VistaLakes01
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Posts posted by VistaLakes01
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I firmly believe that the type of retail we will witness over the next decade will be business and commuter based -- chain retail will not come along for quite some time. The reason I believe Publix to be such a success is that it proves that locals are coming downtown, locals are living downtown, and it is sustainable. I personally welcome the influx of bars and nightlife to downtown Orlando, for the reasons mentioned above by bic. There are few unique urban environments in Florida, this is one of them.
I believe most of the new bars, restaurants, galleries and bits of retail are based much more on residents of the central city area, much different than the businesses of the 90's when clientele for the bars and clubs would drive in to downtown to party from the suburbs, Tampa and Jax. There would be a much larger mix of rednecks, curiosity seekers coming clubbing based on the party reputation of downtown, college kids, etc. The clientele now has shifted to a less rowdy customer who is more sure of himself and what he wants. (Manhattan in the 70s, 80s, 90s had a large Jersey, L.I. influx on the weekends trying to get in the clubs, not being "on the list" and paying $30 covers to get in. With nearly every Manhattan neighborhood revitalized now such as Chelsea, Meat Packing District, etc now containing their own residents, there has been a shift to more local customer based businesses, bars, restaurants, and nightclubs.) You get the feeling in downtown Orlando that Chillers, Antigua, and Latitudes are nearly all that's left of the "let's go downtown" thrillseekers from Winter Haven type of crowd. Even Amway Center event crowds appear to "know" there are neighborhoods and residents downtown now and don't appear to "get out of hand" and relax more and enjoy the city. The maturity and establishment is coming to pass finally and the future is really looking promising for an established downtown Orlando with all sorts of options.
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You know Orlando Fashion Square is not nearly in as bad od shape as has been reported. Still pretty full and has plenty of national retailers (I';ve seen it in worse times when the mall had quite a few asian gift shops) Mos t metros dependending on the size these days only hav e one or two "major" enclosed malls and ikf lucky there is an upscale level center of some sort. My last visit to OFS I was surprised to see nearly 80-95% occupancy besides the fact that central Orlando maintains a Macy's, Dillard's,Sears, and JCPenney. They may not have the premium selection of their chains but lots of downtown department stores are a bit scaled down unless the city's main store is located there. The mallinterior itself is quite attractive in comparison to many generic simon type malls (think of the horrid Countryside Mall in Clearwater) (shudder)
Hopefully this Orlando shopping landmark will conitnue to survive these tough times, Stick a Five Guys in the food court and that couldm do wonders! Look at how the SoDo area has turned in to the lamest part of the city in to quite the trendy little neighborhood in just a couple of years. I think Planet Fitness will be a major boost in activity for the mall and will get some of the downtown "pretty people" in to the mall. The eastside downtown trendies already frequent a lot of the surrounding businesses on the outside. The mall needs to localize itself and forget about the Waterford customers it's lost. The gym is a stepc in the right direction. When the economy improves an apartment/condo/loft development in the area like in SoDo would do wonders. Could bring in some better dining to Colonial Plaza also. (In Tampa and South Florida, TooJays is considered some hip dining) Got Houlihans, how about Crave, or Elephant Bar, Seasons 52 or Bahama Breeze? Orlando the city treaditionally has grown to the east, Colonialtown is downtowns largest neighborhood, got Baldwin Park now just need to get it going on. We are in better shape than Tampa or Jax when it comes to center city mall shopping and liveable neighborhoods.College Park is happening, SoDo, Ivanhoe Row has really picked up, Parramore is starting to happen, Baldwin Park, Thornton Park, South Eola DOWNTOWNN ITSELF! Colonialtown and the ViMi, Winter Park from the WP Village all the way to Park Ave has filled in nicely, Maitland and Uptown Altamonte,Millenia, MetroWest and Dr. Phillips, not all downtown but unique in comparison to or other rival Florida cities. if there is ever another boom, Otown is set to be THE city!
