Dr. P Phillips Orlando Performing Arts Center [Phase 2 Under Construction]

[uncreativeusername]

I'm not sure I if I can interpret it the same way or not, Tim, but in a broader sense, it strikes me as alarming that in general there has been little mention of Phase II.  I would think that the launch of Phase I would have been a good time to drum up renewed interest and support in Phase II, with Phase I serving as a testament to what is possible.  

[HankStrong]

http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/blog/2014/12/downtown-orlando-arts-center-setting-stage-for.html

[Boomer136]

Thanks Tim3167, I can see that interpretation, though then I would have liked to see the rendering fly through rather than the shot of the one legged man with the round building's remnants still visible. Talk about the future, show the future. I hope you are correct. But I'm leary.

[Boomer136]

The parking garage variance is for the hotel I thought.

[FLheat]

So we want a parking garage in front of a half billion dollar PAC?  People, get off your ass and walk a couple of blocks.

http://media.bizj.us/view/img/4551601/exhibithparcel3pdamendment11-13-2014.pdf

That's good and lengthy punchlists aren't unusual.  When we bought our last house, it was a new construction, and we easily had 50-60 items on ours.  Mostly tiny stupid things.

I don't understand why we have to pay for punchlist items.  It shouldn't get paid for unless it's done right.

[HankStrong]

I don't understand why we have to pay for punchlist items.  It shouldn't get paid for unless it's done right.

 

I agree, if they are true punchlist items.  IF they are improvements, mods, or upgraded materials, then I understand the cost.

[Pete C]

The arts crowd doesn't want to walk I guess. I imagine the elderly are complaining loudly. The 20 foot tall colonnade sounds nice though. I can imagine restaurants with their tables setup outside under the colonnade overlooking the plaza. It would be a nice look. Put the same thing on the opposing parcel and you have yourself a real piazza.

[bic]

The arts crowd doesn't want to walk I guess. I imagine the elderly are complaining loudly.

 

The OBJ article stated that the garage would be for hotel guests only.

[Pete C]

The OBJ article stated that the garage would be for hotel guests only.

 

Blast, I missed that in the article.

Edited December 5, 2014 by Pete C

[prahaboheme]

Leave it to the OBJ to report false information.  The ordinance amendment is so that a hotel can build on the parcel and include a garage in the design.

 

What I find interesting:  the variance is to cantilever the colonnade over the sidewalk on South Street.  City zoning in the US seldom allows for buildings to be constructed literally at curbside -- you see this more often in Europe.  If approved and built as suggested, we may get something that slightly resembles this:

 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Paris,+France/@48.8659598,2.3279279,3a,75y,224.22h,93.35t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sR3bfXFFKGJc0V1Z80Eyztw!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x47e66e1f06e2b70f:0x40b82c3688c9460

Edited December 5, 2014 by prahaboheme

[bic]

I love arcades and have always thought that they would be a practical architectural feature in Florida given how oppressive the sun and unpredictable the rain can be in the summer. A colonnade may help promote pedestrian activity, though perhaps at the expensive of increased vagrancy and less visible storefronts.

[spenser1058]

I was once told by a city planner that as a downtown comes back to life and there is more and more pedestrian traffic that issues with transients tend to recede. That would also jive with Jane Jacobs' theory about "eyes on the street" and even Rudy Giuliani's "broken-window" theory (which, though disputed regarding crime issues is something Walt always believed in as well, that your park stays clean by keeping it clean in the first place - no one wants to be the first to drop a piece of trash on the ground).

 

My anecdotal experience in downtown Orlando is that, after 30-some years downtown, the problem with panhandling and such is indeed receding (at least on the east side of Eola and Thornton Park), which I regard as a positive.

 

I do still believe we need to continue the efforts of local governments and Florida Hospital among others to get at the root causes of homelessness in the region through making housing and other services available to those that need them.

Edited December 6, 2014 by spenser1058

[John Hargrove]

I was once told by a city planner that as a downtown comes back to life and there is more and more pedestrian traffic that issues with transients tend to recede. That would also jive with Jane Jacobs' theory about "eyes on the street" and even Rudy Giuliani's "broken-window" theory (which, though disputed regarding crime issues is something Walt always believed in as well, that your park stays clean by keeping it clean in the first place - no one wants to be the first to drop a piece of trash on the ground).

