Downtown Orlando Project Discussion

[codypet]

They're bracing us for a Crescent Central Clone.

[jack]

1 hour ago, spenser1058 said:

Thomas Chatmon has declared Orange and Colonial at the Sentinel site to be “Main and Main”. If that’s true, Bulldozer Buddy’s excuse to demolish our history was just a bunch of hyperbole to placate a billionaire developer. Thanks for clarifying, Thomas!

https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2020/11/17/downtown-orlando-sentinel-site-redevelopment-2021.html

From OBJ

Who is the billionaire? 

I have heard for years that Orange and Colonial will be/should be our main and main for at least 15 years from the City of Orlando. 

[Jernigan]

Wait we want to preserve the sentinel properly now?  Good golly.

[dcluley98]

As a person who lives on the corner of Colonial and Orange, literally, about 100 steps and 2 flights of stairs away, this whole thing is ludicrous. 

 

[F-L-A]

I know they're both major roads, but the idea of Orange & Colonial becoming a "main & main" is absurd. Not only is there nothing of great urban significance on that intersection, but it's where downtown meets uptown. It's not even close to being the heart of downtown. If we even have a  "main & main", it's Orange & Church.

[spenser1058]

There have actually been two, and this tossing around the term carelessly just shows how little the administration gives a flip about downtown.

Originally, it was Main St (now Magnolia) and Central Ave where the courthouse was.

The Confederate soldier was in the middle of the road, giving it a faux “town square” feel. Unfortunately, people kept running into the statue with their cars so it was moved to Eola Park.

In my lifetime, commemorating the major retail at the corner, it moved to Orange and Central (our version of Macy’s and Gimbels). That’s also where the street grid starts from  so that’s about as objective a standard as you could apply to a city.

The fact that’s where the Kazanzas star goes just solidifies the idea.

Trying to claim otherwise is just making stuff up or shows a lack of downtown knowledge.

 

Edited November 19, 2020 by spenser1058

[dcluley98]

I would say Orange and Central is the main, but Church and Orange has a shot now, after the development of Church Street station, the tallest building in the city, and the sports venues now all off of Church. 

South and Orange has a bit of a claim with City Hall and the DPAC there now, but not so much. 

You can make a hope for Livingston in the future, with the "new" courthouse there, Lynx Central, Creative Village and (hopefully, holds breath) some large new developments on those corners to come soon. 

[spenser1058]

13 minutes ago, dcluley98 said:

I would say Orange and Central is the main, but Church and Orange has a shot now, after the development of Church Street station, the tallest building in the city, and the sports venues now all off of Church. 

South and Orange has a bit of a claim with City Hall and the DPAC there now, but not so much. 

You can make a hope for Livingston in the future, with the "new" courthouse there, Lynx Central, Creative Village and (hopefully, holds breath) some large new developments on those corners to come soon. 

Heck, let’s just take the Atlanta approach and name all the streets a variation of Orange Ave., because nothing matters except what will increase the profits of out-of-town developers (at least Atlanta had some major local players in the mix like John Portman and Tom Cousins).

[smonteserin]

Looks like the glass exterior design got Orlandoed. It’s a shame as that design dramatically improved what is currently there while this newer rendition does far less so. 
 

https://www.growthspotter.com/news/downtown-orlando-developments/gs-news-gssa-arb-20201118-lgifdxp3zzfvtkst3noibv727i-story.html

Edited November 19, 2020 by smonteserin

[dcluley98]

As we predicted. . . .

 

[orlandouprise]

7 hours ago, smonteserin said:

Looks like the glass exterior design got Orlandoed. It’s a shame as that design dramatically improved what is currently there while this newer rendition does far less so. 
 

https://www.growthspotter.com/news/downtown-orlando-developments/gs-news-gssa-arb-20201118-lgifdxp3zzfvtkst3noibv727i-story.html

I hate this town.

[JFW657]

[jack]

10 hours ago, smonteserin said:

Looks like the glass exterior design got Orlandoed. It’s a shame as that design dramatically improved what is currently there while this newer rendition does far less so. 
 

https://www.growthspotter.com/news/downtown-orlando-developments/gs-news-gssa-arb-20201118-lgifdxp3zzfvtkst3noibv727i-story.html

What did you expect, its the GSA. They don't pay top rents. 

[Uncommon]

2 hours ago, orlandouprise said:

I hate this town.

Ditto. Charlotte, Tampa, Austin, Nashville, and other similar-sized cities are seeing explosive core growth with dense and interesting architecture, meanwhile in Orlando we’re begging for glass facades. Shame.

[elefants]

Can't be surprised with the uncertainty of office demand at the moment.   At least they're still activating the ground floor retail.  It's still pretty crushing to hear Orlando's motto "It could be worse".

[spenser1058]

More on the two new downtown parks plus the Eola redo:

https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2020/11/19/downtown-parks.html

From OBJ

 

SAVE THE TREES AND IT’S GREAT FOR PROPERTY VALUES!

You might even wanna hug a developer-or maybe not...

 

[orange87]

7 hours ago, elefants said:

Can't be surprised with the uncertainty of office demand at the moment.   At least they're still activating the ground floor retail.  It's still pretty crushing to hear Orlando's motto "It could be worse".

