Announcing My New Downtown Orlando Website

[John Hargrove]

Hey All,

As most of you know, I take a ridiculous amount of photos of downtown Orlando, and am very active on these forums. I've amassed a pretty good collection of knowledge and photos, and I thought it would be cool to aggregate it all in a single place that people could visit to get information and photos of downtown. It's pretty slim right now, as I just wanted to get it out the door and get some feedback, but I have posted almost all of my pictures.

After culling the bad and duplicate pictures, there are about 400 pictures on the site, covering 4 major projects:

• DPAC
• Amway Center
• FUMCO Re-development
• GAI Building

I intend to expand the site to include all currently known proposals in the CBD / Uptown / Eola districts. I will also be posting occasional updates regarding new businesses, infrastructure improvements and anything else that might seem interesting. A lot of this information (if not all) will be redundant to our discussions here, but it will put it in a single location that people who don't spend a lot of time on these types of forums can get to with ease.

It's 100% free and without advertisements. My only goal here is to provide a service to the community and hopefully drive some extra interest toward our little downtown.

http://downtown-otown.com

[DeepEyez]

What is the website?

[mrh3]

Hey All,

As most of you know, I take a ridiculous amount of photos of downtown Orlando, and am very active on these forums. I've amassed a pretty good collection of knowledge and photos, and I thought it would be cool to aggregate it all in a single place that people could visit to get information and photos of downtown. It's pretty slim right now, as I just wanted to get it out the door and get some feedback, but I have posted almost all of my pictures.

After culling the bad and duplicate pictures, there are about 400 pictures on the site, covering 4 major projects:

• DPAC
• Amway Center
• FUMCO Re-development
• GAI Building

I intend to expand the site to include all currently known proposals in the CBD / Uptown / Eola districts. I will also be posting occasional updates regarding new businesses, infrastructure improvements and anything else that might seem interesting. A lot of this information (if not all) will be redundant to our discussions here, but it will put it in a single location that people who don't spend a lot of time on these types of forums can get to with ease.

It's 100% free and without advertisements. My only goal here is to provide a service to the community and hopefully drive some extra interest toward our little downtown.

Kudos to you Castorvx!

That's civic boosterism at its finest. I look forward to taking a look at the site as soon as I get the address.

[John Hargrove]

Wow, I can't believe I left out the address. I need to sleep more.

http://www.downtown-otown.com

[prahaboheme]

Great website! What I'm also hoping to see more of are the metro projects that gain less attention on this website, such as the Peabody expansion and others. It is great the downtown Orlando has these exciting projects going on during the economic downturn, it certainly gives an edge other others cities that have been entirely stagnant with development. If you think about it, it's pretty amazing that there are new businesses opening on Church Street at this very moment.

[John Hargrove]

Great website! What I'm also hoping to see more of are the metro projects that gain less attention on this website, such as the Peabody expansion and others. It is great the downtown Orlando has these exciting projects going on during the economic downturn, it certainly gives an edge other others cities that have been entirely stagnant with development. If you think about it, it's pretty amazing that there are new businesses opening on Church Street at this very moment.

Speaking of which ... They were building out the interior of one of the Church St. garage retail spaces directly across the street from Amway Center yesterday ... I asked the construction guys what it was, and they said "a small pizza place."

Please let it be Gino's #123423948!!

[prahaboheme]

^Interesting. Are they redoing the finishes on the Church Street garage? The look is improved with the removable of the awnings but it still seems unfinished.

[DeepEyez]

Castorvx, good stuff! I am a member of website and will be helping to promote the ongoing development in Downtown Orlando as you are. I just hope from time to time the people in City Hall take a look at the discussions we're having here and take those ideas to the concept board.

[prahaboheme]

DeepEyez -- during the major boom I remember this website getting some press, specifically bic's amazing computer generated images of the "future" downtown. Perhaps it's in store to remind City Hall of this website again, now that there is renewed interest. This is the only great source of downtown activism, and the ideas shared here are a reflection of those who do care about the city and it's development. It really would be great for this forum to have a voice in local politics and city design making.

[pip]

DeepEyez -- during the major boom I remember this website getting some press, specifically bic's amazing computer generated images of the "future" downtown. Perhaps it's in store to remind City Hall of this website again, now that there is renewed interest. This is the only great source of downtown activism, and the ideas shared here are a reflection of those who do care about the city and it's development. It really would be great for this forum to have a voice in local politics and city design making.

