scottb411

A thread to discuss the new medical city getting built in Lake Nona. Projects to discuss: - UCF Medical School -- Burnett Biomedical Building -- UCF School of Nursing - Burnham Institute - University of Florida Research Facility - M.D. Anderson Cancer Research Institute - Veterans Hospital - Nemours Children Hospital - Florida Hospital - Lake Nona Town Center Lake Nona website: http://www.learnlakenona.com/ UCF College of Medicine Website: http://med.ucf.edu/ Nemours unveiled their site plans today: http://static.nemours.org/www-filebox/orlh...-plan-final.pdf June 2008 Construction Update: http://www.fp.ucf.edu/images/LakeNonaNews/...0Newsletter.pdf

The senators from Lakeland screwed Tampa in this as well: http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/may/03/na...er-rail-future/ Wouldn't they think that if Orlando had commuter rail and Tampa had commuter rail, that it would finally make sense to link the cities together with rail. And if Orlando and Tampa linked up, would Lakeland not be included?

Send one of your complaints here (the person responsible): http://www.flsenate.gov/Legislators/index....Title=-%3ESenat

Someone needs to organize a rally in Orlando to show support support for the commuter rail to send these jerks a message. Crist needs to step in and stop the madness or he'll be gone for his next term. If he runs as VP, I'll be voting for the democrat. Where's the support? Get off your butt and get this thing passed. Isn't Jeb the one that rode the prototype into downtown? Come on.

I just did a search at: http://www.disneycareers.com for the following job categories: Engineering, New Media/Internet, Technology and Information Services ...in the following cities: Celebration, Lake Buena Vista, Orlando and 51 openings were returned. That's not bad for being in a recession.

Florida can't touch Silicon Valley, but out of the entire State, Orlando is in a much better position than Tampa and South Florida. Coastal Florida is too centered on tourism and the beach. With Orlando's growth centered on NASA, Lockheed, Imagineering at Disney, and video games at EA, there is a lot of tech jobs in the area that you don't find in other parts of the state. Siemens and Oracle are also major employers in the area.

There are now a ton of large precast cement pieces all over the property and new signs are up selling the apartments and office/retail/medical condos. With all the precast cement pieces, this should go up quickly. The sign says commencing Summer 2008.

UCF Future story on the House of Moves at FIEA in downtown Orlando: http://www.centralfloridafuture.com/news/2...e-3149227.shtml

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There is an I-4 overpass going in there that will link International drive to Palm Parkway where the new Buena Vista Resort is going in: http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/stories.../02/story3.html http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&...&iwloc=addr The Orlando Business Journal reports that a $2 billion mixed used development called Midtown has been proposed for a 214 acre site just west of I-4 about half way between the 535 exit and Central Florida Parkway along Palm Parkway (MAP). The huge complex would include hotels, timeshares, rental units and office space when it opens in November 2009. The project is being masterminded by Shamanand “Sham” Maharaj and his company Buena Vista Corp. Two resorts at the site have already begun construction: a $300 million high rise Wyandham condo hotel (504 units) that will feature twin 30 story tall towers, and the first phase (141 units) of a Hilton Grand Vacations timeshare development that will grow over the next decade to have 1,200 units. The site also has room for three more hotels, one of which is already being planed by Hilton. As part of the development, there is a plan to build a bridge over I-4 to connect Palm Parkway with the Premium Outlets Mall on the east side of the freeway. A nightly laser water show is also planned to take place on Lake Ruby, which will be surrounded by the Midtown development.

I used to think that to until I stayed in downtown Atlanta this summer close to Piedmont park and had some downtown envy. Go take a walk down Peachtree and Piedmont Park the next time in Atlanta and I think you'll have a different view. For downtown Orlando, I like the way it is growing with all of the independent shops and restaurants. A lot of other larger downtowns have all of the touristy places like Hard Rock, Planet Hollywood, Ripley's, Bubba Gump, etc... Thankfully, the tourist areas of Orlando are like a magnet for those places, so they have left downtown unscathed. I'm looking forward to when the movie theater opens up, the PAC, and new arena. Also, with the commuter rail linking Downtown (Nightlife / Theaters / Sports / Concerts), Loch Haven Park (Musuems / Antique Shops), and Winter Park (Arts / Restaurants) all within 3 miles from each other, you will have the total package. I just hope they keep the train running between downtown and Winter Park all throughout the day. There is also a lot of history of rail going from Winter Park to dowtown Orlando from both cities early beginnings.

