steakhouse could have led the way after it burned down... but  nothing after all these years. The graffiti is getting out of control (there seems to be a noticeable uptick all over Orlando over the past few years with all the new residents moving to Central FL).

Edited April 22, 2021 by nite owℓ

[leondecollao]

1 hour ago, Uncommon said:

This is good news. Hopefully Mills 50 continues to get businesses and housing to fill those couple of empty lots and storefronts sprinkled throughout. Everyone talks about Mills 50 like it’s some hot, charming, up-and-coming district, but personally I think it’s kind of ugly. Lots of graffiti, grime, not very walkable. It could definitely use a facelift. Hopefully this is a good start.

I gotta say, I feel like the grime is def part of the charm with Mills 50. Not every development or busy part of town needs to be shiny and new. Mills 50 reminds of a time when not everything needed to be spic and span and I think it’s refreshing.  I think it has the perfect amount of grime

[spenser1058]

The thing to remember is that Colonialtown goes back to the ‘20’s. Also, when South Vietnam fell in the ‘70’s, those who moved to the area bought existing buildings and started small shops in the older buildings that were relatively inexpensive. As a result, you didn’t see the wholesale clearance of the area by developers to build big boxes (Thank God!)

Orange Ave. south of Lake Lucerne, otoh, didn’t come into existence until the ‘50’s when the Lake Lucerne causeway was built. As a result, it was new construction along that stretch from a different era.

[nite owℓ]

Yeah, but what I meant by revitalization doesn't necessarily mean new buildings... renovation of existing buildings will do just fine. Plenty of old commercial areas in Winter Park have revamped their look without needing to demolish existing buildings and they turned out great--not to mention WELCOMING. Mills/50 is lagging behind, but the potential is there.

[leondecollao]

14 minutes ago, spenser1058 said:

The thing to remember is that Colonialtown goes back to the ‘20’s. Also, when South Vietnam fell in the ‘70’s, those who moved to the area bought existing buildings and started small shops in the older buildings that were relatively inexpensive. As a result, you didn’t see the wholesale clearance of the area by developers to build big boxes (Thank God!)

Orange Ave. south of Lake Lucerne, otoh, didn’t come into existence until the ‘50’s when the Lake Lucerne causeway was built. As a result, it was new construction along that stretch from a different era.

Agreed.  We are lucky that part of town was undeveloped for so many years. We got a part of town with actual character out of it. 

[Uncommon]

Mills 50 can have character without being an eyesore. It’s just a bunch of concrete everywhere. It needs more murals, greenery and landscaping, bike lanes, and graffiti clean up. I took my wife there a few days ago because I wanted her to experience some “real” parts of Orlando (she’s from St. Pete) and Mills 50 was embarrassing. For such a supposedly trendy area, it looks like crap.

[spenser1058]

You could always elect a new commissioner and mayor to concentrate on those areas but in Orlando we don’t believe in that.

[FLClarkKent]

The Mills part looks fine, it's the 50 part that needs some help. 

Don't know what you can do about the buildings, but sidewalk improvements, landscaping and trash/graffiti clean up are the city's purview. Or the Main Street district's purview.  

[codypet]

 

2 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

The thing to remember is that Colonialtown goes back to the ‘20’s. Also, when South Vietnam fell in the ‘70’s, those who moved to the area bought existing buildings and started small shops in the older buildings that were relatively inexpensive. As a result, you didn’t see the wholesale clearance of the area by developers to build big boxes (Thank God!)

Remember when CVS was going to build across the street from Eckerd in the early 00s and there were protests?  My buddy was part of the site design team for that.   The story goes that he had developed sites for CVS's across from Eckerds all over the city and they brought the plans to Eckerd's headquarters and said "You sell us the Florida locations or we build all these new stores" and Eckerd sold to CVS shortly after.   He did seem to know enough details ahead of the buyout for it to have made sense at the time.  He was particularly annoyed because he had spent many late nights working and meeting with City Counsel for locations all for none of his designs to actually make it to construction.  In this field its kind of frustrating to do all that work and it not get built, but it happens all the time.

[JFW657]

11 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

The thing to remember is that Colonialtown goes back to the ‘20’s. Also, when South Vietnam fell in the ‘70’s, those who moved to the area bought existing buildings and started small shops in the older buildings that were relatively inexpensive. As a result, you didn’t see the wholesale clearance of the area by developers to build big boxes (Thank God!)

Orange Ave. south of Lake Lucerne, otoh, didn’t come into existence until the ‘50’s when the Lake Lucerne causeway was built. As a result, it was new construction along that stretch from a different era.

As I recall, there were no "big box" stores in the early 70's anyway.

I seem to recall that phenomenon began around the mid 80's, I think with Circuit City.

[spenser1058]

5 hours ago, JFW657 said:

As I recall, there were no "big box" stores in the early 70's anyway.

I seem to recall that phenomenon began around the mid 80's, I think with Circuit City.

They didn’t call them that until the ‘80’s but the Zayre on Orange Avenue was a big box. Parkwood Plaza was just a string of big boxes.  The Miller’s discount stores on E. Colonial and OBT at Holden. The phenomenon kicked in during the ‘60’s along with cities beginning to require absurd parking minimums.

