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sunshine

By sunshine
in Orlando

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jrs2
jrs2

^^ Spenser1058, you really need to do a podcast or something like that; YouTube perhaps where you're getting paid to blog.  your analysis and commentary is truly a great thing.  No BS, I mean it.

KJHburg
KJHburg

Yes I am tourist but I usually avoid the theme parks but did go to Disney Springs.  I knew they were restricting crowd size but did not know they had temperature checks in order to get in and masks we

shardoon
shardoon

We have to embrace the tourism. It allows a city our size punch up  way higher than it should. We have a huge airport, tons of nice restaurants, world class hotels......heck we just got 4 Michelin sta

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jrs2 Metropolis

jrs2

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^^

Yeah.  Looks like Rosen wants his hotels to be the largest I-Drive properties.  That's the magic of competition; Both Hilton and Hyatt pretty much influenced the direction his hotel development is going.  Just look at Rosen Centre; with the new lighting and logo, it's a knock off of the Hilton Orlando.  Same with Rosen Plaza with its lighting and logo.

If I was Rosen I would devote those expansions to Rosen Plaza mainly.  Build more meeting space, a new tower, retail, lobby, pool deck etc., and a garage.

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jrs2 Metropolis

jrs2

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^^

I remember that; and WDW's proposal.  Oh yeah.  Even the World Expo Center in Osceola that was quelled by Orange and resulted in the OCCC's expansion; even the plan to expand OIA pre-9/11.  Peabody former 42 story proposal, and all of those projects that never were.

Speaking of, I would add Skyplex to that list.  Seriously?  They won't be done with Mango's until 2016 now.  Wow.  It should've opened months ago.  Really? Golden Corral screwed them up that much? The garage hasn't even broken ground yet next door.  And they have the gall to have the OBJ keep mentioning them as a done deal project for Skyplex.  How irritating.  What is this, just a facade to make it look like things are getting built when they aren't?  And then the OBJ writes about two weeks back that the owners took advantage of the new Emirates route to Dubai and flew there looking for investors b/c they needed about $300m for the project.  Wow.  That's the first anyone's heard about that since they talked about Skyplex and Polercoaster.  Simply ridiculous.

What happened to Megastrom's Phase II at Kirkman and Carrier?  What happened to that hotel that was supposed to have broken ground a month ago near Artegon on I-Drive North near Hash House A Go Go?  Poof.....

Oh, and regarding that Seven-Star proposal at Kirkman & I-Drive, I-Shops or whatever (Solis Hotel etc.) the OBJ headlines a story on the inking of a new retail tenant...Subway.  Seriously?  They're an existing tenant who were promised a retail space.  And...so what.  Talk to me when you ink a department store or major chain.

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AndyPok1 Burg

AndyPok1

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What happened to Megastrom's Phase II at Kirkman and Carrier?  

There's been no mention of it, but they started work on Phase II last Wednesday.  They're in the process of fencing off the parking lot where the second building and first parking garage is going, and moved all the surface parking to where phase III will be.  I briefly tried finding permitting or anything, but came up empty.  I'm assuming that they're going with the original plan so they don't have to go to MPB again?

Edited by AndyPok1
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klstorey Whistle-Stop

klstorey

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The I-Drive pedestrian bridge connecting OCCC to the Hyatt Regency is coming along. Looks like it'll go vertical very soon. 

Some new news regarding the future of the OCCC.

The most interesting to me was activity hub on the West's buildings entrance. I wonder if that will be like the commercial district once planned for the eastern side of the North/South building along Universal Blvd. That Youtube video has since been locked but is still up last I checked.  

I think it was dumb to let the baseball spring training center die. That would've been a nice addition to all of this. Overall it looks like the convention center is doing a good job of building up on its space. Ideally I'd love to eventually see hotel or other tower like developments on top of the large convention halls but I know that's years away at best. Just seems like such a large roof and nothing really on it other than a few solar panels. 

 

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klstorey Whistle-Stop

klstorey

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CSI and all of 7220 closed. The parent company closed all locations except Vegas and Mexico City.

They give the employees less than a week notice.

The building is up for sale.

IMPO this doesn't bode well for Titanic next door. They did a lot of joint marketing and shared a lot of customers. With 7220 gone I imagine Titanic will see a drop in attendance.

In other news Skeletons isn't performing well either. Most of the staff have been let go, from my understanding all that's left is front line employees and the family is running back of house themselves.

It seems like everyone was hoping for a bump from the Eye and even they are getting well below their expected attendance.

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metal93 Whistle-Stop

metal93

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OK, now it's just getting weird looking.

And what's that thing sticking off the corner up there... something that communicates with alien spacecraft?

Dial it back a notch, guys.

Indeed, it looks rather boatish but in an extraterrestrial way. It has the likeness of a giant alien mothership and the thing sticking off the corner is the communications with its armada.

There are things about it that look good and others that don't. It reads more as a mishmash of different buildings than a single building. Overall I do not like this building but I suppose it fits with the over-the-top and generally tacky look of I-Drive, and at least it looks better than the earlier renderings presented.

Edited by metal93
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jliv Whistle-Stop

jliv

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Orange County P&Z denied the height variance.  Universal was well represented in opposition at the meeting

Happy about this.  This is one project I've been rooting against; the I-Drive corridor could do so much better due to its proximity to the Convention Center and Universal.   

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klstorey Whistle-Stop

klstorey

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Happy about this.  This is one project I've been rooting against; the I-Drive corridor could do so much better due to its proximity to the Convention Center and Universal.   

I have to disagree. I think this project is exactly what I-Drive needs. It will help clean up one of the most blighted and overlooked areas of I-Drive. It will also help bring more attention to the tourist district overall. 

I'm extremely disappointed in the P&Z for this one. Most of this property has sat empty for decades, now a major new investor wants to bring a world class, modern attraction to it and they vote it down. I think it shows an unwillingness to think outside of the box when it comes to tourism on the part of the P&Z board. 

Let's hope the BoC is more willing to let new private investment help improve one of the most hard hit areas of I-Drive. 

Edited by klstorey
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aent Burg

aent

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Happy about this.  This is one project I've been rooting against; the I-Drive corridor could do so much better due to its proximity to the Convention Center and Universal.   

I also gotta disagree. This is an attraction on I-Drive that people would want to go to. Seems much better then the Orlando Eye. Universals against it because people could go spend a portion of the day there, and the rest on other I-Drive stuff rather then needing to go to Universal (which is generally a full day thing, you don't pay for Universal for the day and leave to go to I-Drive). Its an area that needs it too. The alternative plan for this spot seems to be a parking lot... lets allow something nice and not allow Comcast-Universal to keep in their anti-competitive ways.

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TRB Hamlet

TRB

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What a dick move by Universal. It's clear they want no additional potential competition for CityWalk and now want to have the final say in all things I Drive related. They know the height of the coaster is the selling feature. It'll call to people to.leave their burgeoning resorts to check it out by just being on the skyline.

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