Downtown Orlando Project Discussion

[NJBlake]

On 2/17/2016 at 11:04 AM, AndyPok1 said:

Northwest (Street View attached, I can grab a picture later this week).  I'm not sure what they could be demoing.  Unless it's just more prep for the "drive thru" restaurant that no one seems to be interested in leasing.

Probably this? http://bungalower.com/2015/09/16/old-southern-bank-building-is-getting-some-more-improvements/

[Jernigan]

Took this last week at this intersection 

They are adding a parking facility - like a one story deck 

[gibby]

Was that a phone pic?  Looks really good.

[Jernigan]

Yeah iPhone 6 - taken mid-stride and running late to boot

[JFW657]

A one story deck seems hardly worth the effort.

 

[JFW657]

Looking around, I found this...

Looks like if a garage is going up, it isn't the only work being done there.

And according to this site...

http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/14600246/250-N-Orange-Ave-Orlando-FL/

...if the info is current, the planned garage will be two stories.

Can't find any renderings, though.

 

 

[RedStar25]

I spoke to a neighbor who's working on the Ace Cafe project. They ran into serious problems when it turned out that the cities drawings for the drainage system for that building were totally wrong. It turns out that the city didn't even know where the sewage lines ran. So, Ace restarted the project to make sure everything was kosher. 

This same thing happened to First Methodist. The drawings for the city plumbing didn't match what was actually in the ground. 

[popsiclebrandon]

4 hours ago, RedStar25 said:

I spoke to a neighbor who's working on the Ace Cafe project. They ran into serious problems when it turned out that the cities drawings for the drainage system for that building were totally wrong. It turns out that the city didn't even know where the sewage lines ran. So, Ace restarted the project to make sure everything was kosher. 

This same thing happened to First Methodist. The drawings for the city plumbing didn't match what was actually in the ground. 

We ran into this issue at Post. No one knew where anything actually was so contractors made best guesses. And they guessed wrong hence a 4 month project for this tiny space.

[HankStrong]

As someone who has been in and around the utilities business for most of his adult life, this isn't unusual.  Until *very* recently, proper as-builts for lines were never a priority.  Many things have been field-fit for decades (or more than a century up North) or re-designed on the fly, and never make it to the prints.

More often than not, you'll encounter this:

"Old Hank from downstairs retired in 1993 didn't leave us any notes and his replacement, who retired in 2012, always thought the sewer was on the South side of the building like the plans show.  None of us were here then, so we don't know."

 

It's easy to blame the person in the chair today, but they are paying for the sins of the last XX decades and the original builder.

[jrs2]

you know, with every new office building going up in Lake Mary or elsewhere in the metro, it is killing any development momentum in downtown. some of these new proposals with an office component are pretty much on life support.  and its sad, because Orlando metro is growing very fast.  the cbd is fortunate that residential is still hot.

[leondecollao]

2 hours ago, jrs2 said:

you know, with every new office building going up in Lake Mary or elsewhere in the metro, it is killing any development momentum in downtown. some of these new proposals with an office component are pretty much on life support.  and its sad, because Orlando metro is growing very fast.  the cbd is fortunate that residential is still hot.

Only solution would be to get more corporations to move to Orlando. Every city in the country has a ton of office buildings in the suburbs. I'd like to see office space breakdowns between downtown and suburbs for other American cities to see where we stand.  How much office space can be expected to be downtown versus suburbs in most MSAs?  20%, 30%? just throwing numbers out there since I have no idea.   

[prahaboheme]

On the bright side, downtown is getting a major  downtown university campus that will instantly bring some 7000 students with it. That has huge potential to create new small business opportunities and continue to enhance the urban environment so long as it's done right. 

 

[HankStrong]

Someone should open a 7-11.  That would help.

[AndyPok1]

7 minutes ago, HankStrong said:

Someone should open a 7-11.  That would help.

We joke, but it isn't a bad thing.  I've been looking to buy a house and I've written off entire neighborhoods because there isn't a 7-eleven (or wawa/gas station/convenience store of your choosing) within a 5-7 minute walk for me to quickly get a fountain Diet Coke when I work from home...

[mcn11]

We joke, but it isn't a bad thing.  I've been looking to buy a house and I've written off entire neighborhoods because there isn't a 7-eleven (or wawa/gas station/convenience store of your choosing) within a 5-7 minute walk for me to quickly get a fountain Diet Coke when I work from home...

I agree. As much hate as 7-11 gets on these forums, I live at 55 West and my wife and I are at the 7-11 downstairs a couple times a week. It's so easy to pick up some eggs, dog food, or toilet paper without walking over to publix. There are multiple 7-11s downtown because people actually use them.

[John Hargrove]

3 hours ago, mcn11 said:

I agree. As much hate as 7-11 gets on these forums, I live at 55 West and my wife and I are at the 7-11 downstairs a couple times a week. It's so easy to pick up some eggs, dog food, or toilet paper without walking over to publix. There are multiple 7-11s downtown because people actually use them.

Same here. That said, if Walgreens opens at Orange & Church ... 

