wally2169
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Posts posted by wally2169
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It's official, $300 million in bonds passed to build the venues
It's on track and coming along
Good times
http://www.local6.com/news/14697541/detail.html
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Douglas Grande aerials:
Is this Winter Park I presume?
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A cool article for the PAC
Nice to know somone who appears to be competent is spearheading everything so well
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/...,0,117556.story
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Amazing pictures guys, absolutely amazing
You guys made my weekend today
Thanks
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Any update on the progress of the S.R. 408 expansion on the east side in terms of the refurbishing of the Lake Underhill Bridge with it's new decorative suspension bridge cable structures as well as the progress of the new Holland East Toll Plaza?
If any photos of this are out there, please post
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Church Street Station to change hands again
Ohio hospitality firm may buy the property
Hilton Hotels eyes location near Presidential Ballroom
So what does this mean exactly?
Was it always Kuhn's intention to sell or is he merely selling portions to bring on partners to spread the risk?
I feel like this place is never going to come back
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I'm glad it turned out to be AMC. I don't see many movies in the theatres anymore but when I used to, I would most definitely prefer to go to a theater with a run by a reputable brand name than an independent theater where you don't know what you're going to get.
Not only so much a good quality experience but AMC is so well known throughout the world, it'll be easy as hell to market so I will find it hard for people not to notice or not to consider
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It's official
Downtown Orlando theater to be 12-screen AMC
By Jerry W. Jackson {sodEmoji.|} Sentinel Staff Writer
5:03 PM EST, November 8, 2007
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Re: Seattle, $38 billions seems catastrophic. Maybe voters saw it as a boondoggle.
I agree the $38 billion is a disgusting amount but to clarify, it isn't just for light rail only
The referendum was to allocate about $15 billion towards a multi leg light rail that would span over the entire greater Seattle metro area including its outlying suburban areas
The remaining money would be invested in new road construction, widening existing major roadways, replacing several bridges, bike trails, etc
Many are saying the reason why this failed was that one leg of the light rail is completed and will open to business soon and many people are eager to see if that first leg actually succeeds before looking to increasing its size tenfold
Plus, the fact it was bundled into a large program of road construction and more might also lead to its demise
Charlotte go its referendum approved because it was more simplistic and not nearly such a huge amount
I think this is what we need to do in Orlando, give the commuter rail line a chance to succeed and actually come up with a light rail plan people will actually vote for
Past mistakes on how it was presented to voters seemed to doom it
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Election 2007:
Charlotte Transit Wins By 70%; Seattle Transit Expansion Loses
http://www.lightrailnow.org/news/n_lrt_2007-11b.htm
This is an encouraging sign that a major metro area like Charlotte can bring the people together to vote for a much needed light rail line to help alleviate traffic issues
If Charlotte can do it, no reason why a good transportation package cannot make it in Orlando
However, on the flip side, this article also shows that Seattle rejected a $38 billion transportation infrastructure package pretty overwhelmingly
Considering Seattle is a much larger metro area with far worse traffic issues, this defeat is pretty catastrophic
Aside from whatever fares are collected to ride the lines, does anyone have any idea roughly how much subsidy comes from the government over the life of such a line?
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Coming back from the 'Meet the Design Team' thing today, I'm very excited. I am very confident about the inside workability and functionality of the performance spaces as well as backstage, and I like what I heard regarding the outside. I liked the remark that Barton Myers made saying that due to the lack of style in Orlando's current architecture, he felt he had the opportunity to 'set the bar' with the PP Pac.
Donations now up to 84 million.
dpac has done a great job of assembling a hot team who have reputations to consider. I've worked shows in some of the theatres they designed, this could be great!
(Okay I know, I know. Put the Pom Poms down and step away....)
The only thing more pitiful than a Mr. Burns, is an inefective Mr. Burns.
Your meeting today sounds very encouraging
Considering that the Disney Concert Hall cost a total of about $270 million in 2003 construction dollars, I think the funds that will be available for ours should be adequate enough to accomplish something spectacular along those lines
I just hope too many wallets don't get fat on the project via "Big Dig" corruption that could wind up limiting what we get
Of course, Mr Burns is always welcome to step in and convert it into the City Commons Maximum Security Prison should an upscale Gehry facility not succeed with us southern folk
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when was Uno's downtown and where was it?
Right in between where Howl at the Moon was and the Olive Garden at the bridge of Church Street Marketplace crossing over Church Street
I had been to that Uno's numerous times and I enjoyed eating there for lunch when I worked at the Suntrust Building
Ahhh...the memories......
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I'm not sure if anyone else has posted this yet, but.....
Bid to halt sports venues could fall short of goal
It appears Mr. Rosen's plan to impede progress is failing badly
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How well do you guys think a design like that of the Walt Disney Concert Hall would sit in downtown Orlando?
