JRS1

what more did you here?

I was told that the upper levels- you can't hear much. I was at the DOP last night on their pool deck with tours of the building. I went to the 22nd floor 1,400 sq ft unit; it was nice; it was up there; can't hear a whole lot from there with the window open; definitely not with the windows closed (sliding doors to the balcony I should say). the pool deck is on the 14th floor per the elevator. it's a nice building; nice pool deck; nice units; it's a neat forum for events that pool deck is. But I think Dynetech's lofty perch on the 30th, Stirling Sotherby's on the 16th floor penthouse, the Plaza's 11th floor deck, The Vue's pooldeck, and Star's 18th floor rooftop pool deck are the other "venue" hot spots that I would make sure if I was a small meeting planner, would rent out to give the maximum "effect" to patrons.

The new Westin Orlando North in Lake Mary will has 253 rooms, a Shula's 347 Grille, and will open on Nov. 22, 2009. It's on 46A near Colonial Towne Park in Lake Mary/Sanford. That makes two heavy hitter hotel brands in northern Seminole County. I think that's pretty healthy for CFLA, and speaks volumes for Heathrow and Seminole County as a whole business-wise. It makes Orlando more diversified ala business travelers.

most of the pylons are already in the ground for the parking deck

I'm thinking GOAA needs to widen the Arrivals entrance ramp on A & B sides at OIA. It will be hard to do. Once you are on final approach, if you stay right you go to Departures, middle, Arrivals, left, Rent-A-Car and parking. They need to widen it at least one lane going in and going out b/c when leaving Arrivals, the two thru lanes taper back to one exit lane and traffic bottlenecks. Not good.

THE SQUARE: Unicorp is the developer. They are the company developing the Dellagio project off of SLR. There a a few tenants over there already and there's a few more buildouts underway. I have a feeling they won't do anything with the former Mercado property for a while until they have a majority of the Dellagio leased. That must have been a huge expenditure; that place is gorgeous.

actually, this new format does suck now that I think about it. if they would just bold the text, that would be better.

I'm not quite used to this new format at UP. Anyway, there's 14 eateries at Pointe Orlando now. I didn't realize that. Restaurant Row is impressive on SLR from Dellagio/Viscaya all the way to Rialto/Whole Foods Plaza. But I-Drive has a healthy assortment too from SLR down to the OCCC. That's pretty impressive as well. It's a great place now,but they need to fill in the remaining development gaps, starting with Mercado and the losts behind Point Orlando where Westin was once proposed to be built on.

^^ well said. HSR will make money from OIA to Disney. If the Tampa leg falters, they'll simply lessen the number of scheduled trips to Tampa to a bare minimum and then most of the remaining business will be the Disney leg, which won't be affected. Which I am perfectly fine with, b/c Orlando will benefit. But, what Disney needs to do is invest millions in rerouting a Monorail extension to the HSR station and building uber infrastructure there as well such as a welcome center or whatever; they can't drop the ball on this one... they need the Monorail link at that station. I just want this darn thing built. and Sunrail. trust me, if Sunrail gets built, they will expand it with a LRT line to... somewhere.

Praha, I'll tell you what, I think that Orlando will embrace rail just with Sunrail alone. I mean, all of the entities supporting it is staggering... from out two major medical centers to every township along the rail line to the four counties involved. wow. all we need is, what, 21 votes to pass it. and to know that it will link to an HSR at some point... wow. the problem statewide I see with HSR is that Miami has spent $$$ on the MIC and one of its functions is to link with HSR. I don't think HSR will get there, if ever, for many years to come, which is a shame. I thought for sure the first link should've been from Disney to Miami ala the OCCC and OIA. But, it is what it is.

