bic

Nice!

SunRail Lobbying Hits Fevered Pitch

It's the newly redeveloped far west end of Lincoln Road in South Beach, with the pedestrian mall/landscaping forming a plaza between the newly constructed 1111 Lincoln Road (on the right) and the Regal Cinema building (on the left). I live a few blocks away from it and can attest to the FANTASTIC job the architects did in designing this. Even the standing water is dynamic-- there are catfish in the ponds! Here's another shot of the mall taken from 1111 Lincoln:

Even more, I'm confident that we'll begin to see more private investments made in Downtown Orlando once the DPAC and SunRail come online, especially on the hotel development front.

^ All good points. I didn't follow the construction of the UCF stadium all that closely so I was unaware of the opposition towards it from the NIMBY's.

I actually agree with this. It's like the saying "you can put lipstick on a pig but it's still a pig"-- I'd rather the city stop dumping millions and millions of dollars into this dilapidated and outdated stadium when there's a viable alternative. As I understand it, UCF's stadium was built to be expanded and while it wasn't intended to be an NFL-caliber stadium we don't need it to be one. Perhaps it could be used to bridge the gap for 10 or 15 years until the region is ready to construct a new stadium in an effort to lure an NFL team (or not). I think the biggest concern with moving bowl games to UCF is that their stadium is pretty far from Orlando's concentration of hotels around I-Drive and Disney. The city of Orlando would also get less exposure since the stadium is out in the burbs as opposed to being down the street from downtown. I'm not sure that's reason enough to not take advantage of the UCF stadium.

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BTW, I just was perusing the HKS Architects portfolio and was [not] surprised to see that they designed the plaza in Dallas as well as ours in Orlando. No wonder they're so similar!

Here's another shot of the model plaza:

Well, "the one in Dallas" is actually the arena where the Dallas Mavericks play and the arena itself was designed to look like an aircraft hangar so we're talking about different uses and architectural styles. The site plan is similar, however, as both designs feature a narrow plaza leading up to the doorstep of a major venue, sandwiched between two 5-ish story structures.

DPAC's plaza: DPAC plaza's architectural doppleganger, AT&T Plaza in front of American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX:

I don't know if a tenant has been lined up but the hotel component is not a part of the PAC's Phase I plans. I'm very excited that we will finally see the DPAC come to fruition but after looking back at the plans for 'Stage 1' I can't help but feel a little underwhelmed at the same time. Remember, Phase I only includes the Disney Theater and Community Theater while 1/3 of the PAC site will be left empty for future development. It bugs me that the PAC will look unfinished until Phase II is complete...and who knows when that will be.

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Money no object? Sure, why not...it'd look nice and give the city a new landmark. But give me a break! We can't get a rail line or performing arts center to be built in this city and we're talking about spending $20 million on a PEDESTRIAN bridge across a lake that already has a major highway crossing it at the same location?! C'MON MAN! Not to mention the design proposals look like leftover renderings from the HSR plans...

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