dcluley98

Very, very cool:

On the bright side, a flat parking lot would be easy to develop/replace later on. I am disappointed, but not surprised at all. In reality, playing sports underneath one of the busiest interstates in the country was not really all that appealing to me. I think that the main connection to Church street and Amway and (hopefully) the S+ED will be the most important thing. The rest would be mostly underutilized or homeless/vagrant areas. (although congregation in that area may be better than other locations downtown like the other "good" parks).

East. Hey, I'm not from 'round here, it is traveling North. Oh yeah, a double white line, that will work. LOL. The "simplest" solution would have been to not have 2 separate exit ramps, just take everybody off at the first ramp and direct them to either "West" or "East" Colonial with sinage with ample distance for people to choose which direction they are going.

I'm no traffic engineer, but it seems like these obvious design errors could be easily fixed by installing some barriers to prevent the "idiot users" from misuse of the intended design. Extending the medians and curbs slightly and installing some flexible lane delineators to guide traffic as the design was intended would prevent a lot of problems. This would "retrain" people to use the correct earlier exit for Colonial East, prevent potential incidents from lane jumping and improper use, increase throughput and efficiency, and overall, be safer: Lane Delineators: Current Design: "Fixed" Design:

Yeah, I only saw concepts, but it is kinda weird in that it almost limited access and grade separated BRT system. Also that whole dedicated roundabout thing for major ingress/egress is very interesting. It looks like it would be signaled for maximum throughput for the BRT system with a major "intersection" but signalled to stop traffic on the standard car through lanes while buses use the large outer radius to navigate in and out of the separated lanes with maximum efficiency and safety. Would be interested to hear your other thoughts on the design if you have more information (and/or opinions) to share.

Yes, it is dedicated express lanes to bus between the new park/hotels, and CityWalk/old parks, and the in between resorts (like new Endless Summer property south of I-4).

7evens has been vacant pretty much "forever" but the fitness place has actually driven some traffic and street activity. Glad to see they will fill some of the open spots, although I don't know how much business another bar will get. The old NQ tavern, now City Pub couldn't pull it off originally despite a decent space and food. I don't know if just a "tap-room" will be able to pull it off long-term. I wish them the best, and will try it out, but IMO not going to be viable.

Yeah, what a relief. Unfortunately, I don't know if the team is good enough to do anything in the playoffs, but at least we avoid the jokes of perhaps missing the playoffs despite winning a trophy. Bad news is that Robin Jansson is out for the year with a foot surgery scheduled. At least the team did enough to get in, but may be done for the accomplishments this season. (Kinda like my Rays, who just couldn't score runs to extend their post-season )

Gators are doing about what they thought they would do, maybe even a little bit better. Oklahoma lost to Texas today 49-0. . . WOW!

The Straz Center and new renovation/addition to the Tampa Museum of Art with a cantilevered expansion section over the Riverwalk and Hillsborough River are going to be great projects for DT Tampa, adding onto the revitalization of DT with the Riverwalk and refurbing Hixon Park. Downtown Tampa has been pretty dead for a while, but it is really coming back with the latest developments and projects.

I'm not sure I would "yay" that, but not unexpected for me. I wouldn't have bet against it.

Magic aim to start building Sports + Entertainment District by early 2023 https://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orlando-magic/os-sp-orlando-magic-sports-entertainment-district-20221001-t6wu46cssva2fp43olip5hk3xq-story.html Orlando Magic CEO Alex Martins recently told the Orlando Sentinel that the organization is planning to start construction on the long-awaited $500-million-plus downtown Sports + Entertainment District by the end of March 2023. He added that the project is expected to be a “two-year build process” and be completed “sometime in 2025″ but wasn’t sure when exactly it’d be done. Pat Gallagher, director of the Sports + Entertainment District, told GrowthSpotter in early September that the team would be releasing more information about the project within the next few months.

Was going to take a good up-close picture of the new "Orb" statue associated with I-4 and the Colonial pedestrian bridge today, but apparently a homeless person has moved in. (I don't know if I can blame the person given the recent weather, but dang).

West side has new exterior panels with window pattern and barrier layer:

Alexan Mills 50 today:

Come on, Pelican!

Couple of updates on some smaller "Downtown" projects. 1. The site fence is up for the Art2 park/container pavilion/video screen/food truck area. Construction should begin shortly. (sorry for the overcast photo, it was about to storm like hell). 2. The Electric Car Charging Station from OUC and affiliated with the I-4 ultimate and downtown chiller plant is well underway and curbs/stub-ups for the chargers are in the ground. This is a pretty big deal for urban infrastructure and alternative transportation capabilities to get to and from downtown. https://bungalower.com/2022/04/12/construction-has-begun-on-new-ev-charging-hub-in-downtown-orlando/ 3. No picture, but they were working on the interior of the old "Whalburgers" space in the 200 South Orange Ave building. It is supposed to be built out as a new taco/burrito place. Shipped in air conditioning equipment today and were working inside with covers up blocking the windows.

Crosswalks would be a welcome addition there. It is tough to get across in multiple areas and not much street parking on the east side.

Geotech consultant firm on site today doing "bore and core" testing of the site for this project. That is a very good "early sign" that this is legit.

So I don't know the whole history of it, but it was meant to be a mixture of different flags to represent the multi-cultural neighborhoods throughout the city including cuban, spanish, french, english, and italian. Not sure on the shape, but I believe there was also a "T" with blue down the center for Tampa and the "Hillsborough River". It was basically, "let's try to cram everything into one" so that they represented all the main cultures/neighborhoods at the time.

Yeah, I know. The ARB pdf files uploaded online are compressed so the small labels/numbers are distorted. Sorry, I think it is a function of the ARB website to make the file sizes smaller. Here is the link to the full ARB report: https://orlando.novusagenda.com/AgendaPublic/AttachmentViewer.ashx?AttachmentID=119018&ItemID=61232 I think it will still be distorted smaller text due to their own uploading procedures, however. There are a lot of other details in the report.

Updated ARB report last meeting for this project. It seems close to "approved" by the ARB. Couple of changes to the building. The main huge change is it is no longer associating with OMA or museum at all in the report. The report has changed to more "convention and meeting space" with no mention of museum space and two groundfloor restaurants instead. There are changes to the amenities decks and the rooftop, which is now a tiered design with 360 degree upper penthouse room for the private owner and outdoor deck overlooking the lake. As designed, it looks like it will be the tallest building in South Eola, slightly over neighboring Citi Tower. The amenities deck on the pedestal changed to split into two sides for the hotel and condo pool, as well as an outdoor garden and weding chapel on the east side adjacent to Citi Tower. Prominent "J.W. Marriott" signage was added as well, emphasizing its use as a hotel and convetion space. Overall, I like the design of this and hope it gets built.

I am flattered that somone would attempt to describe a neighborood by my screen-name and notions, but I do not think that mid-town, nor uptown, nor "North Quarter" are things I would personally prescribe to or vibe to. I like the multi-use path and sculpture. Generally speaking, you don't want to go anywhere near the Lynx Central bus station at night. I think they turned the lights off on purpose to discourage others from venturing into there.

Vamos, Orlando City! The city is PURPLE! And just for you, Spenser :

I understand that was the design intent. It's not working.