Universe_Explorer
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Posts posted by Universe_Explorer
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This is a pretty massive building - same with The Sevens. I noticed they were moving dirt around in the area north and west of The Jackson - that condo complex that sits bizarrely on an island of empty lots with a whole side that doesn't have windows (presumably b/c it was supposed to be one a several buildings there). Anyone know anything about that?
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Bringing this topic back from the dead because of all the recent momentum regarding homelessness in the region. Successful "Housing First" models (providing free, permanent housing plus support services to chronically homeless individuals with co-existing mental health/substance abuse) across the country and Europe have changed the conversation at the federal funding level, and this approach has gained a lot of traction locally. There is an obvious counter to the philosphy that gives a substance abuser free housing without asking for even abstinence in return, but evidence has been building that this not only saves lives, but saves money (fewer arrests, ER visits, etc). A study was performed on the downtown homeless popuation identifying the most at risk individuals, and the city, county and FL hospital have been working toward a funding goal to provide housing to them. The plan scatters them wround - not in one big building/project. I've been researching this a lot and although I'm skeptical of some motives (the city is largely anti-homeless, it would appear their motivation is to remove the vagrants from the front of their shiny new venues as much as anything else), I do beleive it is an interesting new approach - and there is financial backing by FL Hospital and the county that makes me believe it may really happen.
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that is just so screwed up. for every positive thing that I see getting built or approved, then this stuff happens. while Merlin got approved and is building the Orlando Eye at over 400', Vegas already opened an Eye of their own at over 500' tall. ...out of nowhere...and Orange County is debating the Pollercoaster height? Why? there is no airport anywhere near there.
Unless the County and City are both crooked and expect under the table payouts for these approvals yet nobody is willing to play ball...
I don't think the county/city are against the height per se, but the area is zoned for certain heights so projects like these require variances in order to build. Those variances are frequently granted (The wheel, the Peabody expansion, etc), but they can be contested by other property owners in the area who can claim it gives the new property an unfair advantage. That is what's happenning to the Mango's garage+rooftop restaurant. Since the Polercoaster would affect the same neighbors, I can't imagine they wouldn't fight that too. This doesn' t mean it won't get built, but it does mean there's still a lot of issues to sort out.
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I wouldn't get your hopes up about the Polercoaster - the height zoning for that area is 50 ft or something, and Mango's wasn't even able to get cleared to build a 115ft garage - The Golden Corale, of all places, has been blocking it. Merlin fought the good fight for the Wheel and is more likely to pull something like that off, but I think this big reveal is going to be an indoor attraction
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For all of the harping by the Rethink people about potential traffic caused by the Princeton development in College Park, this development is definitely going to cause traffic issues on Virginia - a frequently used cut-through to the Winter Park and Baldwin Park areas. I do hope the city looks at widening the sidewalks of Virginia - there is already a critical mass of cool retail and bars/eateries now, but the sidewalk and street design are not very friendly
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Is that framwork for the outdoor pavalion on the right? If so, it really helps deter from the lopsidedness caused by the empty phase 2 space
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You make a very valid point. I think what intrigues me is how we sometimes tilt at windmills in hoping for uber-tall buildings that are quite unlikely for us, given the area's past, our economy, our geography and our strengths (and weaknesses). As Jack pointed out on another thread, our attractions (Buddy recently referred to it as an "attractions cluster", quite similar to the world-class biotech and technology clusters you might find in Boston or Silicon Valley) are what not only make us unique, it's what the rest of the world knows us for.
Kennedy Space Center/Cape Canaveral Air Force Station are assets, just like our best-in-class attractions and Top 3 convention center, that very few places in the country, and that matter the world, can compete with us on. In those areas we ARE a 1st tier city.
Many years ago, a debate raged in Nashville among the populace as to how they wished to be regarded. "Music City" was just too common, too louche, among the old guard. - they preferred to be "The Athens of the South." We now recognize the music business as the thing which would make the city not only famous, but, in fact, has made it the "hot" city in the US for the moment in the popular imagination, and driving Middle Tennessee's economy to new heights.
Something similar happened in LA, as someone once noted: "Hollywood didn't make LA - the aerospace industry did. Hollywood made LA INTERESTING."
