radiostatic102

JFW657 said exactly what I meant to say in my garbled early-morning pre-caffeine post. I'm just an amateur with this stuff so BLAH it will come out sounding that way. Especially if I'm half-awake. I make no excuse for it. And Orlando is an awesome place. Although I do disagree w/ Sunshine, IMO Orlando does take a second seat to Miami and to a lesser extent Tampa when it comes to the IT factor. But regardless, these venues will help catapult it ahead very nicely. I love the Orlando metro. I don't ever plan on leaving it. I found Sanford and I am in luurrrv with it. And once these venues get opened, man oh man... Thanks JFW. I really owe you one.

Honestly, did I even have any credibility with you to begin with? I lost nothing. I came to this forum for fun. Not to get my credibility or lack thereof smeared. I'll not contribute to the forum anymore, to spare you all of my extreme stupidity.

Tulsa and cities like it can do that because they are geographically isolated from other major urban centers. Orlando is a hop skip and a jump from the Miami area and even closer to Tampa Bay and Jacksonville. Okay maybe Jacksonville isn't a MAJOR urban center, but you know what I mean. Tulsa and OKC can get neat things done because when it comes to civilization out there, they are IT. Period. Orlando is not in that situation. And BOK Center is a bit...make that WAY too extreme for the skyline (BTW, Tulsa's skyline kicks serious butt. I used to live pretty close by. They have some really cool examples of Art Deco architecture). But they got it done, and the city can grow and adapt to it now.

The Disney hospital is going to be where the current children's hospital is now. It's the western appendage of the main office building. The older building, not the new one. I'm not sure if they're going to demolish the existing building and build from the ground up, or do serious refurbishing. Either way, it's going to be an amazing complement to the main campus, and of course to the Orlando area. I work for FH and I got to see some really cool renderings of the inside. There will be a large area where kids can play and it will be decorated with characters from Disney cartoons, not just wall paintings, but figures of the characters in the playground, very much like the kid playground areas at the parks. It's really exiting to see and be a part of! I wish they had this kind of thing when I was a kid...it would have made going to the hospital a lot easier.

With the way things have been going recently, I'm not surprised. At least they refurbished that nasty looking hotel. Looks pretty nice now. Anyway, uptown is where things will be happening in the future, not west of I-4.

Don't let Hisma hear you talking like that! He's already addicted to this site because of the hardcore architechtural porn...he doesn't need enticing descriptions on top of that, so to speak. All in good fun, Hisma!

Too bad it's not an S & M store. Now THAT would be interesting! Huh? Huh? (Fozzie wiggles his ears) Sorry. My attempt at humor.

(Sarcasm) This time he's going to convert Church street into 10 story parking pedastal! With nothing on top! (End Sarcasm) Seriously, he's good for this city. It will be interesting to see what he's got up his sleeves for this one. Really looking forward to it.

True, but with that last picture of Tim's of the SunTrust cluster I can imagine 55W topped off, and while our buildings are short, they make downtown look FUN. That's the only word I can use. There is life there. It is going to be a busy place with neat things going on! It will look like a place I want to visit. I can't wait to see what Kuhn does with Church Street - as long as he doesn't kick out SAK, that would be a tragedy.

Yeah I really do believe him, it's amazing though to hear him talk about it. It was all backwoods then. His father loved the country very much. He knew what was in store so he moved up near the Florida/Georgia state line, plenty of deer up there to hunt! And you're right, it is disconcerting because if we're not careful (and we're not, I'm sorry to say) we're going to lose that paradise, at least in Florida. His family settled the Goldenrod area back in the horse and buggy days. Imagine Florida w/o air conditioning.

That's because 40 years ago most of it was dirt roads. My father in law was raised where the intersection for 436 and Lake Howell is now. He said it was all trees and just a small road. He said it was open country back then. I still don't believe him. And then there's lack of vision when the leaders saw the growth that was coming down the pike. Lack of leadership when we needed it most...

