500 N Orange Ave Renovation | 5-story mixed use/office renovation [Under Construction]

[codypet]

13 hours ago, nite owℓ said:

The streetwall on the west side of Orange Ave is filling up nicely.

Now if only something could be done about the Sentinel site...

 

In case you needed a refresher: The unfinished dirt patch at the intersection of Amelia & Orange is where the small pocket park will go, which, along with perimeter landscaping, will help screen 47 adjacent surface parking spaces to the west. Renderings are from the ARB plans originally posted by @dcluley98.

Before:

After:

Not to poo poo on pocket parks, but the Sunrail station and the bike trail just to the north already have a moderate to severe issue with homeless people to the point where some people don't want to walk or ride there.  I feel like its just lazy to put pocket park in a hostile environment for the average person to the point where I can totally see it being a haven for the homeless to camp there.  I know homelessness is a complex issue, but I feel like the accessible parking could have been moved to the west or into the garage and a larger plaza akin to DoveCote or cafe seating could have been done.  There's a market for a eatery there.  Huey Magoo's does very brisk business from the courthouse.

[dcluley98]

I walk/run there all the time. It's called "Bum Alley" on Strava. Haha.

[nite owℓ]

17 hours ago, Jerry95 said:

I haven’t been downtown since last Fall, the progress on this looks good.

More surprising, it looks like there’s a temporary sidewalk in front of the construction site! Not long ago there were 4 sidewalk closures between Orange and Central at the same time forcing you to cross the road or walk in the street. 

I thought you lived downtown though, or did you move away? Yeah, the city does a horrible job of making sure sidewalk access is maintained properly. They respond to complaints so it seems they take on more of a reactive enforcement approach. Even the traffic lanes on Orange Ave in SoDo are a mess with ongoing construction. A few nights ago, I watched several cars (and an ambulance) enter a construction lane with an oncoming bulldozer.

17 hours ago, Jerry95 said:

The mural could’ve been a bit bigger to mask the garage.

Whats interesting is that the ARB expressed concern about the original size of the art panel (which was even smaller and left the entire top row of the parking deck level exposed but substituted with glass windows instead). So the scale of the panel was on their radar to begin with. The garage is mechanically ventilated so I don't think airflow played a factor in the final design.

Per the report: "The art panel should either be larger to be the same width  of the openings, or slightly smaller and perhaps be split into two pieces. The art panel installation and the artwork will require additional review."

The last rendering showed this (unless the ARB further "fined tuned" the design to what we wound up with

[jrs2]

4 hours ago, nite owℓ said:

I thought you lived downtown though, or did you move away? Yeah, the city does a horrible job of making sure sidewalk access is maintained properly. They respond to complaints so it seems they take on more of a reactive enforcement approach. Even the traffic lanes on Orange Ave in SoDo are a mess with ongoing construction. A few nights ago, I watched several cars (and an ambulance) enter a construction lane with an oncoming bulldozer.

Whats interesting is that the ARB expressed concern about the original size of the art panel (which was even smaller and left the entire top row of the parking deck level exposed but substituted with glass windows instead). So the scale of the panel was on their radar to begin with. The garage is mechanically ventilated so I don't think airflow played a factor in the final design.

Per the report: "The art panel should either be larger to be the same width  of the openings, or slightly smaller and perhaps be split into two pieces. The art panel installation and the artwork will require additional review."

The last rendering showed this (unless the ARB further "fined tuned" the design to what we wound up with

is that a mesh thing?

[orange87]

On 5/2/2023 at 6:26 PM, nite owℓ said:

The streetwall on the west side of Orange Ave is filling up nicely.

Now if only something could be done about the Sentinel site...

 

In case you needed a refresher: The unfinished dirt patch at the intersection of Amelia & Orange is where the small pocket park will go, which, along with perimeter landscaping, will help screen 47 adjacent surface parking spaces to the west. Renderings are from the ARB plans originally posted by @dcluley98.

Before:

After:

This is a huge improvement in my book.

[Jerry95]

On 5/3/2023 at 2:25 PM, nite owℓ said:

I thought you lived downtown though, or did you move away?

Whats interesting is that the ARB expressed concern about the original size of the art panel (which was even smaller and left the entire top row of the parking deck level exposed but substituted with glass windows instead)

Moved away at the end of summer for work, haven’t really had a reason to go downtown now when I’m in the area. 
 

Interesting context from the ARB. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the developer saving on cost to appease the original letter of the ARB comments. 

[jrs2]

[codypet]

Construction workers doing their best Abbey Road

[prahaboheme]

Likely too much to ask for but I hope the City takes the opportunity to unify the streetscape with acorn lights and improved sidewalks from 500 Orange to Firestone and United Trophy.  The piecemeal approach they take to streetscape improvements irks me.

[aent]

7 hours ago, prahaboheme said:

Likely too much to ask for but I hope the City takes the opportunity to unify the streetscape with acorn lights and improved sidewalks from 500 Orange to Firestone and United Trophy.  The piecemeal approach they take to streetscape improvements irks me.

