Downtown Orlando Project Discussion

[codypet]

5 hours ago, bqknight said:

I'll be perfectly honest, I typically avoided it due to either homeless people, canvassers or preachers almost always stationed in front of it. 

When did it open? 2018?  5year lease?

[FLClarkKent]

8 hours ago, codypet said:

When did it open? 2018?  5year lease?

That seems about right, if memory serves. Also, I believe this Walgreens never had a pharmacy, which always seemed odd to me. I only venture to a Walgreens or CVS if I’m picking up an RX. I suppose some people shop at these stores for other items, but it always seems pricey to me.

A real shame thought to lose a national retailer. The city really needs to get its act together on what it wants downtown to be. Feels like things are going from stagnate to decline.

[codypet]

I honestly believe not having the Pharmacy was short sighted on Walgreen's part as well.  I like you don't venture into those stores unless I'm getting labwork or a prescription.  And 1/2 the time, I use the drive thru for the pharmacy.

1 hour ago, FLClarkKent said:

That seems about right, if memory serves. Also, I believe this Walgreens never had a pharmacy, which always seemed odd to me. I only venture to a Walgreens or CVS if I’m picking up an RX. I suppose some people shop at these stores for other items, but it always seems pricey to me.

A real shame thought to lose a national retailer. The city really needs to get its act together on what it wants downtown to be. Feels like things are going from stagnate to decline.

Just checked google streetview and it showed the build out for Walgreen's occurring back in April 2017.  So yea, seems to have been operational for 5 years.

[angela1117]

A Walgreens WITHOUT a pharmacy? That's crazy.

[dcluley98]

Yeah, it was basically an overpriced convenience store with OTC medicine and vitamins. 

[jrs2]

Well, I’m not sure what the crime numbers are/were for that location, but I’ve heard horror stories on how corporate just allowed crimes to occur unchallenged, like shoplifting.  The location at 1792 & Fairbanks saw an entire cosmetics counter display rolled out of the store mid-day.  Employees were told if they wanted paid security, it would come out of their collective paychecks.  So the looting that was allowed of Michigan Ave spilled over to Walgreens corporate nationwide. 

[codypet]

15 hours ago, jrs2 said:

So the looting that was allowed of Michigan Ave spilled over to Walgreens corporate nationwide. 

Holy crap!  I forgot about that until you just mentioned it. There was that poor unsuspecting customer walking in as they ran out and they grabbed him and threw his face into shelving by the entrance.  

[JFW657]

18 hours ago, jrs2 said:

So the looting that was allowed of Michigan Ave spilled over to Walgreens corporate nationwide. 

 

2 hours ago, codypet said:

Holy crap!  I forgot about that until you just mentioned it. There was that poor unsuspecting customer walking in as they ran out and they grabbed him and threw his face into shelving by the entrance.  

When and where did this happen???  

[jliv]

On 2/28/2023 at 12:09 PM, FLClarkKent said:

That seems about right, if memory serves. Also, I believe this Walgreens never had a pharmacy, which always seemed odd to me. I only venture to a Walgreens or CVS if I’m picking up an RX. I suppose some people shop at these stores for other items, but it always seems pricey to me.

A real shame thought to lose a national retailer. The city really needs to get its act together on what it wants downtown to be. Feels like things are going from stagnate to decline.

I see one missed opportunity after another.  It seems like the center is locked into a nightclub and bar culture which developed in the wake of the loss of Church Street Station business to Disney and Universal.  The big spending tourists stopped coming, and the cool scene from the 1990's devolved into a more working class, townie vibe of people looking for cheap drinks and cheap  entry at the door.   22-year-old me wouldn't be caught dead in today's scene (and given the current vibe, that is a medium-to-high probability).   Shades of the decline of Buckhead in Atlanta in the early 2000's.  Difference is, wealthy Buckhead saw the problems escalating and killed it quickly,  throwing money at a complete renovation of the area towards retail  and office.

 

Edited March 1, 2023 by jliv

[codypet]

1 hour ago, JFW657 said:

 

When and where did this happen???  

We might be thinking about two different instances, but I was thinking of the Michigan and Delaney Walgreen's from a few years back when a few suspects went to rob the Walgreen's and they had the customers and employees laying on the floor only  for some poor soul to walk in right in the middle of it from outside, and they violently grab that person and shoved them into a shelving display.   I was just horrified how potentially lethal that could have been with those metal shelving rods sticking out.

Edited March 1, 2023 by codypet

[JFW657]

2 hours ago, codypet said:

We might be thinking about two different instances, but I was thinking of the Michigan and Delaney Walgreen's from a few years back when a few suspects went to rob the Walgreen's and they had the customers and employees laying on the floor only  for some poor soul to walk in right in the middle of it from outside, and they violently grab that person and shoved them into a shelving display.   I was just horrified how potentially lethal that could have been with those metal shelving rods sticking out.