 

My anecdotal experience in downtown Orlando is that, after 30-some years downtown, the problem with panhandling and such is indeed receding (at least on the east side of Eola and Thornton Park), which I regard as a positive.

 

I do still believe we need to continue the efforts of local governments and Florida Hospital among others to get at the root causes of homelessness in the region through making housing and other services available to those that need them.

 

On this side of downtown (i.e. 55W), still getting screamed at and occasionally threatened by random people for not giving them money. Doesn't seem to be improving much over here. 

[smileguy]

 

What I find interesting:  the variance is to cantilever the colonnade over the sidewalk on South Street.  City zoning in the US seldom allows for buildings to be constructed literally at curbside -- you see this more often in Europe.  If approved and built as suggested, we may get something that slightly resembles this:

 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Paris,+France/@48.8659598,2.3279279,3a,75y,224.22h,93.35t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sR3bfXFFKGJc0V1Z80Eyztw!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x47e66e1f06e2b70f:0x40b82c3688c9460

 

Will we get impeccably dressed men out of the deal as well?

[prahaboheme]

^Doubtful - nowhere in Dyer's list of 10 priorities for downtown was courting Dior.  

[Boomer136]

Local arts are leery in general, not just about the completion of Phase II, which is arguably the most local arts connected part. Story by Matt Palm.

 

For those with out subscriptions, the Sentinel sent out a 10 question survey to 25 local arts organization, 20 returned them in a manner that responses are anonymous. The basic reaction seems to have been:

 

"It helps raise Orlando's arts profile," wrote one respondent, typical of many replies. "But for our local arts community, what will it do?"

 

Concerns over donor fatigue and competition for those donors' dollars were also expressed but many also said they'd have to wait and see.

 

I'm interested in seeing local arts using the Pugh, it is a beautiful space, sounds great, and is in line with the audience sizes of the larger local art venues in town. More ambitiously would be to mount things in the Carr. Orlando Shakes' heavily acclaimed and sold Les Mis might have worked in the Carr, with 7 times more seats than the Margeson. Fewer performances selling the same number of seats helps bring down the production costs. The big musicals the Orlando Phil put on were sell-outs.. A chance for some organizations to step up their game?

[spenser1058]

A great view of the Dr. Phil during a practice by the Bach Festival Choir

 

[HankStrong]

Having now attended my first event at the DDP-DPPAC-DDT (last night's performance of Phantom and yes, that is totally an old wrestling goof on the name of the new PAC) I can tell you that it was really awesome.

 

The show has greatly improved their sets since the last visit at the Bob Carr, but the PAC itself was quite a highlight.  We had excellent seats in the front row of the balcony and everything we experienced, save two things and one taste thing, was stellar. 

 

 

The Good:

The view - excellent, top-notch

The seats - comfortable for both myself (6'2" with long legs) and my wife (5'5")

The sound - the first 15 minutes or so... something was slightly off, I could hear some distortion and fuzz, but after that it was perfect.  The sound effects and directional noises were awesome and perfectly on-point.

The lighting - excellent

The lobby - the grand staircase is solid, but it's going to be a lot of work to hide the wear/tear.  You can see that this early in the game.

The staff - so helpful!  Really great.  I've seen a lot of these same folks at misc events around town and they seem to always try hard.

 

The Bad:

The bar service - the lines downstairs with the good bar were insane (before & during the intermission), the 2nd floor bar was extremely understaffed and made worse by having the dual-headed attack of the indoor line and the outdoor line, and the bars on the other floors were 1 person jobs with iPads to process orders.  The main floor was out, so we went up to the 2nd floor where it was worse, then we went up to the 3rd floor and waited 15 minutes for a drink.  This is just unacceptable and needs to be worked out.  The bar staff seemed friendly, but it was poor.

Musicals - oh, how I hate them.  My wife loves them, but they are torture to sit through.