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Don't know if this helps but it sure can't hurt! The very popular and quite nice Mister Sisters nightclub/restaurant has opened along this stretch of Colonial, at least it's a move in the right (gay) direction. Nice bar with a beach on Lake Barton operatged by the popular and well known Brian Humphries.So this is attracting a couple thousand citybois (and gals)O to this area to a clean establishment. Start bringing in the gays as they say and neighborhoods start happening! (Better than nothing for this nasty stretch of roadway!
I was in Orlando last week and stopped into the Florida Mall because I hadn't been there in forever and was pretty devastated to see that the Chic-Fil-A in the foodcourt was gone. Now there are at least 4 asian restaurants all hustling the same bourbon/teriyaki chicken. =/
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Now that the six laning of 50 is completed, it is very disapointing to see it looks juat as trashy as before. No landscaping and no streetlights. Looks like the West Colonial widening is much more attractive. Does anyone know if there are plans to landscape East Colonial and add street lights? I heard of a plan several months ago to beautify Semoran through Azalea Park. Anyone know anything about that progect?
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Now that the six laning of 50 is completed, it is very disapointing to see it looks juat as trashy as before. No landscaping and no streetlights. Looks like the West Colonial widening is much more attractive. Does anyone know if there are plans to landscape East Colonial and add street lights? I heard of a plan several months ago to beautify Semoran through Azalea Park. Anyone know anything about that progect?
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Just curious, was or is there any residential planned for Chenal? Most lifestyle centers here are built along with homes/apartments/lofts/condos. I don't see how it can attract major tenants without the density. What is the population in a ten mile radius? (I know I'm an outsider, but I am interested in the Little Rock thread because a friend of mine moved there recently and I like this topic because I'm very into retail)Y remember the speculation and how frustrating it is waiting for new to market to come to town. Orlando metro was about Little Rocks size in 1980. We didn't get an Apple store until the metro population was over 2,000,000. Now there is two stores within 6 miles of each other. They seem to enter a market with stores like Zara, Sony Style,Hugo Boss,Tiffany & Co,True Religion,Crate & Barrel,Bang & Olefson and anchors like Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdales,Nordstrom, Urban Outfitters. If you have any stores such as these in your market, then they willl probably come for sure.If you have just one of these stores in a center, I bet that's where Apple will go.
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Latinos in the I-4 corridor (Tampa-Orlando-Daytona)have primarily Democratic leanings. The Cubans in South Florida have usually gone Republican because they believe on a hard line position on Castro. But in thia region rhwy have definetly leaned favorably towards more liberal issues, including supporting GLBT rights.I don't believe that all Hispanics are anti-gay. Clearly pop culture is always ahead of the curve. Still the typical voting pattern has Hispanics going Democratic because of economic reasons but they tend to diverge on social issues. Politically speaking Republicans have missed a major opportunity be demonizing immigration. If they instead were pushing for comprehensive reform and were more welcoming I think they could definitely pull in more Hispanic votes.
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Hey Forrest check out these sites:
Tuesday Night:
Monday and Friday night: http://www.revolutionorlando.com/index.php
Thursday Night: http://www.parliamenthouse.com/front/Thursday.htm
http://www.parliamenthouse.com/front/Thursday.htm
Chuchifrito Thursdays"
Mondays http://frontpage.jumponmarkslist.com/iso/us/fl/tpa/bars/valentines.htm
Also the current winner of RuPauls drag races is a major latin drag queen in Orlando, Tyra Sanchez
Don't find ;latins socially conservative at all
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Not sure if this has been brought up before: my sister, who lives in Charlotte, says the city is becoming more and more Hispanic as each day goes by. Spanish billboards, radio stations and papers.....
Nothing wrong with that of course. Diversity can only help a city. I'm pro-immigration.
However I am wondering how the influx of Hispanic Catholics is shaping the city-wide attitude toward gays. I know so little about this demographic's feelings toward gay people. Any thoughts or reflections?
Living in a heavily hispanic area (Orlando) the city is still becoming more open and gayer. Most of the crowds at the gay clubs are a majotiy hispanic, all the clubs have Latin nights and their are totally latin clubs, same in Ft.Lauderdale and to some extent Tampa. The clubs play a lot of reggaeton and hip hop except for the house music nights.
