dwSouthEola

This is actually going where the old Baez law firm is, so it will cozy up to the MAA Parkside parking lot. The two buildings there sold recently, and include a large parking lot in the back. If you can make it out in the lower left corner of this pic it says "Pine St (street side yard)"

The city has held surveys asking "Would pay for the Lymmo service? How much would you pay?" The amounts they put to choose from were ridiculously low, 25c, 50c, $1 and seeing as how it has never happened you can only imagine how many people said 'yes' at any level. The last time I saw the city do the survey was a few years ago and I can understand why nobody would pay for it as the program existed at the time but maybe they are working on long term goals to get to a non-free system? They continue to expand the coverage area, if they just made bus arrival and travel time reliable and did something about the homeless people it could be great. Granted, I think it's great now. I use Lymmo going to city hall and events all the time and enjoy walking home. Still, I know many people in the neighborhood who hands down *will not* take that bus, and that's crazy to me because we have 3 stops in the neighborhood.

Nope. While a lot of people like to play fast and loose with stuff like maps and boundaries, Lutheran Towers is actually in the CBD not South Eola. Aside from where South Eola extends to include Lake Eola Park, our neighborhood runs from Summerlin Ave to Lake Ave (and Robinson to the 408).

Sad to see businesses close no matter where they are in the city. Even if places were able to make it through Covid, operating costs to offer a quality product/service can still be a lot and rent hikes aren't exclusive to apts/homes, business space can also be shockingly high. I've spoken to people who have said if their lease went up by even a couple hundred dollars they'd have to close. Just can't add the word 'district' the be accurate? Apparently if you call our neighborhood by it's actual name you bursts into flames! Lol. At this point anyone continuing to call us TP does so by choice, either willful ignorance or spite.. neither the city or the TP neighborhood supports it. Heck, RusTeak is now on South Eola Drive but what's in a name?

So the meeting tonight was encouraging. Apparently the March meeting at Venture X was only the final versions of the pathways that are now under construction, the South Eola portion is still being developed with construction next year. The graphics on display tonight had multiple path options and they would very much like resident feedback. Yay! The printed maps were enormous and aren't available online yet, my pics might not be great (one is a composite) but this is what they had on display.

Yeah, got the postcard for this the other day. Idk if we shared it to our FB page or FB group, but hopefully everyone else in the neighborhood that got the postcard actually reads it and shows up - whether they identify as Thornton Parkers or not. Lol The initial reaction to the postcard saying "working on designing the last couple miles" is that it implies the design is still up for resident feedback, and that changes are possible as a result of this "South Eola Resident Forum" but 4mo's ago they held a meeting on the Downtown Loop at Venture X and we asked "Who should residents reach out to if they have questions, feedback, suggestions" the answer at that time (in not so many words) was that the plan is the plan. This has already been through the input and design phase, and the meeting in March was simply to make the public aware of the outcome of that process. So residents should probably expect the same from the meeting this week. Anyone remember the city meeting at The Abbey for the 520 Church project? And the plan was the plan, everyone who went and spoke had valid concerns but none of it made a difference. Don't get me wrong, having this meeting is better than not having one but it does feel like a 'copy/paste but change the name' kinda way of going through the motions.

Who knows why they decided to do this but hopefully whoever picks up the property finds something better to do with it than the 'approved plans' Lol.

2020/2021 this land had a chain link fence and a 'For Sale' sign that included "with approved plans". Of the approved plans the city said - That parcel is second phase of the 520 E Church project, which has been previously approved. We've attached a staff report for that project so you can see what has been previously approved. They sent us a 27page report basically showing this would've been a continuation of the Camden Lake Eola building. Everyone seems to agree 520 Church is a more pleasing design than 420, but I still have to say that this new project/design is much much better. I just wish they'd be condos and get more 'pride of ownership' in the neighborhood. The pictures of blood on the elevator/lobby floor at the 520 posted last night on Nextdoor are disturbing. The fact there was also a shooting in the parking garage and blood all over, again disturbing. I would argue that wouldn't happen if people owned these units (even if they were then rented) because there'd be several layers of responsibility: Owner, HOA board, property mgmt, etc. versus a rental office that seemingly so far at 520 would rather sweep it all under the rug more than anything else - but I could be wrong. If you ever feel like sharing pics in our neighborhood FB group it'd be interesting to see what's going on out there : ) https://www.facebook.com/groups/SouthEola

