Downtown Orlando Project Discussion

[Jernigan]

27 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

Are there any water features in downtown?

I know there’s a waterfall/fountain on South Orange Avenue, but I’m curious if there are more.

Every weekend around 2:15am the walls of the central business district turn into water features 

[codypet]

6 hours ago, SydneyCarton said:

Are there any water features in downtown?

I know there’s a waterfall/fountain on South Orange Avenue, but I’m curious if there are more.

I know many of the buildings from the 80's at one point had fountains.  Many have been turned into planters.  I know Regions Bank building had one, as did the Bank One Building when it was first renovated.  I don't know if the old Regions building still has their fountain.  The green building that has Marco Rubio's office in it.  

[JFW657]

6 hours ago, Jernigan said:

Every weekend around 2:15am the walls of the central business district turn into water features 

OK, I think I just got that. 

[HankStrong]

Back in JFW's day they just drank at the quarry and raced cars in their white t-shirts with cig packs rolled up in their sleeves!

[NJBlake]

16 hours ago, SydneyCarton said:

Are there any water features in downtown?

I know there’s a waterfall/fountain on South Orange Avenue, but I’m curious if there are more.

There is a beautiful fountain right off of Central in Lake Eola Park. close to 7-eleven. 

[dcluley98]

Aside from the more famous fountains associated with our Lakes: Lake Eola Fountain and Sperry Fountain at Lake Eola, Fountains in Lake Lucerne, Park Lake, and Lake Beauty at Orlando Health, several buildings have water features:  

 

Capital Plaza has a long water-feature/fountain between the buildings that faces Lake Eola and the circle off of Pine: 

 

Lincoln Plaza at former SunTrust Building Plaza (Now 200 South Orange) Courtyard has a waterfall feature: 

 

Radius final design has a water feature in the courtyard: 

 

Edited March 29, 2019 by dcluley98

[jgardnerucf]

17 hours ago, SydneyCarton said:

Are there any water features in downtown?

I know there’s a waterfall/fountain on South Orange Avenue, but I’m curious if there are more.

Used to be an cool one directly in front of city hall.

[SydneyCarton]

1 hour ago, dcluley98 said:

Aside from the more famous fountains associated with our Lakes: Lake Eola Fountain and Sperry Fountain at Lake Eola, Fountains in Lake Lucerne, Park Lake, and Lake Beauty at Orlando Health, several buildings have water features:  

 

Capital Plaza has a long water-feature/fountain between the buildings that faces Lake Eola and the circle off of Pine: 

 

Lincoln Plaza at former SunTrust Building Plaza (Now 200 South Orange) Courtyard has a waterfall feature: 

 

Radius final design has a water feature in the courtyard: 

 

Thanks!

[spenser1058]

1 hour ago, SydneyCarton said:

Thanks!

The Orange County Administration Center (aka the “Brick Bunker”) has one that rarely seems to function.

Orlando’s City Hall has what may well be the most interesting one which was designed to mimic a summer storm complete with a lightning effect. Like The Asparagus, it was not maintained properly and it may be totally out of commission at this point.

Jaymont II (Seaside Bank these days?) also had one but I don’t know if it’s still working after the redesign of the main plaza.

Originally, Mayor Bill, a big fan of KCMO’s fountains, wanted to encourage water features with every new building. That came along about the same time as the infamous non-flat roof ordinance which was designed to spur creativity in design but instead got us Baker Barrios’ ridiculous visors.

The death knell of the water features was two-fold: first, there was no one to champion them after Mayor Bill left office and second, the 1998 drought, which was also, according to Pat Robertson, God’s revenge for the placement of rainbow flags downtown to celebrate PRIDE month. Oddly, the wildfires Pat noted all happened outside downtown in the God-fearing rural areas.

 

Edited March 29, 2019 by spenser1058

[JFW657]

4 hours ago, HankStrong said:

Back in JFW's day they just drank at the quarry and raced cars in their white t-shirts with cig packs rolled up in their sleeves!

It's like you know me!!!!

[DreS0803]

With CSP wrapping things up, does anybody have an idea of which high rise will be the next to break ground? I know we have 3 mid rises u/c but which high rise is more likely to actually break ground soon?

[spenser1058]

An indoor Farmers' Market downtown? The Daily City's Mark Baratelli thinks so:

https://bungalower.com/2019/04/02/the-daily-city-bringing-an-indoor-farmers-market-to-downtown/

From Bungalower

Edited April 3, 2019 by spenser1058

[JFW657]

Kinda small.