Friday's OBJ confirms that Icon Celebration is a bust - sales center closed.

Some have stated that giving money to corporations to relocate to Orlando is a waste of money and point to Agere as an example. I happen to have benefited from a success story that I've never seen discussed but can be pointed to in the following document from the City of Orlando website (page 20): http://www.cityoforlando.net/planning/dept...20July%2000.pdf ...with the city providing $5 million in incentives for Oracle to setup shop in Southeast Orlando. Oracle is now the second biggest software company in the world after Microsoft and have bought other companies recently like Peoplesoft, Seibel, JD Edwards, and are now looking to buy BEA Systems. On any given day, the Orlando center is providing classes for these software applications and providing support. However, you could probably count on one hand the number of individuals working at Oracle that are living downtown. Since the center is close to the airport, most of the employee's are living in southeast Orlando in Vista Lakes, Waterford Lakes, and Avalon Park. The bulk of the jobs for biotech are going to go to Lake Nona, and the employee's that are working there will also live in the Lake Nona area. Financial incentives are good for metro-Orlando, so downtown does benefit, but indirectly. I'm all in favor in luring big companies with financial incentives, but Oracle and Burnham are not feeding and providing shelter to the homeless downtown, they aren't going to the prisons to help individuals rebuild their lives, working with the churches in Parramore to assist their members with jobs, and teaching after-school programs at Howard Middle School to help the children living downtown to exceed. Panhandling and crime in the city core is starting to become a problem. Building more prisons is only a band-aid to the problem. The churches downtown are working everyday to build up the lives of others living in the city to make it a more sustainable place to live because crime and panhandling make downtown Orlando weaker.

The downtown churches give back to the community every day without looking for any type of recognition. My wife and I attend the Presbyterian Church downtown on Church St (the 4th largest Presbyterian church in the country) and their current mission statement reads: "Seeking, Sharing, Serving...All to the Glory of God" Any type of windfall for the Methodist church will only bring more good to downtown Orlando. Strong churches in the core of downtown make for a stronger downtown. http://www.unwrapchristmas.com/ Ways that FPCO is giving back to downtown: http://www.fpco.org/pages/203.asp

Nice shot of First Presbyterian :-)

Winter Park's Central Park is 3 miles from downtown Orlando and has all the cultural things you could want. With commuter rail coming in a few years, it is exciting to think how downtown and Winter Park will be closely linked again like in the old days. Blue Jacket park at Baldwin Park has all of the athletic fields and bike trails. As downtown continues to grow out, Central Park and Blue Jacket will seem to be more centralized to downtown Orlando. Delaney Park is also very underated with all of it's green space.

The new UCF Football Stadium didn't cost much more than 50 million to build. With no assistance from the city or county, there is only one place I could see this going: -- I-DRIVE If Orlando were to get an MLS soccer team though, they should be playing in the Citrus Bowl. Looking at this guys other press releases, it looks like it is a scam: http://www.pr.com/company-profile/press-releases/17129

Yes, but the movie theatre they mentioned was Amstar, which was already widely known. Stating that, the story was very negative on all the proposed condo developments for downtown (Monarch, Tradition Towers, etc...) and how they are either getting delayed or abandoned.

I agree. I live out in the Lee Vista area and my wife and I can't wait until the theatre opens up in downtown. I can't think of a better spot to go see a movie. Think of all the options just within that 1-mile radius with all the bars, restaurants, the Improv, the energy. Then throw in the new arena, PAC, and commuter rail all within walking distance in a few years. You've got to be an idiot of a theatre company to turn down this location. I also don't think you'll see the onslaught of kids you see at Waterford, Winter Park Village, and Fashion Square. It will be much more adult orientated. I'm sure that some of the big theatre executives that are out of market probably don't get it though so I could see where they are having a problem finding a tenant.

Skull Kingdom is getting torn down and being turned into apartments :-) It's on I-drive http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=11353

I think it's funny that South Street is a one-way street that only goes west and runs parallel to the East-West Expressway.

I've been to Albany several times in the last few years to visit family. Orlando and Albany are worlds apart when it comes to downtown development. The billboards for their new aquarium read "There's something fishy going on in Albany." Their entire downtown is about the size of college park with a small playground and is a very dangerous place to be once the sun goes down. It's not a very safe place to be when the sun is still up. I'm not saying he isn't qualified, but saying Albany measures up to Orlando is like saying Orlando measures up to a Chicago or NYC as far as downtown development is concerned. It just isn't there.