[nite owℓ]

10 hours ago, AndyPok1 said:

We joke, but it isn't a bad thing.  I've been looking to buy a house and I've written off entire neighborhoods because there isn't a 7-eleven (or wawa/gas station/convenience store of your choosing) within a 5-7 minute walk for me to quickly get a fountain Diet Coke when I work from home...

Just out of curiosity, which neighborhoods are you considering?

[uncreativeusername]

Not sure where the appropriate place to post this is, but apparently PayPal just backed out of plans to open a new global operations center in Charlotte employing over 400 people in skilled jobs due to NC's recent anti-LGBT legislation.  

Orlando should JUMP on this as an alternate city, with a strong pro-LGBT record.  I hope the powers-that-be are having this conversation.

http://www.vox.com/2016/4/5/11369334/paypal-lgbtq-north-carolina

[Jernigan]

It's slow so I wanted to also throw this out -Bungalower had a nice piece proposing the closed coffee shop in NQ became a general store.   I randomly found myself doing a "street view stroll" in downtown Wauchula.   Look what they have! #whynotus. 

 

[HankStrong]

I'm not 100% sure where the official lines for the Bungalows are, but does anyone have any thoughts on living in this section of Orlando?

I've got a friend moving from up North who was looking online at homes in this area.  I've seen good and bad down there, but is the general swing heading up or down here? 

Is this considered Downtown South?  Conway?  Something else?

[John Hargrove]

3 minutes ago, HankStrong said:

I'm not 100% sure where the official lines for the Bungalows are, but does anyone have any thoughts on living in this section of Orlando?

I've got a friend moving from up North who was looking online at homes in this area.  I've seen good and bad down there, but is the general swing heading up or down here? 

Is this considered Downtown South?  Conway?  Something else?

I've been looking in that area, too. I've heard that top right area around Lake Como referred to as just Lake Como. 

The area south of the cemetery and east of Lake Weldona is "Pill Hill"/Bel Air. I'm not sure what you'd call the western areas. It's a little too north to be Wadeview Park. Delaney Park maybe?

I found the nicest properties were in Pill Hill/Bel Air, but that the rents were comparable to downtown high-rises which is unfortunate. I think there are people on this board who live in the Delaney Park area who can comment on that. It's as close to "SoDo" as you can find a house, I think.

My thoughts on this was that there are nice houses, a bit of crime in the form of theft from vehicles or homes. I have a thread over in the coffee shop discussing neighborhoods near the core. Might be worth checking out.

[Universe_Explorer]

This is a great area.  Essentially broken into Delaney Park (mix bigger houses and bungalows), the Lake Davis Historic area (expensive houses), Lake Lancaster (expensive houses), Lake Como (cheaper, smaller homes), and Belle Air in the lower right area (also known to old folks as Pill Hill because it's where a lot of doctors from the old Orange Memorial Hospital - now ORMC - used to live, nice houses).  Older homes, some quite large, great school district (Blankner/Boone).  We looked here extensively before deciding on College Park - our decision came down to the cohesiveness of CP feeling like a "town within the city" with it's own main street, etc, but we have a lot of friends that live in this area and love it.  Tell them to take a walk around Lake Davis and grab a bite at Mills market

[AndyPok1]

That's the area I'm mainly looking actually.  However, I'm largely limited to close to Orange, because anything past Summerlin is basically a wasteland for walkability (with Mills Market being the obvious exception).

[JFW657]

The Lake Davis area is one of my favorite parts of town.

I think it's a beautiful neighborhood.

Not a bad walk to Lake Eola & downtown either.

 

[alex]

Speaking to the southeast quadrant of your map:

My in-laws live on Vine Street, just off Bumby. In that area, the feel changes a lot from street to street. They live on a street that looks like it must have been a nicer development in the '70s (first-ring suburbs) and most people still do a nice job keeping up their yards. Other streets around there have older-looking homes (1930s - '60s) in varying states of upkeep. Bumby and Primrose are nice two-lane streets in those areas. Helping the in-laws search for a house, we saw a lot of bigger houses (compared to the neighborhoods closer to downtown) at great prices that just need some TLC. I could see this area being renovated by young families sometime soon. 

That section's "main street" is Curry Ford (labeled as State Hwy 526 A on the map) with grocery stores (Clemen's Produce), businesses, bars (Rogue Pub), some good restaurants (ZaZa's, La Fiesta, Theo's), and now a brewery (Ocean Sun). Heading west, it turns into a two-lane brick road with older businesses and houses, ending in the very nice Lancaster Park neighborhood. I've always felt that this section of Curry Ford could benefit from some "Orlando Main Street" help to show off all the great businesses and improve non-automobile travel. The area also has a nice civic feel to it, with Boone High School, the upcoming Lake Como school, and Greenwood Cemetery/Park all mixed into the residential neighborhoods.

I'm not familiar with crime around there, but anecdotally I haven't heard anything and my in-laws regularly go on walks around there. The main drawback for that quadrant is the distance to Downtown. It's too far to walk and still hard to bike, but you can be downtown in an Uber in 10 minutes. Some more urban developments along Curry Ford and Bumby would help give the area more of a self-contained College Park feel.