You're dreaming the impossible dream
The Disney Concert Hall is an architectual wonder of the modern era, doubtful we would ever be so lucky as to get something that amazing
It's a wonderful dream though
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There are no official renderings yet, just some basic massings along with feasability and impact reports.
My gut tells me that dirt will not be turned a moment before 4th quarter 2008. The financing package is very complicated so I would anticipate that there will be a dog and pony show just before the new year in order to lock in financing.
No dirt dug til end of 2008 is of course assuming Rosen and Guetzloe (aka, Media Crack Whores) don't find pull rabbits out of their hats anymore than they have tried
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Did a walking tour of Orlando a few weeks back. It had just stopped raining, taken between 10am & 11am.
can't figure out how to embed pictures from flickr. But here's a link
The purpose of my walkabout was to identify examples of good/bad pedestrian facilities, and to take some interesting shots. So, no awesome looking pics of skyscrapers, LOL.
Very nice photos, great job
There is nothing no greater than Orlando or for that matter Florida as a whole after the rain
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Read Mike Thomas' column today and it appears that the PAC funding is very much in jeopordy.
Not very encouraging....
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It will be an interesting development for sure, but am I missing something here--why are they building this beside the 408?
This is not going to be anywhere near the 408
It will be off the 528, the Beachline (Beeline) down by the convention center
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Not so encouraging here....
After a more than five-year frenzy, the condo-building boom in downtown Orlando has ground to a halt.
A new Orlando Sentinel survey of the downtown core finds that more than two-thirds of the 40 new high- and mid-rise condo projects announced in recent years are in limbo, as developers grapple with a slumping housing market, soaring construction costs and lending-industry turmoil.
Many plans have been postponed or altered; some have been scrapped altogether.
Not a single project has broken ground since an identical Sentinel survey six months ago found only 15 of the 40 projects had begun construction or been completed.
Scott Stahley, a senior vice president at Lincoln Property Co., calls the current condo environment "scary."
"It cannot be done," said Stahley, whose company is building the 32-story Dynetech Centre on Washington Street, which will have office and retail space plus 164 apartments -- but no condos.
The projects that have yet to get out of the ground may be the lucky ones. Many developers say the condo market has fallen so precipitously that the true danger now lies with the handful of still-incomplete towers that have already passed the point of no return.
Among them: The Vue at Lake Eola, the Paramount and 55 West, which combined are expected to inject more than 1,100 condos into downtown during the next 13 months.
Representatives of all three projects say they are confident. Each has signed contracts and cashed deposits with buyers on the majority of their units.
Speculators add to unease
But what nobody knows is how many of those buyers are people who intend to move in and how many are speculators who could walk away from their investments rather than close.
That problem has confronted developers of Orlando's newest condo skyscraper, Solaire at the Plaza. Though the condo tower on Church Street opened in March, the developer, Marietta, Ga.-based Wood Partners, says it has sold only two thirds of the more than 300 units. And some of those are sitting empty. Property records show that only a quarter of the Solaire's units -- 75 in all -- are owned by people who list their condo as their mailing address.
"The tale [of the condo slump] is still to be told," said Jeff Arnold, president of Concorde Eastridge, which aborted plans for a 31-story, 187-unit condo tower at Rosalind Avenue and Washington Street in favor of plans for a hotel with only 55 condos.
"I think upon the delivery of some of the units that are getting close to completion, like The Vue and others, we will find out whether the buyers are actually going to close," Arnold said. "There's going to be some leakage. The question is, how much leakage?"
Withered demand
Housing markets in Orlando and the rest of Florida began to fall back to earth last year after an unprecedented boom through the first half of the decade sent land values skyrocketing and construction cranes sprouting.
Demand withered, speculators pulled out, and the price of everything from concrete to gasoline pushed developers' costs higher. More recently, the lending turmoil racking Wall Street has made financing for projects even harder.
The slide displays few signs of slowing. A recent report showed that existing home sales in greater Orlando tumbled almost 43 percent in July from a year ago. Condos have been hit particularly hard; the same report found that condo sales had plunged 64 percent.
Even some of the most optimistic builders in Orlando have been forced to shelve their plans.
Craig Ustler, the veteran downtown developer who helped revitalize Thornton Park, had been hoping to begin construction on his latest downtown venture this summer. Now, however, he says the 13-story, 43-unit East on Park won't begin until January at the earliest. "Anything that's not in the air is on hold," Ustler said.
Developers re-evaluating
With the condo market falling, many developers have gone back to the drawing board. For instance, the 86 condos initially planned for the top of a 225-room hotel on Central Boulevard have been stripped out.
JLJ Properties of Lake Mary, which once planned to construct two towers and 510 condos at Church Street and Eola Drive, says it is now considering building apartments or simply selling the property. The developers of Sky Towers at Orange Avenue and Ivanhoe Boulevard have given up on their 381 condos and are looking at retail and office space, according to the minutes of a recent Downtown Development Board meeting.
