Ivanhoe

To be clear, Orlando is not using the highway overpass through downtown for anything. This is just an annual update regarding what could be and what isn’t. Put us right there in your jealously bucket with Tampa / St Pete.

Oink oink

Or, just maybe, when pigs bring a bill to the House floor.

The Selmon Xpress really dissected the Tampa grid in the worst possible ways. If only they could “Big Dig” that mess (one can dream) it would open up unforeseen potential in the CBD.

Embarrassing indeed. During one of the college bowl weekends I witnessed many game day patrons wandering around Parramore pre-game looking rather bewildered and lost. After all these years, I would have though that major investment in legitimate improvements to OBT and Church Street at minimum would have occurred to make the area more attractive. Like other areas such as downtown it has either stagnated or declined.

It would be great to see Baltimore get a new tallest at the Inner Harbor. B-more has had some fantastic infill development in specific inner city neighborhoods this decade. Hopefully the Governor’s decision to relocate 6000 state workers into vacant office space downtown in the next few years will speed up revitalization efforts in the CBD.

On Sunday, I witnessed 3 motorcycles, 2 cars, and countless pedestrians jump the tracks at NE 20th St in Wynwood while waiting for Brightline to cross. This is not an isolated problem in Melbourne. We can be thankful that Brightline is not sharing existing rail at Central Florida stations (current and future expansion to Tampa).

There is something nerve-racking about these railroad crossings in certain locations and how people are interacting with them. I was in WPB over the weekend and as pedestrians were waiting for Brightline to pass through, the crowd building up at the crossing and becoming impatient. Some jumped the tracks after seeing that the train wasn’t right there. It was night and was too dark for an urban location. Not sure what the answer is but this seems like a disaster or disasters waiting to happen. Delray Beach built fences around tracks through their downtown to prevent people from jumping them. Downtown Orlando has done the same (with Sunrail and prior to it with the Dinky Line trail). There is only so much that can be done with at-grade crossings. Just imagine if Acela was not grade separated through the NEC.

The retro Foxtail Coffee building could become a recognizable landmark for the district. Nice urbanism.

There are workers at the base of the building today working on sidewalks and streetscaping.

“Claiming” or rather applying for asylum does not mean someone is granted it. The process is quite lengthy. You can read through the process here: https://rcusa.org/resettlement/asylum-process/#:~:text=To be eligible for asylum,in a particular social group. or: https://www.usa.gov/asylum Also, the definition of a refugee who is eligible for asylum is not “legitimate catastrophe such as genocide” rather: ”This means that they have a fear of persecution due to their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or their inclusion in a particular social group.”

All we know is that both Nobu and Tao hotels were touted for 2025 opening dates and neither have broken ground yet. Unicorp, however, has a very credible development portfolio in the Orlando market. They tend to deliver.

Yes, they are partnering with Unicorp: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/tao-group-hospitality-announces-plans-for-the-first-ever-tao-hotel-301672683.html Also, Tao Group is owned by parent company Mohari, no stranger to luxury hotels and investment in their portfolio: https://moharihospitality.com/portfolio/

Don’t skip some of the other developments fueling Tampa’s renewal such as Midtown Tampa, Amature Works, Ybor infill and the various projects popping up around Westshore. Sadly, there is nothing worthwhile to share about Orlando if you’ve already been here within the last 1-2 years.

What are the other two you are referring to?

I found the comment off putting as well.

A developer is proposing a Hampton Inn & Suites and a retrofit of the outdated Kissimmee Civic Center adjacent to the Kissimmee Sunrail station. The city commission is set to vote on the project in January. Link: https://www.growthspotter.com/2023/12/26/orlando-hotelier-bids-for-kissimmee-civic-center-site-plans-to-build-new-hampton-inn-next-door/

In fairness, it’s appeared a bit desolate for a few months out there and the developer’s Tampa project, also u/c, went belly up. But true, three decades isn’t that long to wait after all.

Has this halted completely?

No ARB board members currently work for BBArch but that wasn’t the case in the past. At any rate, they have a stronghold on City Hall and unless that changes we can expect mediocrity from them.

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2023/12/20/orlando-magic-naming-rights-nba-amway-center-kia-center/ Certainly an upgrade from Amway.

We don’t see much interest from Disney at all right now. They have no capital projects u/c now at DW and a pending lawsuit against DeSatan regarding RCID. Universal would be interesting with EPIC on the horizon yet Comcast already has its name tied to another arena and has shown no stewardship to Central Florida in the past.

Another day another Trump Crusader in the Villages arrested for voter fraud. I think this is up to five now, and counting…

An announcement of the new sponsor will be revealed next Wednesday.

I think that would help. The white doesn’t do the building favors.