Too bad The Exchange isn't available.

Perfect building, perfect spot.

[prahaboheme]

Small yes, but I like that it’s on Magnolia and activating the street. Magnolia has a lot of potential that is underutilized. Meanwhile, the Exchange is already occupied.

[spenser1058]

Does 22 S. Magnolia leaf back to where the old Orlando Opera House was? If so, there may be some space in there not readily apparent from the street.

More street activity would be good, just don’t make it too hard for me to get to the Harp and Celt!

[SydneyCarton]

Does anyone know what types of retail (other than bars and restaurants) will be in the complex that’s rising across from the Amway  Center?

[JFW657]

You can bet that there will be a Magic souvenir/apparel store for one thing.

[spenser1058]

9 minutes ago, JFW657 said:

You can bet that there will be a Magic souvenir/apparel store for one thing.

And an Amway store?

*sings Tiny Bubbles* 

[JFW657]

1 hour ago, spenser1058 said:

And an Amway store?

*sings Tiny Bubbles* 

Well... inasmuch as Amway products aren't (afaik) sold in stores, but rather like Avon products, sold "door to door" by self employed salesmen who make their real money recruiting other people to sell for them, kind of a pyramid type scheme, I would say probably not.

Maybe a recruiting station?

[spenser1058]

1 minute ago, JFW657 said:

Well... inasmuch as Amway products aren't (afaik) sold in stores, but rather like Avon products, sold "door to door" by self employed salesmen who make their real money recruiting other people to sell for them, kind of a pyramid type scheme, I would say probably not.

Maybe a recruiting station?

It would depend on a distributor wanting to do it, I believe (that’s how Avon and Tupperware have gotten around some of those rules.) A recruiting station would only work if they can hide you behind a curtain or something. The three times I got hit with an Amway pitch, I was never told that was the purpose of the meeting.

[JFW657]

Maybe we could wrangle the Amway Museum/History Center away from it's current home in Grand Rapids, Mi....

Or maybe an Amway Theater...

....where actors and actresses put on daily live shows dedicated to the wonder and greatness of Amway products.

[spenser1058]

9 minutes ago, JFW657 said:

Maybe we could wrangle the Amway Museum/History Center away from it's current home in Grand Rapids, Mi....

Or maybe an Amway Theater...

....where actors and actresses put on daily live shows dedicated to the wonder and greatness of Amway products.

Can we have the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum instead?

[KJHburg]

Publix may open 2nd smaller store in downtown Orlando according to this subscriber article in the Business Journal.

""The Lakeland-based grocer reportedly toured the roughly 15,000-square-foot Ferg's Depot on Church Street at 78 W. Church St., sources said. Publix and the Ferg's Depot owner Orlando Crazy Train LLC, an entity tied to Orlando-based Nunziata Holdings LLC, couldn't be reached for comment. The space formerly housed Ferg’s Depot bar and restaurant, which closed in August 2018.  Interest from the major supermarket chain — which operates a location about 1 mile way at 400 E Central Blvd. — shows that downtown's recent wave of residential growth may attract more retail to Orlando's urban core. City officials expect an almost 10 percent downtown population jump in the next half decade, according to a city of Orlando spokeswoman.""

https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2019/04/05/publix-reportedly-seeking-another-downtown-orlando.html

[spenser1058]

While that’s a great idea, I think OBJ is speculating again.

I’m trying to think of where Publix has used such a non-standard building like that before (Publix likes boxes even for its smaller downtown stores).

Further, it would make more sense for Publix to go where there are or will be more folks living such as  uptown or CV (or the Sentinel site).

I really think a Publix Green Wise or the new student format for a second downtown location is a good idea. I suspect that’s not it.

Publix kicks the tires on all kinds of deals all the time. A few years ago, Publix execs and Safeway execs were seen touring stores together and the media decided Safeway was buying out the Publix families. Of course, it didn’t happen.

The owners of the Walgreens at Church and Orange said they were looking for retail at CSS. I expect something but not a Publix.

[KJHburg]

However since Publix is based in nearby Lakeland they might be using this as a prototype or even test store to see if they want to expand this type of store into other urban markets in their footprint.    We have a tiny Teeter a small 12,000 sq ft Harris Teeter (Charlotte's major grocery chain) and it works pretty well on the ground floor of a mid rise condo.  It has been open for years uptown and now we have a full size Whole Foods and Publix wants to build a regular size store too.   A place to get basics and something the size of those Amazon Go stores they have in Seattle.