Rumors are also swirling that changes are in store for the 39-story Tradition Towers on Central Boulevard, which is to have two towers of luxury condos linked by a sky bridge housing the exclusive University Club.
A spokesman for the developer, Broad Street Partners, said the company plans a "public announcement on the project in the next 60 days."
The half of it could be bleak
A number of developers are in a situation some say is the worst-case scenario: halfway built. Five downtown condo towers are in the midst of construction right now, including the 100-unit Star Tower on Jackson Street and the 146-unit 101 Eola. The other three are giants:
Developers are putting the finishing touches on The Vue at Lake Eola, which looms 36 stories over Rosalind Avenue and will have 375 condos. The first residents are expected to begin moving in next month. Hope McCampbell, vice president of marketing for the project's Churchill Development Group, said just 30 units remain to be sold.
The 312 units at the 16-story Paramount on Central Boulevard, which expects to wrap in about 10 months, are about 98 percent sold, said developer Steve Patterson, the president and chief executive of Zom Inc.
The last of the three scheduled to arrive also has the most units -- and the least sold. 55 West, the massive 32-story tower rising on Church Street, isn't likely to be finished until September 2008. The project's 405 condos, which are selling from the $300,000s to more than $3 million, are about 75 percent sold, said Jim Schroder, director of development for developer Euro American Advisors.
But despite the heavy sales, those involved with all three projects acknowledge that they have no way to be sure how many of those buyers will actually close on their condos -- especially if the market doesn't improve.
Walk-aways face losses
"We'll have some fallout, there's no question about it," Patterson said, though he noted that Paramount required 15 percent deposits on condos that range in price from $220,000 to $2 million. "People are going to walk away from a lot of money if they walk away."
Some walk-aways have occurred at the recently completed Solaire, said Jillian McGibbon, a sales and marketing manager for Wood Partners, which still owns about 105 of the building's units. Still, McGibbon said the developer is pleased with the progress of sales, given the condo slump. "To think that we're being slightly affected by it, rather than seriously, we're very happy about it," McGibbon said.
Developers make no secret that they will be anxiously watching to see how the newest projects perform. "I think everybody is in the search mode: How many investors are there?" said Michael Beale, of Raleigh, N.C.-based Highwoods Properties, which has a 125-unit downtown condo project on hold and another in early planning stages.
"We were all hoping it was like 80 percent owner-occupied and 20 percent investors," he said. "But no one knows."
The Miami market could get hit the worst by the condo glut
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It's coming.....
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Church Street Station, a historic downtown Orlando attraction, is being renovated.
Once owned by Lou Pearlman, Church Street Station is now owned by developer Cameron Kuhn and undergoing a grand transformation, WESH 2 News reported.
Chef Mark Dollard got a rare second chance at business success at Church Street Station.
Dollard's restaurant, Absinthe Bistro, closed when music promoter and Church Street owner, Lou Pearlman, declared bankruptcy, and sold his properties.
Dollard plans to open a pizza kitchen and wine bar, scheduled to open in October.
Other businesses have planned to open in Church Street in the coming months as this former tourist hot spot comes back to life.
"Residents are going to want to be able to stay downtown, work downtown, live downtown, eat downtown, and I'm even considering moving downtown as a result of that," Dollard said.
Other businesses are also being renovated, such as the Improv Comedy Club, the popular Dessert Lady, and the old Pearl Steakhouse is being replaced by a tapas restaurant and bar.
One of the most anticipated renovations and re-openings is the Old Cheyenne Saloon. It is 20,000 square feet and four stories.
The new developments are beneficial for people who plan to live in some of the 5,000 condo units under construction in downtown, including 55 West a block away.
"It's definitely going to help any business on Church Street or in the immediate downtown area," Panchero
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Well, according to this from WFTV, it takes an a**hole to know an a**hole:
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Harris Rosen and Doug Guetzloe have made names for themselves in very different ways. Thursday they were together working as one.
Guetzloe is the controversial political consultant and Rosen is the millionaire hotelier. They have teamed up for a common goal; shooting down the new community venues until the public can vote.
But even though they have a common interest, Rosen said unlike others in the past, he is not paying Guetzloe.
"I don't want to pre-judge Doug. If he's going to help me, God bless him. I don't want to have a relationship with Doug or his group," Rosen said.
Rosen said he's not paying Guetzloe anything for his help. He needs to collect more than 30,000 signatures by February.
The Orlando Magic paid Guetzloe in the past not to fight their push for a venue.
Yes, God forbid Doug Guetzloe could ever be pre-judged
He has earned his title as crotch stain on his own nicely
This dynamic duo will only annoy for annoyance sake
Get ready to deal with this for the next 6 months guys
Metro Orlando Headlines
in Orlando
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I 2nd that!!!!!
To Harris Rosen and Doug Guetzloe.....
May they both leave Orlando with their tails tucked and rot in hell