@jrs2 might have been talking about something that happened in Chicago, home of another thoroughfare named after Michigan.   

[jrs2]

On 3/1/2023 at 5:00 PM, JFW657 said:

@jrs2 might have been talking about something that happened in Chicago, home of another thoroughfare named after Michigan.   

yes. Michigan Ave, Chicago, got looted to the hilt (not just Walgreens, but the entire retail corridor, back during the Antifa riots.  But Walgreens' all over have gotten robbed nationwide.  Fairbanks in WP was the one I referenced.  I was pretty sickened when an employee told me what happened there.  And I have a close friend who is a pharmacist and had to switch locations (in the affluent Chicago suburbs) because her location kept getting robbed...

[codypet]

Alright, who knows what's going on with the old Suntrust building?  The southern pyramids are now white and now scaffolding has been erected on the north ones.  It is pretty jarring they pyramids are now a different color. 

[JFW657]

1 hour ago, codypet said:

Alright, who knows what's going on with the old Suntrust building?  The southern pyramids are now white and now scaffolding has been erected on the north ones.  It is pretty jarring they pyramids are now a different color. 

I was kind of hoping they'd remove them and redo the entire roofline.

Never liked those things.

Maybe the white is just a primer? 

[ucfpatriot18]

From the business journal 

“Executives for Atlanta-based Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE: PDM) confirmed to Orlando Business Journal that 200 South Orange's signature four pyramids are being painted a lighter, reflective white color at their top and an off-white color called "snowfall" at their base.

 

Enlarge

Work is ongoing on the four pyramids that sit atop 200 South Orange. The skyscraper is Orlando's tallest building.

STEVEN RYZEWSKI/ORLANDO BUSINESS JOURNAL

Additionally, the teal mullion that runs vertically down the center of the building's eastern and western exterior walls will be painted a darker color called "brushed carbon" that is similar to the mullion at neighboring 222 and 250 S. Orange Ave. — which Piedmont also owns.”

[JFW657]

Well, that should look just wonderful after the dirt and soot from the cars on I-4 collects up there then the brown streaks begin to form after a summer of daily rain.

Yessir, should be looking about 50 years old by the end of this year.   

 

[codypet]

Soooo this color down the spine?

[JFW657]

Brushed Carbon  

[prahaboheme]

On 3/3/2023 at 3:13 PM, jrs2 said:

yes. Michigan Ave, Chicago, got looted to the hilt (not just Walgreens, but the entire retail corridor, back during the Antifa riots.  But Walgreens' all over have gotten robbed nationwide.  Fairbanks in WP was the one I referenced.  I was pretty sickened when an employee told me what happened there.  And I have a close friend who is a pharmacist and had to switch locations (in the affluent Chicago suburbs) because her location kept getting robbed...

I doubt that very much. 

[JFW657]

18 hours ago, ucfpatriot18 said:

From the business journal 

“Executives for Atlanta-based Piedmont Office Realty Trust (NYSE: PDM) confirmed to Orlando Business Journal that 200 South Orange's signature four pyramids are being painted a lighter, reflective white color at their top and an off-white color called "snowfall" at their base.

 

Enlarge

Work is ongoing on the four pyramids that sit atop 200 South Orange. The skyscraper is Orlando's tallest building.

STEVEN RYZEWSKI/ORLANDO BUSINESS JOURNAL

Additionally, the teal mullion that runs vertically down the center of the building's eastern and western exterior walls will be painted a darker color called "brushed carbon" that is similar to the mullion at neighboring 222 and 250 S. Orange Ave. — which Piedmont also owns.”

I guess this color change will make all the "teal haters" around here happy.      

[uncreativeusername]

Ugh - what a disappointment. I'm not a teal fanboy or anything, but I have always loved this building exactly as it is. The color of the pyramids always read as a copper patina to me, and were an absolutely signature element of the building.

[orange87]

Check out the new towers coming to Central Florida’s skyline

Article: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/real-estate/os-bz-central-florida-towers-development-20230309-v6u7tblde5dzlcwzvvjyztudxq-story.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Don't Miss&utm_content=5611678367924&lctg=6101092

Edited March 9, 2023 by orange87

[HankStrong]

2 minutes ago, orange87 said:

Check out the new towers coming to Central Florida’s skyline

 

Article: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/real-estate/os-bz-central-florida-towers-development-20230309-v6u7tblde5dzlcwzvvjyztudxq-story.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Don't Miss&utm_content=5611678367924&lctg=6101092

 

It's good to see some hats in the mix, even if they are only small ones.

[JFW657]

Based on the impression I got from the OS article, it sounds like every project is either moving at a crawl or uncertain as to when/if it will get built.  

[Tim3167]

Yep, was most curious on an update on CSP2/Edge. Hoping that one has more traction.