Is it possible we're ignoring the very things that make us special and dreaming of the things we've never been and probably never will be? It's something I often wonder about, and you're probably right, it may simply not be of interest to anyone else.
Love this post. And Jack's. Totally agree
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Would you pay $2 to do it?
Absolutely. It ends up being $7-10 with tip for a cab or Uber from my place to either Church St area or Thornton park. Since I'm vehemently against drinking and driving, this is a common trip for Ms U_E and I on date nights, Magic games (and soon for OCSC games and Shows at DPAC). Most of our friends in CP also cab it downtown for these types of things
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Also keep in mind that the locally preferred alternative for the northern LYMMO expansion includes college park. Even if SunRail gets to 15 minute service, it may not be the best option if you are going into downtown
I would take Lymmo downtown from CP in a heartbeat. So would many others
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I want to like this. I really do. But now that the fences are coming down and the landscaping is in the lack of Phase 2 is killing it for me. I wish they could've shelled it out of something. I think If/when completed it will be stunning, but now it looks out of place. All of the empty space out front is just magnifying how unfinished it is.
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The pavillion site is a short walk to the same 10K garage you are talking about. If they have great product, people will come if they have to walk, bike, take a cab or even hitch a ride. I am just saying, once someone start to push the boundary, it will force the transit to be developed. I know all of us here would rather see them spending the billions dollar on a new light rail than keep putting money into I-4.
On side note, there are a lot of empty parcels around the hospital, how does a hospital own so many prime real estate and keep building stuff?
Not all "short walks" are created equal - which is why pedestrian friendly street design is so important. Walking from 55West to thornton park for dinner/drinks seems totally reasonable as you stroll through lively(ish) streets and around a park. Walking from SODO a half mile in any direction seems terrible because Orange Ave essentially screems "don't walk here" (fast traffic, small sidewalks, no shade, few buildings fronting the road, etc)
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We did an in-depth look at The Princeton at College Park and for the first time gave our take on the project: http://bungalower.com/2014/09/our-take-princeton-college-park/
Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments
Thanks Matt. As a college park resident I appreciate the well-researched peice. I've found myself in the middle of all the "passion" regarding this property since it's nearby my house - most of my neighbors (and even Mrs Universe_Explorer!) are against it and I find I'm frequently the only one arguing in support. I wish it was condos, but I understand the market doesn't support that.
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My list was far from comprehensive - only the 3 high schools that comprise "downtown" Orlando as we think of it. Of those three schools, I would venture to say Boone has the best reputation, for what it's worth (again, I'm biased toward Edgewater). Castorvx is a downtown resident, so I assume those are the schools he was interested in. Across the region there are definitely higher ranked - and likely superior in some senses - public schools to those three. As is typically the case, you can follow the money to the "better" schools - Winter Park High, Dr Phillips High, and the Seminole County schools are all very highly ranked. There are some highly rated private schools in the area including Bishop Moore (Catholic), Lake Highland (as mentioned), Park Maitland, Trinity Prep, etc.
The Universe_Explorer family loves living in the city, believes in public school education (when safe, and with significant parental involvement), and chose College Park/Edgewater and the excellent pre K available downtown. Lots of my friends use the private schools and love them. Several more have moved to the suburbs for "better" schools and love them. I think as long as safety isn't an issue, it probably has a lot more to do with the child and the family structure around him/her than the actual school
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Speaking of high schools, and maybe this is worth starting a new thread for: How is Edgewater High School? That's the HS for downtown, right?
Edgewater High is the school for downtown east of I4 and north of Anderson, Jones is south of Colonial and west of I4. Boone stretches down from the delany park area. I'm biased as a College Park resident, but I think Edgewater is a very good school. The new facility and new principal have apparently brought a lot of excitement there over the last few years. My oldest is in kindergarten so it will be awhile before I can give any first hand experience...As mentioned previously, there are great preschools in the immediate downtown core. Lake Highland Prep is practically as nice as Rollins (and almost as expensive)
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I think the current cost of renting downtown Orlando -- even in the high-rises -- is quite a bit lower than most assume. When I moved in to downtown 5 years ago, I went from 1000sqft in Waterford @ $1100/month to about $1400/month for 800sqft on the 18th floor of a high-rise.
On the flip side, my fuel costs went through the floor, and I no longer had to pay tolls on 408, which saved a $150-200/month on average.