I know I'm not a moderator, but here it is from the Rules section of UrbanPlanet: Posting of News Clippings, News Links and other Copyrighted Material The act of simply cutting an article (or part of an article) from an newspaper or other news source and pasting it here without comment is not appreciated and is not allowed at UrbanPlanet. These will be deleted and you may be suspended or banned for doing so. You may post a very short clip from the article if the source allows it. NO MORE THAN A COUPLE OF SENTENCES. Do not post any copyrighted material if the source does not allow it. Do not create a post that simply contains a link. You must post commentary on why this link is relevant to the topic it is posted in. Your cooperation will be appreciated. Posts where the first part of the article is copied and a link to the rest of the article are not allowed. Hope this helps!

I heard a report on the news that Kuhn wants to have Church street up and running in a year. This guy can get things done.

I think it's neat that a lot of these resorts get built out in the middle of nowhere, relatively speaking. For instance, JW Marriott rising out of a sea of green really adds to the resort-atmosphere. It's relaxing. Maybe it's just me. Sooner or later, though, as it fills in, it will be right in the center of the action. Hopefully as that happens, we can keep the green and minimize the asphalt, if that's possible.

This is a great idea! Most pix I've seen of Orlando, outside of this forum, are none too flattering. Most postcards of Orlando show the city at it's worst, and from horrible angles. The person from Philly (or whereever) who took all those really great photos of downtown Orlando did such a tremendous job, on most of those I found myself asking "Is that REALLY Orlando?!" It's all a matter of perspective, what you choose to see. The bad, or the good?

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that they will definately allow bikes on the train. I'll be doing the same thing, at least until they have shuttles from the station to the commercial park where I work. This is going to be so great, I'm going to save a ton of money and wear on my car from my current commute. This is EXACTLY what Orlando needed.

Wouldn't that be great? It would be nice to have a good strong company in a building like that. Add some weight to the Altamonte area.

They've got those big night lights up on the metal poles like they're going to be putting down asphalt or something. Hopefully this is legitimate work. I'm not holding my breath anymore.

I have often thought it would be a good idea to buy a mule or a donkey and commute to work on I-4 on that. Sure it might get me a ticket, or arrested, but I'd get on TV and it would raise public awareness about our unliveable commuter situation. Really, it would be a public service. But instead, I'll just kick my car and curse the day the internal combustion engine was invented.

Not that this means anything, but I saw site work being done at the "Majesty" building today. Basically some trucks moving dirt around. It's probably just busy work. I just reckon they'll have it done before I die...at some point...

Does anyone know what going on with the construction on/next to I-4 at the St. Johns river bridge in Sanford? It looks like they're getting kind of serious. Is it a ramp for 17-92? The piles they're driving go right up to Lake Monroe. (I'm guessing they're piles. I don't work in the industry)

To attempt to tie it all back into the topic, what this means is that I now drive 50 some odd miles to Disney and back, and I'm still in the same metro area! From Daytona I'm guessing it's something like 70 miles to Disney? (I'm trying real hard here, folks!)

I agree with them adding Volusia county in there...since I've moved to Deltona I've come to realize even though it's north of the St. Johns River, there are a tremendous amount of people that commute from West Volusia to Orlando, from all over - Deland, Orange City and Deltona. And Daytona is just about 20 minutes from all of that... Orlando is in a bit of a strange position proximity-wise to Daytona and Cocoa/Melbourne. Sooner or later they would have to be added to Orlando's metro stats. It will be interesting to see if the Census bureau (or whoever) jumps on board with this. Volusia's down, now let's add Brevard!

I had no idea about the twin! That cheapens the whole thing for me then. In that case it's all for the better. Why is it 4 years after I move from downtown all this cool development happens? It bites! Argh! Thanks for all the info!

Now that is an improvement! Point and click? What next?! I'm going to go read a book! Here's a good question - years from now, when this has been built, will there ever be a chance the Exchange will be open again with retail shops and the like? I'm not trying to relive the glory days or anything...well yes I am, it was fun to go there when it was open...(shoots a nasty look in the general direction of Disney and Universal) Does anyone know if this is feasible or should I just give up hope? It's okay, I can handle the truth (shuts eyes and holds breath.)