scottb411

Great picture! I'm going to be featuring this picture and your blog on my coverage of the Amway Center grand opening tomorrow night. Thanks again for giving me a shout out to my site: http://www.OrlandoLocalGuide.com

I think that this can be done nicely if they do something similar to the UCF recreational pool: ...or go with canopies that you see over playgrounds on a larger scale:

They just need to add an additional stop at Sand Lake/Orange. The stops that make the most sense are: OIA Sand Lake/Orange Ave Orange County Convention Center Disney Lakeland Downtown Tampa Tampa International Airport They could probably also add in a stop at the Florida State Fairgrounds since it is right there. This would be great for concerts at the Ford Amphitheatre.

Adding a Fox Sports Grill would be a good addition: Especially since a majority of the magic games are on Fox Sports Florida and Fox owned Sun Sports. They could do their post game reports from the restaurant and bar. Fox Sports Grill also has more of a nightclub vibe and upscale dining that is more in-line with downtown Orlando.

Went to the movie theater for the first time this weekend and was very impressed. My wife and I went to go see Harry Potter and parked in the garage. I think it was $18 for both of us with a validated parking ticket. The seats were very comfortable and the sound and video quality and screen size were all excellent. I think the messages about the issues with the parking garage are overblown. It's a lot different than the other garages around downtown and the system of paying for your parking is confusing the first time you do it, but it is really not a big deal. I was easily able to drive my Infiniti FX35 around the garage. If you have an Expedition, you may have problems, but if you have a normal car, it is fine. This is a great addition to downtown and they are now showing all first-rate movies: http://www.plazacinemacafe.com/

I wouldn't get down on Lake Nona because it is not in downtown. Both Orlando Health and Florida Hospital have long-term plans for their expansions for their bookends in downtown and have two great buildings in Winnie Palmer and the new tower that Florida Hospital just built. Nemours wanted to build their hospital in downtown but it would have competed with Orlando Health and Florida Hospital so out it went. The location of Lake Nona adjacent to research park opens up a lot of exciting opportunities of combining medical research with simulation and laser technologies. If any of this spills into downtown, we are in good shape and there will be plenty of growth in the downtown residential market housing these professionals.

What is wrong with these people 1. Paula Dockery's husband is a big supporter of high-speed rail but Jeb kills it. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/...0,1886846.story 2. Jeb rides into Orlando for the Sun-Rail and Paula Dockery kills it. 3. Charlie Crist supposedly supports Sun-Rail but Paula Dockery's husband quits the high-speed rail board because Charlie isn't taking the steps to get it going: http://www.theledger.com/article/20090406/NEWS/904065037 There seems to be a big conflict-of-interest hear with Paula Dockery and her husband when it comes to trains. Orlando's tab for Sun-Rail was going to be 2.6 billion over the next 30 years. Tampa is looking to build a system for 25 billion over 25 years. There has to be more going on here: http://county.theledger.com/default.asp?item=2368760

Since all the bickering is about money, I wonder if there would be a way to get some stimulus money for the Sun-Rail since Obama appears to be big on high-speed rail. Honestly, high-speed rail to/from Orlando to anywhere doesn't make sense without the Sun-Rail. Once you get off the high-speed rail, you'd have to spend a lot of money on a cab to go anywhere and it would make more sense to drive. With Sun-Rail in place, it makes total sense for high-speed rail and vice-versa. Also, Charlie Crist, you lost any potential chance for my vote going forward and I am a registered republican. You said you supported Sun-Rail but you seemed to be pretty quiet about it and this is a big failure on your part to not help push this through. 15 of the 23 votes against this were by fellow republicans. Good luck on your bid for President. You have nothing to stand on with accomplishments in the state of Florida.

Grand Opening is May 28th, Open to the public on May 29th - In time for Disney-Pixar

Florida Hospital Pictures taken from Leu Gardens:

Moss Park in November 2008

Sentinel also reporting that John Mellencamp will be performing: http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertain...mellencamp.html

Barack and Michelle Obama will be guest on the show according to the programming guide.

Fool me once, shame on you... http://www.cityoforlando.net/elected/mayor...downtown_08.htm Another fundamental element is a downtown movie theater. I know

http://www.eoinn.com/

Another story on the hospital: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/or...0,6609971.story They have a picture of the elaborate lobby in today's print edition of the Sentinel. I don't see it online.

New Disney Hospital at Florida Hospital: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/or...0,3599999.story

The idea of the roof extension for the protection of the elements is very similar to the Angel Wing at First Presbyterian downtown but the architecture is similar to First Methodist across the street. I don't work or live downtown, but the outdoor plaza looks like it will be a nice area to have during the day with all of the benches as a new park. It reminds of the proposal for centerplace, which I'm sure is off the board of getting built: http://www.orlandoskyscrapers.com/ViewItem...?parentCatId=41 If restaurants and retail line both sides of the outdoor plaza, I think this will be a really fun place to be at night. Maybe this will be Orlando's way of getting retail back into the downtown core. The second rendering of the palm trees makes me think of the Cheesecake/Brio area at Millenia but on a larger scale. From the outside, I think Orlando's PAC looks like it will be more exciting and have a lot more going on than Miami's PAC which looks like it is surrounded by a parking lot: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/88/26185029...6817c47.jpg?v=0 http://farm1.static.flickr.com/95/26184629...e38f74e.jpg?v=0 I also took a look at Atlanta's Symphony Center and it looks like an 80's epcot building: http://www.atlantasymphony.org/symphonycen...Picture018.aspx A look at their new PAC doesn't really excite me either: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wizum/450959472/ I'm sure that the renderings were never going to be able to satisfy what most where looking for but I think this is exactly what Orlando needs. Just my two cents.

It appears that Jason's Deli and Tijuana Flats is coming to a shopping plaza being built in Waterford Lakes: http://libertyum.com/index.php?action=list...mp;listingID=51 http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/.shared/i...wsg72908__2.jpg

Marriott building villas next to JW, Ritz-Carlton Lakeshore Reserve is the first Marriott Vacation Club to share property with a JW Marriott hotel and the Ritz-Carlton. Members of the vacation club will have access to the amenities at Grande Lakes, including the restaurants, golf club and the 40,000-square-foot Ritz-Carlton spa. To be completed Summer 2010: http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories...ml?surround=lfn

There is a lot of pent-up demand for this. The only theater anywhere close to downtown is Fashion Square and that reaches a different demographic than the downtown crowd. I think the city should pony up and make it happen. This has the potential to make this part of Orlando a true theatre district with the PAC on the way. If we could just get the Improv to come back to town and get SAK back closer to Orange Ave.

The Travel Channel is going to spotlight Orlando's local areas on Thursday at 10pm est: Samantha Brown: Passport to Great Weekends Orlando This weekend Sam's exploring Orlando's neighborhoods, meeting locals and discovering things to do including the great shopping and dining district of Winter Park, the downtown art-scene and a fantastic soul food eatery called Johnson's. http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Samantha_Brown

The Burnett Biomedical building is a part of the UCF College of Medicine that will be setup for research purposes. It is the furthest along in terms of construction: http://med.ucf.edu/news/2007/july/072607/index.asp