AndyPok1

Yeah every time I saw it saw World Drive, I was like, this has to be a typo.

I'm trying to put some guesses together, but it can really be anything. The Growth Spotter article says, "The hotel is planned on 30 acres of vacant land on International Drive, north of the Gaylord Palms Hotel and south of the World Drive Interchange." I thought it could be this one since it was transferred a few years ago to a new holding company, its almost 30 acres, and is directly north of Gaylord. But the image on Growthspotter shows the street named International, and from the shape, it'd have to be Osceola.

Didn't realize it had gotten sold. Hopefully no major changes? They're probably my favorite local pizza (and especially stromboli place), though I end up at Brick & Fire more often now since its closer.

Yeah, I know they got funding for the 4 arm railway arms, as opposed to the 2, but last I heard about that was pre-COVID.

Having lived at 55 West facing the train tracks on the 25th floor, I can tell you that sound VERY MUCH travels up. I agree, that it isn't bothersome. But even that high, I'd have to pause tv or hit the 10 second rewind button when the whistle was directly below my apartment because you couldn't hear what they were saying over it.

Few random updates from the hood... Delaney Ave near Gore is going to be closed starting 1/3; I'm assuming more of the sewer(?) work they did earlier this year near Briercliff YouFit in the Publix plaza was closed for 3 days for "remodeling"... They painted the walls white and gray instead of purple and green. I tried Crave finally. Give the BBQ plate and sides a pretty resounding... meh My personal tastes aside.... I was there for about 45 minutes on Sunday afternoon, and literally not a single other person came in or out. Gou-oui next door on the hand made a delicious cookie. But their door is only from the back parking lot and not from the street. All-in-all, a great re-use of an old insurance office/realtor building into something more public... but I can't see how Crave makes it. On the other hand, Clean Eatz which replaced Habit... I have not yet tried. But when walking past to go to Crave, I saw 2 people leaving with their meal preps for the week, so that business model seems to be working. But that plaza which is all but new... is now all but empty as MattressOne left a few months ago, and I just noticed Verizon looked empty too. I did my yearly trip to Gators.... it's still mediocre to bad. But popular so :shrug:

I will say, Smoke and Donuts has the best brisket I've found in Orlando (topping my previous favorite, Ellie Lous), so good for them. And now when I go to A La Cart, I'll be able to try other things without being sad I'm missing out on brisket!

Hard to disagree.

Wait what? Booooo. It's getting to the temperature where I can resume my Friday afternoon lunch walks downtown!

I'm definitely guilty of doing that. Avoids the extra light. :shrug:

I'm looking at the bright side and that means he'll be around another 5 years at least!

Oh that's fascinating. I'd love to see the traffic studies of how much those right turn lanes onto Mills and Bumby are used and how much impact removing them will be (I can't think of a time I've used either, but obviously probably circumstantial to where I live and where I go).

I guess the black marks don't really look bad to me? Looks urban.

So in 2019, FL legislature usurped Home Rule once again and basically forbade municipalities from requiring tree permits on residential property. I'm assuming since this is isn't strictly residential, it doesn't apply, but wouldn't shock me if there was some way to basically read the context for mixed use and they're willing to take the chance in court.

Yeah I mean, it looks good, and he did say it was good. But its not a... wait a month to get pizza.

Insert my usual rant about how Scott Joseph is a pretentious twat who doesn't do NEARLY enough (I would argue any) research before he just writes random things. The main appeal of Brad's is that its an authentic/good Chicago Deep Dish like Lou Malnatis that Orlando otherwise doesn't have beyond the crap that is Uno. So of course he orders a thin crust The one that set me off the most about him was like 4 years ago when he reviewed Church St Tavern (what became Pepe's next to Marys), which by the decorations was VERY obviously a Pittsburgh bar/restaurant... and proceeded to make a whole fuss about why there were french fries on the sandwich. When if you know anything about localized cuisines/traditions, you know that Primanti Bros is a Pittsburgh institution and the sandwiches were copying them. Plus, there's Primantis in South Florida, so its not even that localized of a thing anymore. AND EVEN MORE... googling "pittsburgh french fry sandwich" gives you all the detail you need without even needing to click a link. I'm very tough on journalism, and I believe bloggers are just a new era of journalism. I firmly believe in, "If you're putting your name on something, make it count." I've often taken upwards of 15-30 minutes to make a post on this very forum because I cross reference OCPA/permits/google/etc because if I'm making a point, I want it to be as accurate as I can make it. This is why I used to get in fights with Bungalower and the Downtown South facebook page and why I'm banned from the Wadeview Park Facebook group (which I really feel they shouldn't be allowed to do since I live here but y'know). They don't take the time for excellence in their publishing. And I get it, it's a business. You can't spend 3 hours on every post, there's marketing and economics. But I just can't excuse it. Be best.

Living in 55 facing and directly above the train tracks, I absolutely tuned out all club and train noise. The only time I even noticed it was when watching TV and it was literally so loud I had to pause what I was watching and rewind 10 seconds because I couldn't hear it over the horn.

That's exciting! I'll have to get up there this winter. Wonder if the bike shortage has finally ended. One of my bigger regrets of procrastinated purchases "to do more research" in January 2020. My generic Schwinn from Target (that I've bought 5 of since starting college) is on its last legs.

I was up there for a doctor appointment (not gonna lie, had no idea 801 was an office building), and when I walked out to Orange I was like, wow this looks different but I couldn't put my finger on what. That makes sense.

Interesting. I've only been to Italian House once because I was on the hunt for a cheap good italian place after Lido's closed, and found it to be very meh. However, I have had a few people say the pizza is good. Not sure how long it's been since you were at Finn's, but ripping Pickleback shots while a DJ plays loud music isn't what I would consider classy. And that's what Finns has been for years. And I went in and did a final Pickleback on their last Saturday for good measure. Jokes aside, as your boy Scott Joseph notes, Finn's was one of the few bars downtown not owned by one of the groups (TMG, Bento, CSB, OrangeAve, Orion, Wall St). Consolidating operations to focus on Ollie's and Vanberrys makes a ton of sense.

And maybe the newness of Buttercrust / Gatlin Hall Brewing will wear off. But The Porch has staying power. For years on weekend afternoons it's been, "Hey let's go to Ivanhoe. Let's go to GBs, let's go to Lure." These days, people are going to Gatlin.

HA! No kiddos ever coming from me. I may try to be President of the Wadeview Park Neighborhood Association at some point if I ever can get unbanned from their FB group.

I view Ivanhoe as our "midtown", and I'm biased but I think if the Division St corridor ever gets redone and not industrial, that is our blank slate for a boom. Sentinel/Creative Village on steroids. Train access 1.5 mile to downtown. Easy access to I-4 from multiple directions? I've said before, but if Orlando was ever to make a TRUE pitch for the Rays (or even a AAA team), that's the spot to do it.

I've done that with my friends at Skyhouse past few years. Can confirm, quite enjoyable.

I love what is happening down at Fort Gatlin, but its just depresses me. This is what SoDo/Michigan plaza needs to be. We have no "destination" in this neighborhood, and we've basically forfeited it to Gatlin and Hourglass. Both of which are slightly too far to walk to.