I don't think the Latins in our area are a majority Catholic. They are mainly Puerto Ricans and Dominicans and Columbians and there are a lot of Protestant Hispanic churches. I just think the churches in general have been more open lately to homosexuality and have a more liberal attitude. I don't know much about the Mexican scene though which may be what's happening in
Charlotte,
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This is a topic that I've thought about constantly throughout my life. There was a time starting back in the 50s (before my time) where "Orlando" started at Bennet Road. Pre-Fashion Square, Colonial Plaza ruled East Colonial and the street was "the drag" for teenagers on the weekends, driving between the Steak and Shake drive in and the Pig and Whistle drive in. The Vogue theater at the corner of Colonial and Mills in the heart of Colonialtown was a big hangout for movie theater goers and the new Plaza Rocking Chair theater at the Colonial Plaza Mall quickly became popular. In the 70's as you drove east on Colonial, the road was concrete and right after the Bennett Road traffic light merge it changed to asphalt. There was definetly excitment generated by a drive down E. Colonial between Bennett and Mills, Rolling the windows down the smell of restaurants and food was always in the air and many conversations were started between cars and at traffic lights. I think the resurgence of this area needs to start with the downtown "colonnial town area. I think some La LSTYLE APARTMENT COMPLEXES THROUGHOUT THE AREA WOULD BUILD MORE OF A RESIDENTIAL BASE. tHE APRTMENTS ARE NOT HIGHRISES OR NIEHTER A COLLECTION OF 3 OR FOUR STORY BUILDING COMPLEXES. tHEY BORDER THE STREETS AND ARE USUALLYU A BLOCK LONG IN AREA AND ARE BOUT 4=6 FLOORS HIGH, WITH THE SWIMMING POOL AND RECREATION AREAS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE COMPLES NOT VISIBLE FROM THE MAIN STREETS. tHE SIDEWALKS SHOULD BE HEAVILY LANDSCAPED EITHER IN TTROPICAL STYLE OR THE DOWNTWON oRLANDIO STLEYLKE OF lARGE OAKS HANGING OVER THE STEREET.. tHESE DEVELOPMENTS SHOULD MAINLY BE IN THE COLONIALTOWN AREA BETWEEN mILLS AND bUMBY. tHE CURRENT CcOLONIAL pLAZAS COULD BE A DRAW FOR PEDESTRAIN TRAFFIC. eVERYTHING NEW BUILT SHOULD BORDER cOLONIAL AT STREET LEVEL LIKE THE NEW wENDY'S AND oFFICE dEPOT. mMills Park is perfect for this area, a couple of those on East Colonial would make a major difference. The tough part is between Primrose and Baldwin Park. I think East Colonial beyond Bennett should just be written off as a commuter road, There is a gay club opening on Lake Barton on Colonial called Mister Sisters. Semoran Blvd. should be the next urban planning stage for "East Orlando." Azalea Park, Englewood Park, Monterrey used to be a major boon to Semoran, there was a time when the area was called "Restaurant Row." I heard on the new that there is a beautification project in the works for Semoran from Colonial to Curry Ford. There should be a accent on the Latiness of the area, since most of it is in the city limits it could be the city of Orlandos Calle Ocho area. Don't know what should happen with Fashion Square, maybe the department stores will survive and be kind of mixed in with an uptown Altamonte development which would join Colonialtown with Baldwin Park. Maybe at some point there should be some signage that directs people on Colonial to Baldwin Park neighborhood and straight ahead to the "Eastern Suburbs." The 436 exit could direct people to the airport, and the East Orlando neighborhood, such as Azalea Park. After 436 the rest of East 50 should be left up to the county or state to deal with. Just my thoughts on the subject.
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Apple has removed Little Rock off its official list of upcoming openings. The be honest, the only place in Little Rock I can see Apple going would be Park Plaza, and because its so tiny the chances of that happening are slim. Apples stores usually open in large, regional shopping centers, of which Little Rock has none. In addition, Apple will open in an area where there is a large regional market for their products, a high education level, and a sizable Generation Y population. While Little Rock as a whole has a higher education and income level than the rest of the state, the city is at the heart of a very backward, ignorant, uneducated state that would likely have little interest in brands like Apple. I know people in Fort Smith who boycott Apple products because they say the Apple logo represents sin and Eve's bite off the apple in the Garden of Eden. If anywhere in Arkansas is to get an Apple store, it would be NWA. I just see it being more successful up there than it would be in Little Rock given the regional demographics.