 

The Ugly:

The sinks in the restroom - were these designed with infants in mind?  The space between the nozzle and the basin was about 3"-4".  My ONE hand was so much larger than the provided space, much less 2 hands rubbing together as one should always do for proper hand washing, that I had to slide it in flat to rinse it off.  I slid one hand in to wet it, slid the other one it to wet it, got soapy, slid one hand in flat to rinse it, pulled it out to flip it over, rinsed that, repeated for my second hand.  What idiot thought this was a good idea?  This man standing next to me said "I've got tiny hands and I can't wash my hands without slapping this dirty sink!!!" He said "Sorry, I'm whining out loud" and I replied "Man, this is dumb enough that everyone needs to be whining out loud about it.  It's worthless."

Edited December 11, 2014 by HankStrong

[Pete C]

The Ugly:

The sinks in the restroom - were these designed with infants in mind?  The space between the nozzle and the basin was about 3"-4".  My ONE hand was so much larger than the provided space, much less 2 hands rubbing together as one should always do for proper hand washing, that I had to slide it in flat to rinse it off.  I slid one hand in to wet it, slid the other one it to wet it, got soapy, slid one hand in flat to rinse it, pulled it out to flip it over, rinsed that, repeated for my second hand.  What idiot thought this was a good idea?  This man standing next to me said "I've got tiny hands and I can't wash my hands without slapping this dirty sink!!!" He said "Sorry, I'm whining out loud" and I replied "Man, this is dumb enough that everyone needs to be whining out loud about it.  It's worthless."

 

YES...I mentioned this in my first impressions a couple pages back. It's utterly ridiculous!! Whomever thought up this design needs a brise soleil panel dropped on their head.

Edited December 11, 2014 by Pete C

[steve_o]

I too was there last night for Phantom.  Sat in the Orchestra section close to the front.  The sounds  and visuals were fantastic!  

 

I love the lobby area but wonder how hard it will be to maintain its newness.  Also wonder how the Disney Theater will age.  There are a lot of colors going on in there.  Interesting place.  

 

Weirdly, my favorite part of the night was exiting DPAC and looking out to and walking into the city.  Felt so urban!  Downtown has come a long way and its amazing to witness the difference exiting either Amway or DPAC and realize the plan that was put in place long ago.  Extraordinary!

[OrlandoMagicLions]

Glenda hood did a fantastic job

[jgardnerucf]

For sale sign went up on hotel site from the city seeking proposals.

[mcn11]

I too was there last night for Phantom. Sat in the Orchestra section close to the front. The sounds and visuals were fantastic!

I love the lobby area but wonder how hard it will be to maintain its newness. Also wonder how the Disney Theater will age. There are a lot of colors going on in there. Interesting place.

Weirdly, my favorite part of the night was exiting DPAC and looking out to and walking into the city. Felt so urban! Downtown has come a long way and its amazing to witness the difference exiting either Amway or DPAC and realize the plan that was put in place long ago. Extraordinary!

It is amazing leaving and seeing all those people exit into the heart of the city. I walk my dog around the area all the time and it has been amazing to see the influx of people into that section of downtown since phantom opened. Orange south of church was dead after business hours. Since opening, the area has been filled with people that probably don't find themselves downtown very often.

Walking home after the show, I noticed people going back to the restaurants and bars that were filled with people before the show. Not to mention hearing all the comments about how downtown isn't just for 21 year olds, how beautiful it is down here, and other comments that hopefully will make people come back not only for a show, but perhaps to just have dinner and go for a walk. For the people coming downtown for the first time or who rarely make their way down here, this theater can really change their entire perception of what downtown Orlando is.

[HankStrong]

Walking out and seeing the mess of the round building?  HAHAHA

 

I agree with both of you, though.  It was nice.  We ate at Kase before the show and I was quite impressed.

[mcn11]

Yeah it will be nice once that thing is gone. Especially from the upper levels you can see straight down into the construction zone.

I bet kasa was packed. We ate the boheme and there wasn't an empty seat in there. Although service was slow but I'm sure they're not used to being packed are adjusting to the theater rush.