Yeh, I remember those days too. When we re-launched Orlando Skyscrapers (www.orlandoskyscrapers.com) back in 2006, there were so much activity it was hard to keep up. Unfortunately these days the info has been getting dated, but we are in the process of bringing everything up-to-date again. And, if there are any volunteers that would like to help out, that would be awesome too - just let me know.

[John Hargrove]

Yeh, I remember those days too. When we re-launched Orlando Skyscrapers (www.orlandoskyscrapers.com) back in 2006, there were so much activity it was hard to keep up. Unfortunately these days the info has been getting dated, but we are in the process of bringing everything up-to-date again. And, if there are any volunteers that would like to help out, that would be awesome too - just let me know.

I was wondering who was responsible for that site. I was partially inspired by it!

I wish we had the problem now of too much to keep up with

Looking at orlandoskyscrapers.com makes me sad.

[prahaboheme]

While it makes me sad to a point, it also doesn't reflect some advances that the city has made recently, including what seems to be the first legitimate resurgence of Church Street Station. I think we should be thanking our lucky stars that Orlando has a project like Amway to ride us through this recession, and then DPAC (fingers crossed) coming on board early next year. I know it's already been said, but it's worth repeating: its pretty amazing that there are 5-6 businesses opening on Church Street within the next few months given the current market. That says something about long-term confidence in downtown. It also tells me that retail/restaurant is getting an opportunity to catch up until the next wave of proposals, which I hope will be a bit more architecturally pleasing than the last wave (aside from the tragic Tradition Towers).

[John Hargrove]

New blog post: Several New Downtown Businesses.

[alex]

While it makes me sad to a point, it also doesn't reflect some advances that the city has made recently, including what seems to be the first legitimate resurgence of Church Street Station. I think we should be thanking our lucky stars that Orlando has a project like Amway to ride us through this recession, and then DPAC (fingers crossed) coming on board early next year. I know it's already been said, but it's worth repeating: its pretty amazing that there are 5-6 businesses opening on Church Street within the next few months given the current market. That says something about long-term confidence in downtown. It also tells me that retail/restaurant is getting an opportunity to catch up until the next wave of proposals, which I hope will be a bit more architecturally pleasing than the last wave (aside from the tragic Tradition Towers).

I agree, it's great to see a city building during tough times. While I know the recession has affected a lot of people, I feel like for a country at war(s) and in the worst recession x years we still do our part in supporting the dining and entertainment industry. I mean, the movie theaters are still packed even after multiple price increases. What I do think people are becoming more conscious of is what they spend their money on. When people go out they want memorable outings. They want independently owned restaurants, things they can't get in other cities, not the same old chains. They want lots of atmosphere and variety. They want free stuff to do, like just take a walk and enjoy the scenery. And I think that's where Orlando's strength lies, both downtown and regionally speaking.

ANYWAY Great blog, can't wait to see more photos!

[John Hargrove]

I agree, it's great to see a city building during tough times. While I know the recession has affected a lot of people, I feel like for a country at war(s) and in the worst recession x years we still do our part in supporting the dining and entertainment industry. I mean, the movie theaters are still packed even after multiple price increases. What I do think people are becoming more conscious of is what they spend their money on. When people go out they want memorable outings. They want independently owned restaurants, things they can't get in other cities, not the same old chains. They want lots of atmosphere and variety. They want free stuff to do, like just take a walk and enjoy the scenery. And I think that's where Orlando's strength lies, both downtown and regionally speaking.

ANYWAY Great blog, can't wait to see more photos!

Thanks! I am also very optimistic about downtown. Really my sadness stems from not having been here to obsess over urban planning and development during the boom. That said, I think we're probably on the verge of some kind of retail/shopping boom on Church. The fact that Church on the east side of I-4 is exploding, combined with the fact that much of Church west of I-4 is empty holds an interesting prospect.

I suspect we'll be seeing a great deal of growth in this area, and I will photograph as much of it as I can!

[surina777]

Great site, subscribing to the RSS feed We should link up our sites (one day mine will look a bit more polished

[John Hargrove]

Nice! I need to add a side bar element that links to other Central Florida blogs. There are a lot more than I originally realized.