Well, at this point we will just have to blame any negativity with retail on the economy, For a project like Chenal top even break ground at this point is a miracle within itself. So instead of focusing on Apple, lets just focux on the actual shopping center being built. If it is getting built, there will be a day when Apple returns to its list of tenants. Please be patient and lets watch Chenal grow bit by bit. With each store opening you will have the latest flagship of each tenant. Good Luck Little Rock!
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Just to NOTE: This is mostly for creative ideas unless other users have insight/knowledge of actual development plans in the works for this area (which would be great to learn!) But otherwise, it's more "hopes and dreams" then actual progress updates or specs. The board has been slow so I figured I'd go at it now.
Something that has been on my mind for a while now is the stretch of HWY 50 basically between Humphries/Lake Baldwin (where the Sweet Tomatoes/Library plaza is) and Primrose (Where the outdoor Colonialtown mall is).
We've had different discussions here including:
- The fast decaying of the Fashion Square Mall
- The abandonment of restaurants along the south side of the same stretch of road
My primary concern with the area is that it does not have much of an identity. It's not part of what is regarded loosely as "East Orlando" (east of 436) nor is it considered "Downtown" by definition of the downtown neighborhoods which end eastward at Colonialtown North and Colonialtown South. I've found that the stretch across from the outdoor mall is called "Coytown" but the rest is retail on Colonial with the airport to the south and Baldwin Park (back a bit) on the north.
The newly-opened HWY50 overpass at 436 has pretty much disconnected it from ever joining the East side of town leaving it up to Orlando to possibly absorb it as part of our Downtown.
My thought is that this stretch largely runs exactly north of the 408 bridge over Lake Underhill which has been redesigned with the idea of it being a "Portal" between Downtown and east Orlando. This same concept could be applied to HWY 50.
Some of my "magic wand" ideas would include:
- Reducing from 6 lanes to 4 between Humphries/Lake Baldwin and Rickenbacker/Bennett.
- Removing strip malls and replacing with street level retail. Option for current owners to have right of first refusal for space as some have been in the area for a very long time. If done right, no business would necessarily need to close and the process would actually improve business for some. Of course if their business doesn't "fit in" that is their choice to move to an area where they would be more profitable.
- Likely demolishing the Fashion Square Mall and adding mixed use development that would connect Baldwin Park to downtown including trail connection and a designed line for the LYMMO or streetcars to run
----Plan B "could" be to go ahead and build the mixed use AROUND the mall and using the facility itself for a central hub that could include a school, roller skating rink, police station, library, public recretation, etc for youth to have a place to go after school that would be safe and practical. While we don't tend to think of indoor recreation in a "new urbanist" vision as much as we do parks and fields, a structure like this could actually prove to make the whole new area much more desirable to live a walkable distance to.
- Removing the center of the Colonialtown outdoor mall (and by outdoor mall, I'm referring to the area with Chickfila, Old Navy, etc) to put in a central square/park which would go over where is currently just excess parking. For reference, search the net for Downtown Ocala square
- Eventual addition of a marker establishing the portal - meaning a "Welcome to Downtown Orlando" sculpture/archway that would probably be best to go at Macguire as it's fairly central on this stretch.
The vision of adding this "East Village" to our Downtown is that it would improve the vitality of existing crossroads like Macguire/Crystal Lake, Primrose and Bumby. Additionally, despite the monster overpass that was just built, if the traffic calming begins at Bennett or Humphries, I believe that it could actually spread East where the area surrounding Lake Barton (SW side of 50/436) could potentially be unbelievable.
I'd love to hear your thoughts as it's something that's been on my mind for a while now. Has anyone else been thinking about this area of town?