It is not. Met their chef Tiger tonight, he worked at another restaurant with the group that is opening Eola Lounge. They said he cooks authentic southeast asian cuisine, and the other chef cooks authentic french cuisine, so the previous description of the menu being a 'fusion' isn't accurate. They were painting the awning, and it looked like some food testing going on inside. Excited to see them open in the next week or so : )

i've met four or five people involved but not their chef - although i did see chef tiger was mentioned in a community paper article. we had included eola lounge in our community paper 'monthly update' for the april edition bc they told us they planned on opening late march/early april. now it's looking like a soft opening around the end of the month <-- that's what an incredibly nice woman named melanie (sp) said when i was there tuesday : )

we've seen the building's renovations inside and out for a while now and so glad to see it kept senior housing, but the ribbon cutting was not on our radar. tbh we have been so busy working on a couple of grants, and we're so close to finishing up our mayors matching grant project we can taste it.. but mix in volunteering at events in the neighborhood like paws in the park and it's no surprise we've fallen behind on some neighborhood news. idk anything on the horizon at the moment other than we've met the new group a few times now that are opening the "eola lounge" coming soon to south eola drive/ eola square, so that's exciting : )

The retail space at Thornton Park Central sold for $7.4M to the same investor who purchased the Veranda. https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2022/03/02/ustler-development-sells-thornton-park-retail.html "The purchase of the retail property comes at a time when things are on a positive trajectory for the neighborhood’s commercial interests, said Lisa Cuatt, executive director of Thornton Park District Main Street. “I would say it’s definitely been on an uptick. … I feel a positive energy and I’ve noticed it in our neighborhood.” Not sure what she means by "our neighborhood" since TPD isn't a neighborhood and the property is in South Eola. Still, I figured this was the appropriate place to post this and I'm glad she's feeling that positive energy.

Where is this from, would love to share it to our neighborhood page.

I lived in Eola Heights for 10yrs, at one point termite damage caused a window frame to completely disintegrate. They were 'french windows' that opened outward from the center and because they had to be repaired in line with whatever the historic review board dictated property management simply came and nailed a board across, causing the windows not to open. It was left that way for the entire time I lived there. I've heard landlords say things like they're letting their rental property in historic districts fall into such disrepair so that eventually they can be deemed a 'non contributing structure' and torn down to build something else. Idk if this is a real thing though, didn't a really run down house on Cathcart go on the market last year as a tear down and the community fought it so it sold with the understanding it would have to be repaired?

I was part of a 'community leader' training series at city hall and one week the topic was development and the future of Orlando. I expressed excitement over our neighborhood transforming from empty grass lots in the 90s to everything we see today, and that South Eola continues to be developed and grow. At this point someone from Eola Heights mentioned historic designation. They turned to me and said "No offense but we fought for our historic designation, we've been a historic district since the 80s and on the national register since the 90s - if we hadn't we'd probably be the same as South Eola". Ouch? Idk. I love our neighborhood and wonder would Eola heights really have seen such huge development without historic status? It wasn't empty land. Certainly if anyone in South Eola had protested to the church being torn down where Sanctuary is today, it would have preserved history but stunted growth. Which can be a hard thing to work through when you care about either or both. The mix of the old and the new definitely gives downtown Orlando a lot character. In the end it's up to whoever lives in any of these neighborhoods when the proposal is made. Eola Heights had enough of those people at the time. In 10-20yrs a yes could turn to a no (and vice versa) with a complete turnover in residents either from moving, passing away, changing their mind, who knows.

They should pick up some smudge sticks at Avalon and spend the rest of their time cleaning. I don't think Eola Square is cursed, it just takes a lot to keep such big spaces with big overhead running and profitable. After a few diff concepts and diff owners, the owners of the Mule and now RusTeak have really anchored that end of the block and do well. Obviously whether its been failed concepts or bad business decisions many have failed here but Oudom is at 7yrs now, I'm not ready to count them out yet.

