I moved to Orlando in 1990 during the 'gold rush' era- when the state required new residents to pay a $500 car impact fee (per vehicle) in addition to registration fees, when moving companies extorted $1000 from every new resident and threatened to hold belongs hostage, and when 'job agencies' charged $300 to give the unemployed access to employment ads that were basically cut from the newspaper and glued on post cards. The papers published articles that would lead one to believe that there was a gross population boom- 1000 people per day moving to Orlando. What they didn't publish was the number of people leaving....estimated at about 600.
I have always had a passion for architecture and design and, as an 'on-the-side' hobby, enjoyed watching and waiting for new downtown developments. I have religiously read the posts here for years. I have also collected the photographs. One source I thoroughly enjoyed was downtownorlando.com.
There have been a large number of very impressive developments in the works over the past 16 years- most of which did not get built. It all boils down to money. If the developer isn't going to make money, the building won't get built. If the developer isn't going to clear a good profit, the development will be scaled back...there goes the fluff.
As excited as I am about all these impressive developments currently in the works, from past experience, it is my opinion that well over 50% (a conservative figure) will fall apart and/or simply fade away...never to be heard of again. I have seen it.
I agree wholeheartedly with the others. I get very frustrated with the 'stubble' that is being built.....I say, TALLER, TALLER, TALLER.
I believe, my opinion, in decades (emphasis on plural) to come, Orlando will enter its prime. I believe that will happen when big businesses, insurance companies, and banks begin to see Orlando as a self-sustaining, legitimate metropolis in which to do business, finance, commerce, manufacturing, etc. and wish to be headquartered here....just like all the grown-up cities (Boston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, New York). The tourist and service industries (low wages and unskilled labor) are at the foundation of Orlando's current existence.
When that time comes, the prime downtown land will have been eaten up by all these low and midrise developments (stubble). With prime land at a shortage and a high demand for office space, developments will go skyward. When you can no longer build outward, you have to go up.
Study the history of any of the older cities....New York and Boston, for example, were once dotted with stubble. With the shortage of and demand for space, buildings were built taller.
Traveling west over Interstate 4, I have to admit, the skyline is surely changing; but from the expressway traveling west, the buildings seem to be readily swallowed by the trees.