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I agree with the risk. The people doing this seem to know what they are doing and the timing is too perfect. This project waited out the whole Summit Mall/Simon phase, waited out Midtown and then Pleasant Ridge. Pleasant Ridge was supposed to be full of tenants we all had seen rumored or in your case had actually seen the plans for, yet most of the bigger names that weren't anchors (Fresh Market, Parisian, Borders) held out for something better. All of the sudden RED closes on the land and now dozes the whole site in basically no time? The timing just suggests to me that RED got a lot of Schickel's preferred tenants to jump ship to their development, possibly because they already had other similar tenants going with them. If that's the case there's much less risk to this project.
If the development caters to six-figure incomers living in West LR or in the Heights its location is fine, it doesn't need to have easy interstate access to people from places like Malvern and Jacksonville that don't know LR. If it's more of a middle-end development it would be a huge problem.
I would wager Deltic put a million specifications on what they want this project to be like, especially regarding facades and types of restaurants. They've kept out fast food and cheaper businesses and I'm sure they won't allow Promenade to be anything but first rate because if it were it would affect their bottom line.
Even though I've never even been to Little Rock, I would think the developers of the project know what they are doing. And the location will end up being a plus to the community. Speaking from experience of an area (Orlando) that has developed rapidly and has both types of development (near an expressway and off the beaten path), the off the beaten path type of development benefits the community much more and brings a sense of place and more of a true , stable village and is more of a permanent part of a community. It actually incorporates the development in to the city and makes it a true neighborhood, much more urban appeal. The "close to the exit on the interstate" mall uses the interstate as the main street and does not develop a true neighborhood. And every few years a "new" major exit comes along a little further up the highway and can attract another new development surrounding the new exit and render the current development (mall) obsolete. It sounds like your community has some sound urban planning happening with this project that could make it a permanent part of your city. So many malls these days along the interstate only last 15 to 20 years before they begin their downfall. Hopefully I was able to get my point across without too much babbling. This sounds like a first rate project in a first rate location, hope it works out well for your community!
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Wow! Sorry about that, I responded to an email notification I just recvd. I'm sure lots has changed in 4 years as this issue has rapidly become a non issue all around the country. Sorry about my comments!I like to point out metrowester that you replied to a comment from almost 4 years ago... I'm not sure how relavent that post from then really is at this point. Charlotte is a lot more progressive than you think.
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I have to totally disagree about negative press from the media here in Orlando, the big morning radio djs have a float and the festivities are actually broadcast live from the top 40 station XL106.7, The Orlando Sentinel has a float, the Orlando Weekly has a float, the media bills it as Orlandos Most Colorful Parade and it goes through the city streets around the main city park (Lake Eola) and through the trendy neighborhood of Thornton Park. The neighborhood id very mixed and very tolerant straight parents bring their kids to watch the parade. Of course it is much more tasteful than barechested lesbians although there are a few leather chaps to be seen. There are beautiful corporate floats from Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, Anhauser Buswxh Sea World with the Klidesdale horses, lots of club floats with shirtless employess dancing anmd having a good time, but that is what your average straight Orlandoan expects to see in a club and with most of the clubs being ultra lounges, strraight people hang out there too since most of the clubs are in their neighborhood. Most ki9ds know their godp;arents or uncles and visit thier friends reegularly. The mayor kicks off the parade with the lead floatr. Then after the paqrade there are performers in the bandshell such as Rupaul or Donnsa Summer, ect. and all diverity of people dance and have a good time. There haven't been any protestors in several years and the city doesn't allow them near the event if there are any, they are in a roped off area pretty far from the events.. The event always gets a colorful front p;age photo in the sentinel and is pplayred in full on a couple of tghe nretwork tv \stations. The mascot is a stuffed character called Lola the Swan from Lake Eola and hands out treats to kids. It happens in October since we have the Gay Days party in June at the attractions which attracts up to 200,000 queers. The parade is up to 80,000 participants and is moving up to the 2nd largest in the state. St. Pete is now the largest, Ft. Lauderdale was second but Orlando may bypass Lauderdale this year. Miami is just in its 3rd year this year and has been small but growing on South Beach. First year 9000, 2nd year 17000, this year Miami is expecting 30,000. How disapointing Charlotte, I thought you were a progressive city. We've got tons of churches but the main downtown churches allow and accept homosexuals. I was actually under the impression that the nation had changed rapidly. Since I am unemployed I have to check carefully the metro areas and regions I apply for jobs at. Sad. No negativity meant towards Charlotte, just in shock and a little heartbroken. Orlando really has no "gayborhood", we all just live together. Even the very distant suburbs are very open. Good luck Charlotte, we had the same type of situation in the late 80's. Thought cable and the internet changed things. Is there a large college population there?
