Universe_Explorer
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Posts posted by Universe_Explorer
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They've put a 3-4 story building up west of the Hampton Inn on Columbia (looks the shape of another budget-ish hotel, but I'm not sure what it is), and the hotel conversion across from the hospital on Orange is nearing completion - at least they finally have a "Delaney Tavern sign on the restaurant/bar section.
I expect there will be another taller (10-12 story) patient tower on the campus within the next 5 years. They have to deal with some parking issues first
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On 6/27/2019 at 6:38 PM, spenser1058 said:
True enough if they choose not to annex. I wonder if they’ll want to have to go back and forth between the City and OC?
My understanding is that the (political) purpose of the I Drive taxing district is that it discouraged further annexation of fruitful county property by the city - it can become part of the city (as in require Orlando Police/Fire vs County resources, etc, but the city can't collect the taxes from it - which defeats the purpose. Beyond that, I don't believe the new Universal property would meet annexation standards regardless unless it's attached on more than one side to other city property. I haven't looked that up
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I don't believe this is ever happening under the Magic's banner. My guess is they demo the shelter, hold the property to make it look innocent enough, then sell off the large parcel and try to make it all look like that was never the plan...
If they really wanted to build it in concert with I4 plans and cared about the local neighborhood connection they never would've destroyed the parking garage and first floor retail which could potentially have been thriving over the last few years of magic/OCSC games and concerts years ago. They want a huge empty parcel to sell. Maybe that's better - anyone who chooses to pony up for that property will hopefully build something more substantial and sustainable than the they would (let's be honest, if restaurants can't stay open on Church St as is, how is an "entertainment complex" on the other side of I4 going to survive?
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¯\_(ツ)_/¯ There was nothing to see there but an oversized berm hiding some old buildings. It's got ground floor retail and interacts with the street - not that I think Colonial will ever be part of a pedestrian-friendly urban environment. Until the Sentinel property evolves this is as good as it will get. In the meantime, I'll take a nice pedestrian bridge and blissfully ride right on past this stuff
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I took a Lime bike home from downtown over this bridge after the USA Soccer game last week and it was pretty awesome. Half the price of an Uber, a lot more fun, and definitively more practical with this bridge/trail segment. Really hope they can extend it south a couple blocks to complete the off-street connection
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I was skeptical at first, but now that I've seen the first floor trusses I honestly think removing the berm and leveling the ground makes this all fit much better with the streetscape, I never realized how weird that part of the corner was until it was razed (and I go passed it almost daily).
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I feel like I'm the only person left who likes this project (lol read the first 10 pages of this thread when everyone was talking about how great the design was). I think the Yard and Lake House are going to be very sought after by folks who feel a little too "old" for downtown proper but want to live a more urban/walkable life. I assume they'll price the units that way (ie kinda expensive)
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Based on my knowledge of the ER, but without seeing any plans, I assume the glassy portion facing the lake will be a new/continuation of the waiting room and/or a hallway skirting the outside of the ER itself connecting to the lobby area similar to what ORMC did with the Orange Ave facing side of their expansion. Tampa General made similar use of great water views when they built their expansion years ago and it set the FL industry standard - you may have noticed how the lobbies of newer hospitals now look a lot more like high end hotels, the battle for (insured) patients continues...
Unrelated, its' really exciting to see the ballet building under active construction. Foundations are being poured and it should go vertical soon
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If that becomes a Publix, and they discuss closing the one on Edgewater, there may actually be a full scale riot in College Park...
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I really like this now that they added the cafe. This + The Yard will add a mass of people to a thriving little sector of the city. It's foolish to think of these buildings as "out of place" in this part of the city - take a look at Florida Hospital (ahem, I mean Advent Health) campus master plan - they own a huge portion of the land around Ivanhoe and have plans to increase the massing dramatically - as they already have begun doing.
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I don't hate this as long as they keep the first floor retail/restaurant space - wasn't there a rendering without that as well? These apts will have nice skyline/lake views and be walkable to Ivanhoe Village/Virginia stuff. It's a good location
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Probably belongs in Rauvadage, although I'm not sure how my CPer's would use it. Conversely, a smaller Target store in the Creative Village/UCF area could work well after all the housing is filled up. Most of my neighbors seem fine using the SODO or Fashion Square stores, with the Princeton St Walmart (and Amazon) filling the needs that target otherwise provides...