I was in talking with them today, really nice people and the space looks amazing. They said the soft opening will either be the 16th or 17th.

That's so cool! Whenever a business space with good foot traffic opens up in the neighborhood I've always hoped we'd get a good bakery. Living in Boston's North End there were so many and tbh I love having it so close but - Publix just doesn't cut it. Lol

At our last neighborhood association meeting residents from MAA Parkside were commenting that they had seen/heard a bakery was 'coming soon' to this location. With very little digging (while we were talking at the meeting) we found this online: https://www.jillycakesorlando.com/ Opening soon in scenic Downtown Orlando! 500 E Central Boulevard, Orlando, FL 32801 We've been following them on Insta since the meeting (https://www.instagram.com/jillycakesbakes/), they previously won Cupcake Wars and are currently competing on Holiday Wars on Food Network. Pretty cool, but from their posted sign that they are hiring the business is clearly more than a new Jillycakes location, also serving food and drinks. Will be really neat to see the full concept once they open.

We posted some pics and info about this to our neighborhood Instagram the other day, it'll be exciting to see the new concept take shape. It's a great location.

Idk what was previously approved, but found this today looking for info to take into the meeting: https://bit.ly/VivePDF It basically says that bc 101 Eola was approved for 192 units and only built 146 they will transfer their remaining 46 units to the developer for this project. So this will have as many units as 101 Eola in half the lot size. Amirite? This: https://bit.ly/ViveMPL-ZON is the city page w tons of pdf files in the right column, site plan, landscaping, tree removal, etc. From everything here it looks like it will be massive on that stretch of Eola Drive.

Despite the city previously objecting to this height of this project (due to their 'step down' approach to building height as development moves east from the CBD into South Eola and arriving at Summerlin Ave) this week we got the notice attached below and it seems "Vive on Eola" is back. This notice isn't for a city meeting, it's a community meeting directly with the developers that requires registration for access by reaching out to [email protected] It should be interesting to hear their pitch to the community after nearly 2yrs since first being reported. Have to wonder why the meeting is going to be held the day before Thanksgiving, is their goal that not many will attend due to the holiday, travel, etc.? Seems to make the purpose of the meeting an attempt to show the city that they reached out and 'had no resident objections'. Whether you live in South Eola and would be affected by this project, or just have an opinion one way or another, consider registering to join the meeting. Just bc someone doesn't live in the neighborhood doesn't mean you couldn't have some good insight into the pros & cons of a building like this. Obvi once the project is fully approved by the city we'll have missed our chance to give our input. We've seen this happen with multiple developments in recent years, where residents have voiced clear objections with other projects only after the process is beyond reversal. Thanks everyone!

Right? The air tubes and prob someone w bellows on the surface supplying them w air, 1947 is obvi a while ago but it doesn't immediately feel like 74yrs.

Def stop by and check it out if you're in the neighborhood. It's still the same owners - they opened as Coco Cocina for a year, menu change and rebrand as Coco Bar and Tapas for 6mos, this time it's a completely new concept called Saisei which is 'rebirth' in Japanese. We shared their renovation on Instagram a few times, and some more pics from the first nigh of the soft open. Hours during the soft opening are 5pm-10pm and 11pm Fri & Sat. It's really cool inside and the drinks were really good. We had already had dinner but the food smelled delicious and was told there are vegetarian options. www.instagram.com/southeola2021 <-- if linking that is not allowed let me know : )

The city told us in a meeting that the South Eola/Thornton Park thing is "very political" and in not so many words, we should accept that and not rock the boat or ruffle too many feathers. Oof. At the wine walk last night the new owners of the apartment building at Church & Summerlin had someone sit in the yard giving out drinks and showing their renderings of what they're now calling "The James Apartments" with a huge mural of the Thornton Park fountain on the side, forthcoming. If you didn't know what it's supposed to be, the mural kind of looks like the underneath of a giant mushroom. It would make more sense for it to be a mural of the Lake Eola fountain - 1. It's def more recognizable, and 2. Actually part of the neighborhood where the building is located. Still, it's nice to see them fixing up the property since it's always looked pretty run down.