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I haVE to disa \gree, we get very positive media coverage here in Orlando. The4 parade itself is billed "Orlando;s most Colorful Parade" and it goes through the trendy neighborhood of Thornton Park.....gaystraoighted mixed neighborhood. People line the streets with their kids to watch the parade, although a lot of iot is done with taste, corporate floats from Walt Disney World , Sea World Universal studioTo be fair, they (the media) do it in every city. You do have to admit that Pride does pull in the fringe element of the gay subculture. Seriously, how often do you see a large group of lesbians walking around topless (not that that happens here, but I have seen it in Washington and St Petersburg), or men dressed in chaps with nothng on underneath but a jock strap walking around a medium sized American city on a Sunday afternoon? I have to be honest, if I was a videographer for TV, I'd be drawn to the wild and over the top as well. I'm not saying its right, just that its human nature to be drawn to the shocking.
i have to say i disagree. We get very positi\ve media
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To be fair, they (the media) do it in every city. You do have to admit that Pride does pull in the fringe element of the gay subculture. Seriously, how often do you see a large group of lesbians walking around topless (not that that happens here, but I have seen it in Washington and St Petersburg), or men dressed in chaps with nothng on underneath but a jock strap walking around a medium sized American city on a Sunday afternoon? I have to be honest, if I was a videographer for TV, I'd be drawn to the wild and over the top as well. I'm not saying its right, just that its human nature to be drawn to the shocking.
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As Orlando Fashion Square's troubles accelerate (a Detour store had already reported closing along with Waldenbooks and others) - the Sentinel reports this week the demise of a Hallmark shop, a jewelry store, and perhaps most importantly the very mainstream American Eagle store - I do hate to revel in other people's misery but for those of us who believe downtown retail will always suffer as long as Fashion Square is so close, this may be long-term good news. Whether the DDB has the expertise to capitalize on this reordering of the landscape is another question, of course.
What's perhaps most ironic is that the per capita income around Fashion Square is increasing (thanks to Baldwin Park) even as the mall's mainstream anchors are pulling out.
Stay tuned as the economy slowly comes back and downtown starts to move again.
BTW, Happy New Year to all!
I hate to say it but the suburban megaplex in the Waterford Lakes area is basically what killed Fashion Square. Orlando has always moved east (the city population in Orange county.) I remember Colonial Plaza Mall when Fashion Square opened a little to the east down the street. Colonial Plaza added a south mall wing and moved the Belk store from the front parking lot to the new mall addition. Then 12 years later Colonial Plaza made another desperated attempt by renovating the entire mall and building a brand new Ivey's store (Dillards) on the front of the north end. Both malls had similar retail lineups. Then Fashion Square renovated by gutting the Robinson's store, adding a food court, a JCPenney, and a new Maison Blanche, eventually Dillards. Plus a parking garage. Colonial Plaza deteriorated quickly after that, especially when Jordan Marsh was bought out by Federated stores and closed due to keeping the Burdines open at Fashion Square. Colonial Plaza had stolen some of downtown Orlando's major retailers, such as Rutland's men store and Gibb Louis womens store, Thom McCann, Lerner Shops, Winter Park mall took Iveys and JCPenney from downtown and Sears went to East Colonial pre-Fashion Square as a stand alone store. The difference between Orlando and other cities accross the country was new malls went way out to the suburbs, like Altamonte Mall. Orlando's former downtown retailers remained just a couple of miles from the city center and are actually in neighborhoods that are considered downtown neighborhoods, like Colonialtown, Audobon Park, now Baldwin Park. Although I love the mall, current retail trends are quite different. I believe there are a few malls in every city that are destination malls like Millenia, and Florida Mall, Altamonte Mall is a very urban area with most residents living in muli-family units and uptown Altamonte has helped that area. Fowler Groves in Winter Garden put the nail in the coffin for West Oaks, along with several Walmart