One a side note, The Princeton and The Yard seem like the slowest moving apt developments I've ever seen. At least The Yard is all concrete so they've got an excuse, I feel like the Princeton could've been done a year ago but it's still a ways off. Church St Station will be topped off before people move into it
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On 9/12/2018 at 3:39 PM, dcluley98 said:
It began as a branch campus of USF. Back then, there was a large contingent of moneyed Polk Republicans who ponied up their cash and made a political pull in Tallahassee to create a new campus and make it separate from USF. The local senator JD Alexander was behind the push to do this. Additionally, there was quite an emphasis on the need for STEM institutions at the time during the aftermath of the last recession. I think they started the push in 2009-2011. The Florida Board of Governors overseeing the State University System eventually approved and gave them the backing to create their own stand-alone university over time. The local politicians wanted it immediately and with more money, so pushed through a different funding bill in the senate that would fund the new Florida Polytechnic University, and Republican Rick Scott approved it. The land itself was "donated" by the Williams Co. of oil/gas/pipeline business.
(also to add. . . I am an Independent. I do not have anything against Republicans in general, although I do lean more left and can't stand Rick Scott).Interesting...I had no idea the school itself was so new - I kind of assumed it had been around and this was a new campus with a signature building. Still, someone must have had either a great connection or a lot of cash to bring in a starchitect for it. I can't argue about more STEM education needed, but depending on how many students are there full time it's still really barren in the area. I sure hope the UCF Downtown campus pulls more development and activity with it regardless of how much less iconic the building is
2 hours ago, spenser1058 said:Actually, a fountain was proposed for Lake Ivanhoe by Mayor Bill as the "Northern Gateway." It was nixed by the west shore neighbors because it would attract "those" people. So probably not happening there, either.
Back when Claude Kirk tried to move the capital to Orlando, one of the prime spots tossed around was the OUC land overlooking Lake Ivanhoe. That would have changed everything but alas it was not to be.
More recently, other fountains were proposed for the lake to go along with the I4 ultimate - once again billed as a "Northern Gateway", and once again foiled by the locals (this time because they would impose on wake boarding, fishing, paddle boarding, etc.). A much more noble, and acceptable reason I believe
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It was alluded to here before, but someone has to enlighten me - what exactly are the politics behind Florida Polytech, and how did they manage to have the money/influence to get a Calatrava building? I remember driving by it on I4 during construction and wondering what in the heck was being built way out there. Then as it neared completion I recognize it was pretty signature Calatrava and got even more confused, so I looked it up - but nothing about it made sense financially. I realize that FLW made Fl Southern because of the old agri-money in Polk back then, but who got this thing greenlit?
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On 9/7/2018 at 8:33 PM, orlandouprise said:
Agree about the park. The CW Stadium now wants 60M more for reno. This place is a money pit and still looks like a high school stadium for all the money spent on it. Bulldoze it and put a state-of-the art NFL quality retractable roof stadium for goodness sake and stop wasting money of this thing. I honestly believe ORL can bring Shad Kahn and the Jags if we did this.
The 60M additions make the stadium eligible for College Football Playoffs, a better option for the World Cup, and potentially (if the NFL ever softened their stance on cities with franchises) the Super Bowl. Although it's my least favorite of the "venues" funded by TDT dollars, it is far from being a money pit - it's actually the only one that makes money. The Pro Bowl has been a success despite terrible luck with weather, the college football kickoff games have been essentially an additional sold out bowl game, and in the last couple years Jay z, Beyonce, the Eagles, Jimmy Buffet, the Rolling Stones, and Guns'N'Roses have sold out shows there. Without the existing renovations we probably couldn't even have kept the original citrus bowl (or whatever they call it now), let alone all of that. The TDT accounts are overflowing, the laws still don't let the money go to other things people may find more appropriate, and every time this stadium fills up so do hotel beds, restaurants, etc. I'm all for it
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Seems crazy that they'd close that location. There's always a line for the drive through and rarely available seating inside. Heck, I'm actually sitting in it right now surrounded by people with Orlando Health badges. I guess it's good news for the Foxtail Coffee that is supposed to be opening across from ORMC in the old Mama B's, if they ever actually start the build out
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On 6/22/2018 at 11:33 PM, JFW657 said:
Pretty cool if not odd, that we have two hospital complexes with their own skylines that bookend downtown one on the north and one on the south.
I would expect another patient tower (and another big garage) on the OH property within the next 3-5 years. The master plan for Florida Hospital's main campus is even more ambitious than that
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Oddly enough, I spent a lot of time in Seaworld last month and found myself wondering what their best strategy would be in the current market. It was noticeably less full at the main park than my experience at the other attractions during the summer high season. However, Aquatica remains packed (was at capacity and turning guests away several times I was down there), and Discovery Cove remains a hit for it's exclusivity if nothing else. There are a number of things going for Seaworld. It's location, as mentioned, is fabulous (it's also the closest park to the convention center and it's surrounding hotels). It has the start for carving a "thrill park"-like niche in Orlando (all three major roller coasters are excellent and unique in their ride structure for the area, and Infinity Falls is being marketed as a thrill-type ride although I'm always skeptical of those raft-based attractions being a big hit), and it has the second best toddler-age "IP" in town to Disney (Sesame Street, which they are in the process of expanding in the park).