I think the market in downtown has rebounded significantly since I moved 5 years ago, so the equation may not play out anymore. Also, if you don't work near the core, living there makes less sense.
I just wish people would look at the overall financial picture of moving into the core of a city, rather than the sticker shock of the rent itself.
All that said, if you have children, downtown is considerably less appealing for reasons that go well beyond cost.
I see more and more (young) families downtown - though the 55 West/Orange Ave area has significantly less to offer them. The houses in Thorntan Park and Eola Heights, along with the apartments and townhouses growing in the South Eola area lend themselves to those with young children. Living downtown when my son was little was great - he practically grew up running around Lake Eola and climbing on the gator statues outside the history center - we moved to College Park because we felt it was an extension of the life we lived downtown and had a little more cohesiveness than Eola Heights/Thorntan Park. In the meantime, Hillcrest Elementary has significantly improved, and the expansion of the park has really helped created a gap between the more family-friendly side of the downtown core and the bar/nightlife disctrict. Maybe it's just me, but I think more couples will stick around for a few years after the baby is born once they get accustomed to life in the city
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Best Buy mobile is great when you just want to get in, buy a $40 HDMI cord and get out
Would love a hardware store nearby. Mostly condos outside of Post and short walk to 2 bungalow neighborhoods.
That location would be perfect for a hardware store. I get the feeling rent must be too high for the retail space in that building
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Yet one can live downtown and be just as close to every retail store from big box to high end as a resident in the suburbs.
What's missing isn't the access to retail, it's the access to retail on foot. Instead of counting heads in beds, maybe the market is more interested in counting heads without cars?
This is a great point. The biggest difference between my life in downtown Orlando and my life in Manhattan was the ability to have a care parked in the garage attached to my apartment. Practically every retial need I had was in short driving distance. I prefer to walk to bars/restaurants - and even the gracery store for the most part - but it never bothered me to drive to the mall to buy clothes. The type of "new" urbanism in the sunbelt cities has added the parking spot. When's the last time a condo tower went up in any of these places without a garage? The older cities we frequently comparing ourselves to were built when cars were a luxury and now parking is a ridiculous premium in those towns. Don't take this the wrong way - I agree with Spenser - it will require the DDB or City Hall to encourage retail growth. I've given my wish list ad nauseum on this site, so I won't go into it. BUt I do beleive specific types of retial can thrive downtown in thie day and age
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Driving east on the 408 the bright yellow colored accents going up look really cool. This project has been growing on me
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I hope someone opens a lunch spot as part of the ground floor retail here. In the summer heat when pople don't want to walk more than a few blocks, the pickings get pretty slim for those at the county complexes (administration building and two buildings on South St) - I think it's an untapped market
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So Ferg's is really going to happen? And really sticking with the trains painted on boxes thing? I'm all for opening more bar/restaurants on Church street and happy to hear they are preserving the historic building, but I'm still puzzled by the tacky train paintings...
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Just a refresh on the link, so people don't have to search the thread for it.
http://turnerwzc.workzonecam.com/
I can see my 2015 seats!
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I made a supportive post about this project when it first leaked, and I stand by it. I don't own a motorcycle and don't particularly like them, but this may be the first overseas "tourist" destination to choose downtown in, I don't know, forever? Apparently this brand is very popular with tourists at the London site. Those who come visit this place will be exposed to the rest of our beautiful downtown...also, this diversifies things (every little bit counts) - from what I remember they plan on hosting car and bike shows, etc. Add to that the repurposing of old buildings and I think it's a winner. Anyone concerned with noise (from bikes, humans, trains or otherwise) probably shouldn't be living in the middle of a city. Personnally, I'm drawn to the commotion....
Downtown Orlando Project Discussion
in Orlando
Posted
I think the 408 and I-4 create barriers that are too much to overcome - even in the largest cities, freeways/underpasses stop pedestrian progress in their tracks. For the time being, the central "business" district - meaning office space I presume - is fairly locked into the region east of I-4 and north of the 408. That said, there is still plenty of space right there (the CNL area, the surface lots left on Orange, the Capital Plaza 3 area, the Rida Development - just that real estate alone is probably more than I can honestly imagine ever filling with downtown office space in Orlando)