Or the equally crushing Orlando motto "at least it's not a vacant lot."

[spenser1058]

Thomas Chatmon: “We will not be satisfied until there’s a 7-Eleven on every corner downtown!”

[Jerry95]

On 11/18/2020 at 11:13 PM, smonteserin said:

Looks like the glass exterior design got Orlandoed. It’s a shame as that design dramatically improved what is currently there while this newer rendition does far less so. 
 

https://www.growthspotter.com/news/downtown-orlando-developments/gs-news-gssa-arb-20201118-lgifdxp3zzfvtkst3noibv727i-story.html

Honestly, as long as it keeps the ground floor retail I'll be happy. There's very little activated street frontage from Amelia to Colonial and this would help connect to Concord. (Then the Sentinel redevelopment can connect the rest, even if the Newsroom building remains.)

[nite owℓ]

Not sure if this was already mentioned... From the City of Orlando: https://www.orlando.gov/Events/2020-Virtual-Tree-Lighting-Celebration "To comply with COVID-19 safety precautions, this event will now be hosted virtually.  Stream live at clickorlando.com at 8 p.m. on Saturday, December 5, or catch an encore presentation during the 11 o'clock news on News 6 WKMG."

It will showcase our brand new tree with improved light show capabilities which can also be synced to the fountain. I'm hearing the TV program will showcase the evolution of our tree celebrations over the years and end with our new tree. If you noticed last year, the lower tiers of the "old" tree stopped lighting up because a homeless man caused a high dollar amount of property damage (I heard over 3 figures) after forcing himself into the base of the tree to camp out.

[nite owℓ]

"It's Christmas time in the city... Soon it will be Christmas day."

The Jack Kazanzas Star has been raised in Downtown Orlando: https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2020/11/22/kazanzas-star-to-shine-bright-in-downtown-orlando/

 

The LED lightstrip upgrade was underwhelming and quite utilitarian. Hopefully they'll revisit the "upgrade" to recreate the individual lights more in line with its original look:

Edited November 22, 2020 by nite owℓ

[spenser1058]

3 hours ago, nite owℓ said:

"It's Christmas time in the city... Soon it will be Christmas day."

The Jack Kazanzas Star has been raised in Downtown Orlando: https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2020/11/22/kazanzas-star-to-shine-bright-in-downtown-orlando/

 

The LED lightstrip upgrade was underwhelming and quite utilitarian. Hopefully they'll revisit the "upgrade" to recreate the individual lights more in line with its original look:

Ahhhh, the downtown Jaycees Christmas parade, shopping at Ivey’s and the ersatz holiday season toy department at Penney’s (it was out back on the loading dock because the chain just sold soft goods until ‘64* or so and the Orange Ave store opened about 1960, so no room inside), lunch at Morrison’s (with two serving lines in the middle and funky astrological decor) and then over to Goff’s on OBT. Ho! Ho! Ho!

I also miss Jack Kazanzas. I got to know him when I was in SGA at Valencia. He was quite the character and an incredibly nice guy.

Underwhelming definitely sums up the lights since the redo but I’m glad they saved the star. It’s a huge part of downtown’s past.

(* The Winter Park Mall Penney’s which opened in 1964 with the mall was one of the first stores including the new mass-merchandising format, which put Penney in the same retail tier as Sears and Monkey Ward. At the time, it was the biggest Penney’s in the Southeast. Ironically, although Sears was #1 locally, the Sears stores - both downtown and East Colonial - were the smallest of the three chains in Orlando until the Altamonte Mall store opened in 1974.)

Edited November 22, 2020 by spenser1058

[nite owℓ]

I noticed over the past few days DPAC has been experimenting with softening the uplighting of the cantilever canopy with a warmer glow rather than continue to light it with harsh, stark-white lighting. IMO bright white lights should not have been used for accent lighting and it was giving off parking garage/stadium vibes. That was always a big peeve of mine...  along with them using laminated glass with weird greenish-yellow tint which just makes the glass look dirty. Wish they would've used clear glass instead, but I digress.

What they advertised:

 

What we got:

 

 

12/5 & 12/7:

[spenser1058]

I continue to sigh over the fact the canopy makes me think of Parkwood Plaza. Oh, well. Given the fact the Am looks like a Walmart, at least we’re being consistent.

Someday, we’ll think about the aesthetics of civic facilities again.

[nite owℓ]

23 minutes ago, spenser1058 said:

I continue to sigh over the fact the canopy makes me think of Parkwood Plaza. Oh, well. Given the fact the Am looks like a Walmart, at least we’re being consistent.

Someday, we’ll think about the aesthetics of civic facilities again.

 

Failed knockoff of Mall at Millennia:

On 7/27/2020 at 3:41 PM, nite owℓ said:

Barton Myers once claimed (and I'm paraphrasing) that he was initially going to design a more traditional performing arts center, but then he became inspired by Florida's front porch architecture. I'm not saying he copied Mall at Millenia... but he basically copied the Mall at Millenia. And the mall's entrance still looks way better than DPAC, IMO!

 

Edited December 7, 2020 by nite owℓ