CalvinEggnog

It would be very cool to see a monorail in Orlando connecting the airport to the convention center and making stops along i-Drive. I personally LOVE the Disney World monorails and one of my wishes is that they'd connect Hollywood Studios via monorail. It's clean, quiet, and I just think elevated trains like that look futuristic. Plus, they don't clog up existing streets or cause problems with pedestrian crossings. The cost of something like this would seem exorbitant and I don't really see it happening. But I'll hold my breath nonetheless.

Hmmmm.....I admit I'm a little nervous. The NW and SW corners are the two parts of the plan I like the least. With them being Phase I, it makes me wonder if the best parts will even come to fruition, and if so, whether they will remain in their current state or not. My fear is that the taller buildings are downsized or funding dries up and it takes another 10+ years to be developed. I'd have been so much happier if either the NE or SE portions had been in the works for Phase I. Fingers crossed.

How depressing is it to see all of these proposals and projects? Every morning I wake up and hope that there will be a new thread or a new rumor or proposal in the works of something that is actually architecturally significant. I guess I'll be waiting a long long time and will simply have to watch as cities like Austin, Minneapolis, and Seattle continue to improve their downtowns with beauty, function, and height, while Orlando just flounders around with boring 5-8 story tall apartments where towers should be.

Looking over the wikipedia entry for soccer stadiums in the US, I'd be pretty happy with something along the lines of the BBVA Compass stadium in Houston that opened in 2012 for $95m. Still, the "good" stadiums seem to be in the $110-$130m range. I'm a little bit concerned that the Lions will have a generic home for the price tag we're looking at. Then again, maybe the lack of any parking will help. And it doesn't have to be state of the art. It just needs to have good curb appeal, a great playing surface, and some modern concessions/concourses. This unfortunately is going to be on the cheap side no matter how you slice it. I just hope they don't cut too many corners and it still looks good. I'd really love to see the area on the West side of I-4 become a sports & entertainment district, even with a couple of mid-rise to high-rise condos.

No no. My bad. This is a picture from Google Maps. I should have clarified. Just wanted to give an idea of what is currently on the corner that this "thing" will be built on, if it's built.

By the way, this is what International Shoppes looks like. I don't know about you guys, but there aren't many things worse than old tacky strip malls. The change to this SE corner of Kirkman & I-Drive would be crazy, and I hope it would spur more development. I only wonder if there will be any synergy with Universal Studios, such as a monorail of sorts that takes guests back and forth directly. As someone mentioned just a bit ago, 160,000 sq ft of retail isn't much more than a big Macy's, but looking at the footprint of International Shoppes, I am not sure what else they can do. The rendering makes it look much much larger than the space it will be built on.

24-hour revolving restaurant, huh? Because we all need a burger and pancakes at 3:30am. I really don't know what to make of this. It looks like it belongs in Las Vegas or Dubai. I seriously doubt this is going to be built, and is completely ridiculous in my opinion. And if it's built, it'll probably be some beotchized (wow, it doesn't like "bast-ard-ized", I guess) and scaled down version of the artwork. The grander the renderings and vision, the less optimistic I become, though I would love to see it built, if only because it's just completely whacked out.

The slanted building on that Hotel ORMC looks a lot like Disney's Contemporary resort, if you ask me. I don't like either. The main structure of the hotel doesn't look terrible, except for the extra tall corner that tries to make the building look fancier than it really is. I see that kind of thing on CVSs and shopping centers too, and I would really like to see that trend stop altogether. It's more than worn out its welcome. Try something different. It's like a fancy hood ornament on an old Kia. It doesn't fool anyone.

I think that looks pretty cool. Wish it was 35 stories, but at 21, I'll still take it! Density is key, so I'm hoping the ground level retail is something useable by downtown residents. Definitely a modern, almost futuristic look to the building. I hope to see it. But the name "City Tower" just sounds like Citi Bank to me. Not residential, as this is meant to be. I hope a new thread for this project pops up if it actually starts looking like a reality.

Typos are funny sometimes. "The goal is to keep the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium competitive with other football stadiums across the county to continue to host the existing game and events but also increase the amount and size of events." I am not thrilled with the look of the rendering, but perhaps the actual result will be more appealing. And to hear that it's 80% new construction is pretty impressive, considering it won't be used very often.

For the entire project, yeah probably more than 6 years. But hopefully they do it in sections and take care of the International Drive/Kirkman upgrades first because driving through the attractions is a pain! It mentions in the video about the previous update to JYP, and remembering what that was like before the changes were made makes me very happy that this is being done.

Yeah. I'm always seeing slideshows of celebrities at the Magic Kingdom or celebrities who went to area attractions or celebrities who are from or live in Orlando, or who the power players in town are, etc. Gets a little old. That was a cool gallery though. I just hope they don't ever include Carousel of Progress to the slideshow, as I still love it. I certainly wouldn't mind seeing one of the stunt cars from Hollywood Studios show up there, as CarsLand East would be a huge improvement to that sad little park. I want to love Hollywood Studios, but it needs a lot of work, which I understand is in the works. *fingers crossed*

I like the renderings of the Citrus Bowl quite a lot, but renderings can make things look better than they turn out to actually be, specifically when it comes to materials used. Though I like it, I don't like it quite so much for Orlando. It would work for Miami. Then again, most of the design elements are just bright South Florida tropical colors, and we all know Orlando and Miami are about as similar as New York and Boston. As for a Rays stadium in downtown Tampa, the latest doesn't look good. From today's Tampa Tribune: TAMPA — Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig on Thursday said stadium discussions between the Tampa Bay Rays and St. Petersburg have stalled and that he was considering intervening in the issue. Just last week, St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster said he’s open to allowing the Rays to look in Hillsborough County for stadium sites, something the mayor had resisted for at least two years.

Good! I like the last line of the article. Resistance is futile. It puts the Citrus Bowl renovation budget at over $200m too, which should give it a little extra bump in amenities or at least I hope they allow for the best design possible. And of course, finishing the Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center is fantastic. I can't wait to follow this, and see the final design and shovels in the ground on this project. Do Orlando proud, and show that we are serious about our sports.

I'd love to see a map of what property Universal actually owns in Orlando. Can you supply a link to one, or post one? It'd be a huge investment, and possibly they'd need to buyout a hotel or other businesses and then redirect traffic/tear up roads and completely redvelop the new area to fit into a grand plan for the park, especially if a third park is in the works, or a fifth hotel (or both). http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/blog/tourism-central/os-universal-theme-parks-a-little-less-profitable-in-the-second-quarter-20130731,0,6452643.post Universal Orlando’s parent company said Wednesday it will pour hundreds of millions of added dollars more into new attractions in Florida and California this year, accelerating an already aggressive construction plans in program schedule at its U.S. theme parks. There's that too. I'm not sure how many millions will go to Orlando, and if "new attractions" means anything other than things we already know about. But it's exciting to think that Universal could eventually become even bigger with a third park. I would love to see a map of property that is owned by Comcast if at all possible.