However, they obviously have some big problems. Blackfish, and their terribly executed response, is part of it. The next generation of young parents (ie potential customers) has strong feeling about these things - ask Barnum and Bailey. Blackstone was awful for the park - not only the lack of visionary foresight, but the little things too. It's difficult not to feel like you're being nickel-and-dimed at every turn in Seaworld compared to Disney or Universal. They confiscate even small amounts of food, the lockers at the roller coasters are strongly enforced but not provided for free, casual employees are disengaged...heck, they don't open the back part of the park until an hour after the front some mornings and there's no sign or communication about it - you walk back and find a rope blocking it off (and an employee if you're lucky).
Best case scenario is laid out above (bought by deep pockets), but even then it matters what those pockets do. Their newer non-coaster rides have been flops (the penguin thing is cool, but honestly do you think it pulls anyone at all in who wasn't already going? I feel the same about Infinity Falls). The shows are no longer thrilling. Aquatica is an excellent water park but Volcano bay is changing that whole landscape. I hope they pivot towards roller coasters and fill that void. It costs much less than the amazing IP-based dark rides Disney and Universal are throwing out there and yet offers an attraction that there's still a market for. They could also still hedge on the aquatic theme and build a major resort hotel - the proximity to OCCC would make it all the more attractive. Their future is Roller Coasters and Beer. There, I said it.
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I'm very excited about this - I'm on the OUT several times a week and look forward to a nice route toward downtown. It won't reach it's potential until they finish the link to Gertrudes walk without going on the streets, but based on the amount of Orange bikes I see on the OUT and around the bars on Virginia on weekends, I think quite a few people from downtown will use it to connect the two parts of town - especially when it reaches all the way down to Church St
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As a frequent Lake Ivanhoe paddle boarder, the way this structure looms over the Lucky Lure is actually really cool. It's going to be a great addition to the area, which is already pretty flush with pedestrian and bike traffic. I'd love some Virginia Dr sidewalk improvements though
Side note: some letters are blown out of the Chapel's neon sign and no one seems to be fixing it. I didn't love the proposal for that site, but I'm not against something there (it would have an amazing DT view) as long as they add first floor commercial space and find a way to work that sign in the way this project is working in the old silos...
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Driving by the most recent construction I was surprised by how close the off ramp from I4 west goes to the Amway Center - it's going to feel like you can reach out the passenger window and touch it!
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I'm a proud College Park resident, and fairly active within the community there. Most of the newer residents (myself included) are young families or couples that have outgrown downtown condo/apts but still want to live in the city. I think the priority placed on urbanism by new CP residents and existing Mills 50 residents is part of why the Edgewater/Ivanhoe/Virginia commercial area is thriving. The long-term CP folks are the ones that groan about new development. That said, I think most would embrace streetscape and beautification along Edgewater, but there are logistical issues (cost and space being the biggest - the south portion of the road has a narrow ROW and I'm not sure how far they could cut into the existing street).
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11 hours ago, JFW657 said:
I think they should mostly leave the current building alone. Do some minor additions like fully enclosing the ground floor, redo the landscaping around it, etc, etc.
Take down the signage of course.
Agreed. Parking is going to be an issue there, unless they make a deal with doubletree to use their garage. I think they could also make an excellent garden area in the park to the west of the building, although it has to be done carefully to shield the noise from I4 as best as possible.
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The Ivanhoe->Mills 50->Audubon area is as close to hipster Brooklyn (vs Manhattan) as Orlando gets - the trendier, hipper, "artsier", grungier neighbor that interests folks of a certain type and irks others. To be honest, Ivanhoe (with help from the new developments) is the only part that feels "urban" to me - although Mills 50 has a lot of great businesses , it's just ruined by "50". Colonial is such a wall of pedestrian unfriendly hatred that I can't get past it. I fully support the new trend of townhomes around the area, because I think thats a perfect demographic mix. Audubon has cool stuff, but beyond a couple small neighborhoods everyones gotta drive there, it feels more like a destination. And don't pretend the Baldwin Park people actually walk down Corrine.
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Central FL Roads and Highways
in Orlando
Posted
I cross at OUT/Virginia several times a week and have found the combination of blinking lights and staring deeply into the eyes/soul of the oncoming driver as I cross gets them to begrudgingly stop as close to hitting me as they can. :)
The big issue at Amelia are the extra lanes - drivers instinctively just shift to the lane without the person slowing/stopping in from of the them and cause close calls. This even happens at Shady Lane and Edgewater with the turn lane, despite the blinking lights. More frequent use of the trial helps, as drivers anticipate people crossing there