Their piecemeal approach means the city doesn't have to pay for it, they make the developers do it. As long as there is a likelihood the nearby properties will be redeveloped in a reasonable amount of time, they're super unlikely to spend money on it. While I'd appreciate the consistency, if they're spending money on streetscaping, I'd prefer them to focus on areas that currently have overhead lines and lights attached to those poles, it makes a much bigger impact faster.

[codypet]

@aent I agree lean on OUC to upgrade the electrical facilities.  Plus there's a lot of flux going on DT.

[smileguy]

On 5/8/2023 at 6:33 PM, aent said:

Their piecemeal approach means the city doesn't have to pay for it, they make the developers do it. As long as there is a likelihood the nearby properties will be redeveloped in a reasonable amount of time, they're super unlikely to spend money on it. While I'd appreciate the consistency, if they're spending money on streetscaping, I'd prefer them to focus on areas that currently have overhead lines and lights attached to those poles, it makes a much bigger impact faster.

City staff has floated a top-to-bottom streetscape project within the downtown CRA as part of larger revitalization efforts, specifically citing the piecemeal approach and costs associated with  maintaining so many different types of fixtures, pavements, etc.  Not sure if they'd tear everything out and start from the beginning, or bring some of the older areas up to the standard acorns and hexagonal pavers.  We might see larger/modern tree wells and maybe even bioswales as part of the deal, as I know the same folks have expressed concern about our small tree wells and rainwater mitigation. 

[aent]

38 minutes ago, smileguy said:

City staff has floated a top-to-bottom streetscape project within the downtown CRA as part of larger revitalization efforts, specifically citing the piecemeal approach and costs associated with  maintaining so many different types of fixtures, pavements, etc.  Not sure if they'd tear everything out and start from the beginning, or bring some of the older areas up to the standard acorns and hexagonal pavers.  We might see larger/modern tree wells and maybe even bioswales as part of the deal, as I know the same folks have expressed concern about our small tree wells and rainwater mitigation. 

Are you telling me there is supposed to be a standard paver they use? 

[codypet]

6 hours ago, smileguy said:

City staff has floated a top-to-bottom streetscape project within the downtown CRA as part of larger revitalization efforts, specifically citing the piecemeal approach and costs associated with  maintaining so many different types of fixtures, pavements, etc.  Not sure if they'd tear everything out and start from the beginning, or bring some of the older areas up to the standard acorns and hexagonal pavers.  We might see larger/modern tree wells and maybe even bioswales as part of the deal, as I know the same folks have expressed concern about our small tree wells and rainwater mitigation. 

[jack]

9 hours ago, aent said:

Are you telling me there is supposed to be a standard paver they use? 

https://www.orlando.gov/files/sharedassets/public/departments/edv/city-planning/downtown_orlando_streetscape-guidelines_updated.pdf

Streetscape guidelines changes depending where you are in downtown. But generally, hexagon pavers are consistently used. 

[prahaboheme]

On 5/10/2023 at 2:12 AM, smileguy said:

City staff has floated a top-to-bottom streetscape project within the downtown CRA as part of larger revitalization efforts, specifically citing the piecemeal approach and costs associated with  maintaining so many different types of fixtures, pavements, etc.  Not sure if they'd tear everything out and start from the beginning, or bring some of the older areas up to the standard acorns and hexagonal pavers.  We might see larger/modern tree wells and maybe even bioswales as part of the deal, as I know the same folks have expressed concern about our small tree wells and rainwater mitigation. 

I'd really like to see a unified streetscape plan for Orange Ave.  Something a bit more monumental than the current design guidelines.

I like the streetscape design recently adopted in Tampa for the Water Street development.

[nite owℓ]

On 5/10/2023 at 8:31 AM, codypet said:

Did a little bird happen to mention anything?

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[dcluley98]

I never realized that the architect took some inspiration from the next-door Southeast Steel  building for the windows.  Kinda cool to see it now. 

[jrs2]

I drove down Orange Ave today and I started looking over towards Firestone, and from that point south it was continuously developed.  this project has its blue construction wall up, of course, but its totally a continuous line of development with the only break where that lot is to the south of Seacoast Bank (on that side of the road at least).  it's impressive.  This project and Society really add a lot to the sidewalk level of that part of DTO. no photo b/c it caught me off guard...

[Uncommon]

Yeah that stretch is looking good. Orange Ave in general is much improved and I'm very much looking forward to Art Squared finishing. When there are out-of-towners visiting, I take them to Park Ave and then conveniently drive all the way down Orange from Fairbanks to get to the 408  on Anderson downtown and they're usually pretty amazed at how urban and chic it is. They're always like, "I didn't know THIS existed in Orlando!"

Now if they could only do something about the Sentinel property. Such an eyesore.

Edited July 12, 2023 by Uncommon

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