I'll tell you where else I get that same feeling: Florida Turnpike between I-4 and 441/528. It is 8 lanes wide with sound walls and lights. it will be that wide all the way to Buleah Rd. by 429 and then I think 6 lanes wide all the way to the SR 50 Oakland exit for Clermont commuters. wow. Here's where else I get that feeling: 414 extension from 441 west. the highway is already 6 lanes wide and it is elevated most if not all of the way. you can see downtown easily over the treetops. that's a cool effect. it might be the most elevated hwy in CFLA. great addition to the highway network, except, that they need to comllete the interchange with 429-- God only knows when that will happen.

imagine that... something German being more chic... but yeah, I agree... I'll take it... Hilton's marketing machine is going to be focusing on Disney for the Waldorf project, and the OCCC and I-Drive for the Hilton Orlando project... something that neighborhood has not had before. up until now, it's merely been Rosen, Peabody, and Orlando CVB. And, Hilton will be focusing on the Hilton Grande Vacations project at Midtown, which will also market Disney--- these being the newest Hilton projects in town. Hilton's no slouch... they also took over the 800 room Adam's Mark in Daytona which fronts the Ocean Center which just finished a huge first class expansion directly across the street from it. They are positioning their properties rather well for success.

^^ that article didn't speak anything new to me. opponents can just as easily hide behind the existing deal as being bad as reason not to support it still. I've been hearing from people on other boards about this whole Amtrak Florida thing, in using them to run commuter trains w/o having to purchase any tracks in exchange; I guess they do it in some other states. ^^ as for a station, HSR's design is the station that's supposed to go just east of Hyatt OIA in a rather large intermodal facility- one for the existing terminal, and one for the proposed South Terminal Complex in a similar orientation. It's supposed to also link with an LRT accdg. to plans. I would assume that the LRT, which supporters have stated would go from Taft to Lake Nona to the east and I-Drive to the west, would link with the proposed Sunrail station at Orange Ave. & Sand Lake Road, but that depends on the LRT alignment and whether they keep the proposed intermodal station where they proposed for it to go- as of 2 years ago. All I know is that if we get HSR, then that will bolster OIA incredibly so much more than what it is now; it will be incredible. The HSR will really step up the Orlando tourism corridor; wow. If I were Disney, I'd start planning for a Monorail link to the station; they would have to I think. wow. this would really send the ORL into the next dimension of its transportation quotient, which at this time, is decent- but used to be below average only a few years back.

sorry, guys, I thought I deleted from cheesy metal awning down... instead, I duplicated everything I posted. sigh... I hate writing anything negative on local projects. anyway, not like the one in NYC, of course. But, I would say that aside from the themed luxury hotels at Disney, I would definitely include Waldorf up there with Ritz, JW, and Peabody. Not grand, but it is very toned down instead with nice finishings on the interior; brass etched elevator doors; marble floors; marble arched hallways; nice dropped chandelier ceilings fronting the first meeting room you get to from the Hilton's convention hall corridor; nice bar area; good looking restaurants; also fronts/overlooks golf course and pool deck, which is also conservative-looking.

I went to the Hilton Orlando. very nice inside. skywalk works great. self park costs $12 after 30 min. ouch. the only thing I don't like about it is that you can see the road from the pool deck. you shouldn't be able to IMO; it should be isolated from street traffic; I also went to the Waldorf-Hilton. nice. Waldorf has all marble floors; marble arches around the lobby; decent bar area; nice convention area overlooking the golf course;

^^ Look, Orlando metro already decided on CRT. Most every town within along the route and 4 counties decided on it. It's the State that's screwing us, or rather a few senators from out west.

408: I didn't realize it before, but 408 is 6 lanes wide at the Lake Underhill bridge heading WB. They added 2 lanes. I'm not sure if EB is 5 lanes or 6 at the bridge. it's pretty impressive, regardless of the short bridge spans U/C.

^^ that sounds like a great idea! ^^ Lol on Tyrone's crack party;

^^ well, then if its space they need, its space we got. the most interesting thing I read was how excited Crotty or whomever it was at the County of the marketing machine Hilton has and how much it will ultimately benefit the OCCC and I-Drive as they market them to book their own rooms; I guess, its something I-Drive has not had before on such a large scale. this could be the next step in its transformation. I think originally, an AGT was supposed to connect the West Bldg to the N/S Bldg but they cut the budget and settled for the skywalk. Now, the Skywalk will directly link to Hilton and Peabody for N/S and the West Bldg.

