[The Plaza]

I totaly agree! That's what upsets me the most whenever I hear talk about real estate, it is spoken in the conext of an investment when it is actually a place to live. I enjoy living at the Solaire, but the one thing I can't help but notice is how empty it is. At any given night most of the windows are black and I rarely see the same people on a daily basis. At times the building feels almost dead, like there's no life.

it's not always necessarily about purchasing an "asset," some people genuinely like the places, and would like to call them home at the right price. if you can get in there sub/lower 200's. . .i think you've done halfway decent. as far as the "asset" side of things, if you can carry the place for 4-5 years, i doubt it'll be worth LESS than what you paid for it.

[The Plaza]

That's why you need to do the walk through any new condo with a fine tooth comb.

I'm renting the unit therefor I didn't actually do the walk through. I've been considering buying a unit at the Solaire and they were nice enough to give me access to the homeowner's web site to make the requests.

The Penthouse pictures are really nice. I like the fact that they have two balconies. With glass on all sides I bet it feels like you are living in the sky. My place feels that way at times, thats why I like it.

[The Plaza]

Anyone else have scratches on their windows? They're not willing to do anything about it since I didnt catch them during my walkthrough. My punch list had like 75 items as it was including cracked counters and mirror which I guess they thought I wouldnt notice. Also, the noise from Wallstreet comes right through my balcony door which had no weatherstripping at all. They agreed to install it.

I agree with the lighting.. I'm still looking for something decent in the bedroom. It sucks at night, I'm having to use the bathroom light to see..

I also have a few scratches on my windows plus paint from the building on the outside. The frames are scratched up as well. There is a faint line of some kind of clear overspray on the bottom of the inside of the the windows. Does anyone else have that? I put in a warranty request for the windows and excessive noise. They said most of my issues were not warrantable.

This might be abit off topic and seem like a rant..

But I'd like everyone to know that the parking garage in the Plaza is not secure, including the resident area. With all of the security in the Solaire, my locked bicycle was stolen from the bike rack on the 7th floor over the holidays when the gate was not working and stuck open. The day after I reported it to management the gate was fixed. Go figure.

[The Plaza]

"Plaza is steadily filling up-- lots of buildout currently underway in both towers still "

Every day there seems to be trucks fighting for the loading docks of the Plaza non-stop.

[The Plaza]

I was there today looking at a unit and the film crew was still there.. As far as the Market goes, I think its starting to peak. Look at all of the empty units in the Solaire, it seems alot of the poeple who bought the units do not live there. Heck, I was even at Sotherby's looking at units to buy and even several of the agents bought into the Solaire themselves to rent out. Not that i think its a bad thing to make income, but I don't agree with how much they want v what they paid.. This seems to be the norm around downtown right now. Living there is attractive, how many big cities have a downtown area in its infancy that is so clean and growing like Orlando? For this reason I think the commercial space will remain a premium, but I'm not sure if the residential side of it can sustain. This is just my observation though since I don't know too much about urban planning. I do find it intriguing.