supercenters and groceries. Waterford has a big effect on Oviedo Marketplace as well as the store lineup at Altamonte Mall. My point (finally) is that central Orlando seems to need retail to replace what it is losing on East Colonial. But with most retail now being superstores, how does that fit into the picture. I don't think Jacobsons would be a big enough draw and small shops downtown have a big failure rate. Remember Church Street Exchange and Marketplace? National retailers made an attempt for 10 or 15 years. I think except for small eclectic retail, downtown retail will be based (until the economy improves) by SoDo to the south, Colonial Plaza to the east, and Winter Park Village and Park Ave to the north. I think there will be decent shopping areas in the Plaza/Church Street district, Thornton Park, College Park, Baldwin Park, Corrine Drive, Michigan Street, and hopefully soon Parramore. We should consider ourselves lucky, Tampa is pretty much a ghost town due to 70s and 80s office development downtown, souless glass towers, Jacksonville really has nothing, St. Pete is trying but is still in the lower rent artsy retail stage. Plus the Orlando metro in general is a major shopping mecca. Also Orlando has 25,000 residents within 1 mile of the city center and 150,000 within 3 miles of the city center (unless things have changed drastically in the 2010 census) and that is unheard of in most cities, Miami and Atlanta included. So retail downtown may happen in a big way when the census figures come in and the economy improves. Give it 10=15 years. Maybe all this high speed rail and commuter rail projects will push things along.
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You know,I haven't heard much about any cities perception since the great recession began. I know Charlotte has gotten some national press on its rap[id transit system and the secret to making such a system successful. Now that President Obama has funded and anounced the high speed rail between Orlando and Tampa in addition to Metro OrlANDO'S COMMUTER RAIL, have heard mention of Charlottes . Big difference is is the nations first city to city high speed rail system in decades.m It has now spurned a 3rd train sytem in Orlando to connect the local commuter rail to the Orlando to Tampa system. The local Orlando commuter rail is about 50 miles long already. But there has been quite a bit of mention of the success of Charlottes system and applying some of the same techniques used here as used there. Other than than not much mention of perception of any city since the recession has began, unless it's bad news, unfortunately. Was a lot of talk a few years back of downtown residential development in "Charlotte much similar to here in Orlando at the time. Orlando managed to get much of its projects completed, they are slowly filling up and Orlando has one of the south's largest inner city populations, 30,0000 people withing 1 mile of the city center and 155,000 within 3 miles of the city center. How's Charlottes downtown residential doing? lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllspeed rail system between two huge metro areas in dercades. Now a third Orlando rail system has been spurned from this to connect the Orlando to
Tampa system to Orlando's 50 mile commuter rail system. But quite bit of mention of Charlosttes system and its successes. Other than that, haven't heard much of pereception of any city nationwide since the recession, just bad news if anything.
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Let's see, ct36 specifically said "I think Macy's Lenox is better than all the Macy's stores in NC, SC, GA, AL and TN. Thats pretty good."
Maybe ct36 didn't include Florida because ct36 is well aware of your M.O. Ct36 knew that you would immediately come to this thread to tell us all about stores in Florida. There was no need for ct36 to include Florida. Why bother when you will let all of us disadvantaged shoppers know that we must fly south for real shopping. Also ct36 probably understands that Florida locales recieve a large share of tourist both from the US and international. Maybe he felt it not fair to compare store in say SC or AL to Florida which recieves many millions of high flying international toursit. Then again maybe I'm wrong...maybe since ct36 was the speaker, they have the right to set the parameters for which they will judge. Maybe ct36 was saying that Macy*s Lenox was better than all Macy*s in the southeast except the ones in Florida....but true to fashion, you made sure to list out the accolades for us. At any rate, thank you for the information about the Millenia Mall in Orlando....even if it's not in NC, SC, GA, AL or TN.