When the Amway Center opens up, there will be a string of venues from the, east on Church St. to Orange, then north on Orange to Washington, non-stop, with spurs on Pinse St., Central, and Wall St. That's like 5-6 linear blocks of continuous establishments, not counting the side corridors I mentioned. As for 55W, it looks like more residents mored in- namely on the 10th level where the high ceilings are. Levels 4-10 each have at least 1-2 residential units leased each on the east side of the building.

I don't know. McCormick Place is near the Field Museum, Shedd, and Adler facilities. But everything else requires a cab ride or very long walk. No huge amount of hotel rooms to choose from nearby. Orlando has the edge here especially when Peabody opens. Pointe Orlando offers good entertainment, but it needs to fill in more with more venues. If I was in Chicago, I wouldn't go to a Broadway series. I would go to the Pier, JHC, and Sears Tower, and Michigan Ave., and see my cousins (but that's just me... I'm from there). If I was in NYC, I would try to go to a play on and off Broadway. Vegas has its casino hotels; you need to take a cab there to get to these places or take the train; Orlando has its close-in points of interest too; Pointe Orlando; Citywalk; Prime Outlets; Premium Outlets; Downtown Disney; Boardwalk; Restaurant Row; and the I-Drive Restaurant Row up to Sand Lake Road from the Peabody. The I-Ride Trolley kind of sucks IMO. They need soemthing like Lymmo that's bigger and newer and more sophisticated looking. If they had an AGT system on I'Drive from Sea World to Prime, now that would be something. THat would probably go far in spurning new development as well. I-Drive needs The Square to come to fruition; Mercado left and there's just a hole left on that parcel now; we need The Square to get developed.

^^ I'm just trying to figure out what else could be done to make downtown that much more desireable and to integrate Orlando Exec into the downtown fabric, if it needs it. Case in point, OIA has a helipad on the roof of the landside garage by Hyatt... that's pretty slick. It will attract a certain type of clientele albeit not very often. Also, in LA, some of those buildings have helipads on their roofs. They already redid Maguire and its really nice. Does the Crystal Lake exit (is there one EB 408?) have signage specifically for the airport? They should have a helicopter service to OIA from the airport for people who need to bypass rush hour traffic. Maybe they need more people here to justify the business ala ridership...

I wonder if the trend will be or is already that Orlando as a destination is a good place to host a convention, whether it be at the OCCC or in any number of convention-class hotels. If so, then other hoteliers will follow suit. I hear that the Four Seasons Disney is slated for 2012, that is, if we're all still here in 2012. I wish Intercontinental would revisit its proposal and come up with something new and still open here as well. Here are the biggies in no specific order: 1. Ritz Carlton 2. JW Marriott (should be lumped in with Ritz) 3. Waldorf 4. Hilton 5. Gaylord Palms 6. Peabody 7. Marriott 8. Omni 9. Hyatt 10. Rosen 11. Westin 12. Wyndham 13. Lowes Hotels 14. Disney hotels Every big name hotelier that opens up shop here... their marketing hits somebody that the other names might have missed. It's a big deal. It really is.

^^ I agree about Orlando Exec being there. What I think they should do is beef up operations there and make some improvements; since they were talking about Lymmo service to Balswin, why not do a loop that includes Orlando Exec? Since its there, they should celebrate that its there and really go gangbusters with it. I would also see if its feasible to offer Orlando Exec to OIA air service for last second travelers.

probably the right thread for this... OSI, the Orl. San. Intl. Airport... I noticed they've increased the size of the aircraft parking apron to the east of the terminal, and they increased surface parking in a couple of spots, and built a 5 story garage to the west side of the parking area. Probably all within the last year and a half. I guess business is steady and revenue is coming in. Intl flights dropped, but domestic flights picked up in 2008. people often forget Orlando has two legit airports- maybe 1.75 to be more accurate. I think when another regular airline flies into OSI, my perception of it will change a bit. nevertheles, there is steady progress over there. its pretty impressive compared to what was there in 1994, which was nothing. they went from Intl charters only to handling domestic flights with the revamped Pan Am in the Late '90's-early 2000's and expanding and building a domestic terminal. I rekion by expanding the parking apron, they may intend to expand the terminal to the east soon.