[codypet]

Kmart always was considered big box and at least the Magic Mall location appears to be a  60's/70's style Kmart.   Its my understanding is that the E Colonial Home Depot operated in an abandoned Kmart in the 80's until they built the current store behind it in the 90's so that store would have been in existence likely in the 70's as well (which is why the rest of that plaza looks like an ancient dump).  Was Golden Triangle a Big Box store?  That would have operated what's the Maguire Target today.  

Edited April 23, 2021 by codypet

[spenser1058]

15 minutes ago, codypet said:

Kmart always was considered big box and at least the Magic Mall location appears to be a  60's/70's style Kmart.   Its my understanding is that the E Colonial Home Depot operated in an abandoned Kmart in the 80's until they built the current store behind it in the 90's so that store would have been in existence likely in the 70's as well (which is why the rest of that plaza looks like an ancient dump).  Was Golden Triangle a Big Box store?  That would have operated what's the Maguire Target today.  

Actually the Home Depot at Eastland Center started out as a JM Fields in the ‘60’s (they moved to the new Herndon Plaza in 1972 and stayed there until parent FoodFair went belly up in ‘79 or ‘80). The Maguire Target was indeed a Gold Triangle big box complete with concrete floors.

Edited April 23, 2021 by spenser1058

[codypet]

4 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

Actually the Home Depot at Eastland Center started out as a JM Fields in the ‘60’s (they moved to the new Herndon Plaza in 1972 and stayed there until parent FoodFair went belly up in ‘79 or ‘80). The Maguire Target was indeed a Gold Triangle big box complete with concrete floors.

Oh interesting.  Were they a Kmart after they were a JM Fields or did it sit abandoned until Home Depot showed up?   I worked at the Alafaya Home Depot and a number of employees who worked at East Colonial back in the day recalled knocking ceiling tiles down with the forklift and that store only had ceiling tiles because they were left over from the "Kmart" days.  The current Home Depot sign structure is also consistent with the Kmart signage of that time period.   I recall you mentioned the Herndon location was a JM Fields before that location was a Kmart.   If Eastland Center was a Kmart it would stand to reason they just kept following JM Fields locations each time they abandoned the store.

[spenser1058]

1 minute ago, codypet said:

Oh interesting.  Were they a Kmart after they were a JM Fields or did it sit abandoned until Home Depot showed up?   I worked at the Alafaya Home Depot and a number of employees who worked at East Colonial back in the day recalled knocking ceiling tiles down with the forklift and that store only had ceiling tiles because they were left over from the "Kmart" days.  The current Home Depot sign structure is also consistent with the Kmart signage of that time period.   I recall you mentioned the Herndon location was a JM Fields before that location was a Kmart.   If Eastland Center was a Kmart it would stand to reason they just kept following JM Fields locations each time they abandoned the store.

If it was ever was a Kmart I don’t remember it. I’m a little skeptical because there was a Kmart at 436 and Curry Ford but I could be wrong - my memory recalls it was empty until HD came along.

[JFW657]

9 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

They didn’t call them that until the ‘80’s but the Zayre on Orange Avenue was a big box. Parkwood Plaza was just a string of big boxes.  The Miller’s discount stores on E. Colonial and OBT at Holden. The phenomenon kicked in during the ‘60’s along with cities beginning to require absurd parking minimums.

Well, whether we call them "big boxes" or "large department stores" as they were known as back then, I kind of doubt that the area around Mills/50 would have ever been considered for such stores anyway, because they always tended to locate in places a bit farther out from city centers than that area is.

Note how Sears and later, Fashion Square to the east and Montgomery Ward to the west located in areas that were back then, much roomier with plenty of acreage for large parking lots. 

I doubt that by the 70's the city would have approved any plans to mow down all the buildings fronting Mills and Colonial to put up large department stores surrounded by seas of asphalt. 

24 minutes ago, spenser1058 said:

If it was ever was a Kmart I don’t remember it. I’m a little skeptical because there was a Kmart at 436 and Curry Ford but I could be wrong - my memory recalls it was empty until HD came along.

I think there might have been a Scotty's at the E. Colonial HD site. 

[spenser1058]

That’s certainly true but no one at the time knew how intense the changes might be.

West Colonial Drive between Orange and Tampa Aves had been a small brick road, largely residential when the changes began. The folks in Spring Lake and Concord Park were nonplussed when their small elementary school was leveled for a Pontiac dealership. The Parliament House was also built in what had been a quiet neighborhood when the SRD built a major connector through.

I know it’s hard to picture now, but as late as the early ‘60’s it was a very different area.

Edited April 23, 2021 by spenser1058

[spenser1058]

Scott J gives in to his Deli Desires on N Ferncreek Ave.:

https://www.scottjosephorlando.com/reviews/51-american/5630-deli-desires

It ain’t Ronnie’s but then what is?

Edited April 30, 2021 by spenser1058

[spenser1058]

Pig Floyd’s and Stasio’s are getting together to do pizza by the Track Shack. Best of all, this looks like a great redo of an old Shell station:

https://bungalower.com/2021/05/12/pig-floyds-opening-pizza-restaurant-by-wills-pub/

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