Wow, I sure am sorry. I didn't know that FLA was considered to be so isolated from the southeast. Not too long ago we considered Atlanta a major shopping destination for us here, it was either Miami or Atlanta and nothing in between. Sorry to step in to your region. And as for the tourism angle, all major shopping cities are boosted by tourism, people travel to certain cities just to shop, such as Atlanta, Miami or NYC.
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I think any towers in urban Orange County are significant to the overall skyline picture in the Orlando area. After all, isn't Houston's tallest near the Galleria and not downtown? With all the infill in between it becomes one long Manhattan. We should really recocgnize our high rise hotels around the area, not many cities even have that option. LA has towers spread out throughout LA county, Miami as well. I think it is impressive driving in to Orlando from the west/south and having these towers. If there were a tower or two in Millenia area then the city would be well connected with towers. Also, many downtown towers in major cities are hotels. Orlando/OrangeCounty is impressive and we should show it more respect.
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I think Macy's Lenox is better than all the Macy's stores in NC, SC, GA, AL and TN. Thats pretty good.
The Macy's at Millenia in Orlando really does set itself apart from any other Macy's in Florida. It was never a Burdines and was built as a new concept store just before the Macy's takeover. You should really check it out, it makes Macy's seem "special" like it should be. It even out does the Bloomingdales in the mall, which is also a great store. Also, Forbes.com put Mall at Millenia in Orlando as one of the top ten most successful malls in the US at this time, and there was no Atlanta mall in the top 10 in sales per square foot. It really is a unique store and a unique mall and is definetly a destination shopping center for the southeast, just as the article states. No negativity towards ATL or any other mall or city, just you really should include it when talking about retail in the southeast. Why does everyone always try to compare Atlanta and Charlotte in the retail scene in the southeast and leave out Florida? I know Atlanta is awesome for shopping, but to compare it regionally you need to head south.
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Yeah, during the 96 Olympics Miami, Orlando, and Birmingham hosted futbol games but I don't think (what is now called) BofA stadium was complete yet.
Yeah, back in the mid-early 90's when Shaq was playing for the Majic and we went to the finals, the world cup was also in Orlando. The city hall made their dome in to a soccer ball, while most of us in the city thought a basketball would have been more appropriate. But I see no reason why Charlotte couldn't host the world cup, maybe Charlotte has become more well known internationally.
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I stopped by Maggie Moo's after a movie last Friday. They were pretty busy, which is good to see. But the kids working there at the time were pretty rude. My wife was asked "Are you gonna get something or what?" after she asked what was in a menu item. Has anyone else experienced this?
There's also a rumor going around that a prominent local restaurant owner is going into Promenade with an upscale Asian theme. I think this would help traffic there. Although I like the Chi's location over next to Coffee Beanery. So I wonder how that would work.
Does LR have a PF Changs? That would be perfect for this center. There's also a "fast food" version of PF Changs called "Pei Wei", that would fit in nicely also.
The Promenade At Chenal
in Little Rock Metropolitan Area
Posted
If McDonald's is the same prototype that many upscale centers (areas) are using in the Orlando market it can actually be a good thing. McCafe's are a major competitor with Starbucks right now here. The upscale store design and push for coffee and breakfast items and wifi options attract even the most pretentious customer who needs his $3.60 for a gallon of gasoline and not a cup of coffee. Another McDonald's prototype in the Orlando market is Bistro Gourmet, once again pushing the coffee, pastries and wifi with an entire different line for ordering panini type menu options. These stores resemble Starbucks or Panera with sofa areas, no playplaces, warm brick fireplaces, etc. In this economy this could be a more important draw to get this center moving in the right direction than even Apple. McDonald's brings in repeat customers daily and builds it's customer base rapidly. Someone stopping by daily is bound to notice each new shop in the center as it opens and check it out. And remember, the focus of these restaurants aren't Big Macs. Chipolte was a McDonalds brainstorm and was touted on Oprah as being the healthiest fast food outlet available.