Downtown Orlando Project Discussion

[Jernigan]

I think Hyatt is relatively behind the rest. Lots of logistics to work out.

Agree Magic may be next but also Citi won't take long now. Just depends on who can get their permits approved first.

[jack]

I don't think either of them have submitted for permits, so who knows who will be first. If they ever happen. 

 

I thought the Hyatt was dead. 

[cwetteland]

...

 

I thought the Hyatt was dead. 

 

Hyatt was just in front of the November MPB.  Did something happen since?

[Jernigan]

Hyatt isn't dead - all 3 projects are in the permitting process.

[JFW657]

What is/was the hotel going up behind Church Street on Garland?

 

Is that still a go?

[Jernigan]

Same one - Hyatt Place on Garland.

[jrs2]

So I'm thinking its between Citi and the Magic then.  Hyatt has too many issues to iron out ala the FTA and the Sunrail easement, etc.

[orlandoguy]

There were some workers at the NE corner of Orange and Robinson today with the entire property taped off. They were drilling into the ground ... Perhaps doing environmental testing? Has anyone seen anything submitted to the city for this property recently?

[jack]

Hyatt isn't dead - all 3 projects are in the permitting process.

I found Citi Tower but it is only for the foundation which seems like a waste of time. 

 

What GC did the magic select? 

 

I could not find Hyatt Place and i thought it was on hold. 

[Pete C]

My money is on Citi Tower. I don't think the Magic will break ground on time.

[orlandonative]

Citi goes first.

Locking down the foundation permit is definitely not a waste of time. The revisions have been submitted to address the comments by the various disciplines with a target completion by the city of the 4th. Everything they've listed is for the most part a quick fix and fairly typical for the City of Orlando. Once the foundation permit is issued its a green light for construction. There is potentially 5-7 months of construction that can ride on that alone. In the meantime the A/E are working together to iron out the final design details on the buildings main permit.

This is a go.

[popsiclebrandon]

Had a really good meeting with the city the other day and one of the main highlights is they are moving to a new permitting system so you don't have to wait in the permitting office, everything is going digital so no 3 sets of signed, sealed plans, just email them in now. Going to make a huge difference just by itself.

[Jernigan]

Nice I might finally get that permit for the fence we built last year. I'm not even kidding. Had no problem with the 56 dollar permit fee - didnt even have a problem with the initial demand of taking 2 days off work (one to drop off plans and one to "sit with" staff as if we were going over rocket science) - but they pulled all sorts of crazy on me in the process and we just never got around to taking off more time from work to pick it up.

Can't wait for it to get up and running so I can be a good citizen.

What would be really sweet for the geek in me - could they have a nicer way for us nerds to peruse building permits? That's how I've gotten some of my news to report on here but I'm literally searching permit by permit in chronological order for something interesting

Citi goes first.

Locking down the foundation permit is definitely not a waste of time.

This is a go.

Agreed and was surprised by this comment. The question was which will happen first. If the question was - which got started first - Skyhouse or that disaster in Altamonte that is still not finished - the answer is Altamonte.

Citi will almost undoubtedly be first to move dirt.

[JFW657]

Had a really good meeting with the city the other day and one of the main highlights is they are moving to a new permitting system so you don't have to wait in the permitting office, everything is going digital so no 3 sets of signed, sealed plans, just email them in now. Going to make a huge difference just by itself.

 

Day-um. Sure wish they & the county had had something like that in place back when I used to handle permitting for this one company I worked for way back in the day.

 

Handled permits in every city, county & municipality in Central Florida & every one of them had different requirements.

 

And they were always changing, to boot!!!

 

What a nightmare that was.

[jack]

I said the foundation permit was a waste because it generally takes three weeks or less to get it through permitting. Foundations probably will only take a month or so for that type of building. So we are looking at 7 weeks total. It take 3-4 months to get a building permit. They could finish the permit and have to re-mobilize for the vertical construction. That seems like waste of time and money. Especially for a project that is the most expensive apartment in central florida. 

 

Maybe they are doing this to get more investors. It will show that they are close to ready to go. 

[jrs2]

wow.  So Citi Tower it is.

[prahaboheme]

Has Citi tower gone through any design enhancements since the initial renderings were released?  My hope is that the garage podium is softened and scaled better to the pedestrian.

[mrh3]

The two levels of retails underneath Citi tower will be good for CVS.

Unless Citibank Comm'l Mortgage is underwriting the deal I don't understand why the developer is giving Citi the free publicity. Most entities with the 'Citi' pre-fix are directly related to Citibank via sponsorship or as a part of the corporate structure. J/S.

[Boomer136]

Had to cross town today so detoured here and there to see what I could see.

The train station by OH is coming along nicely. They are painting the building an off white and using pure white to highlight the trim. Haven't got to the track side yet where it looks like it hasn't seen a coat of paint since the '60s.

Folks are busy filling in the hole dug not too long ago on the OC site. The Firehouse still stands.

The same cannot be said for the old oaks on the Parramore community school site. But carpenters will rejoice. Nice tight grain hitting some wood yard soon.

I was thinking of something in the Parramore Project presentation that talked about the need for children to feel they lived in a valued place, or something like that while I drove down Parramore Ave. Fixing that road would be a great start, it is basically patches separated by potholes that have taken over several areas to see the brick under the macadam. The patches haven't even been painted over with crossing lines or RR safety markings. The image of that road contrasted sharply with the roadwork done between City Hall and the DPCPA. I say start with the roads if you want kids to feel they live in a valued neighborhood.

[RedStar25]

So, a little birdie told me the center of downtown is going to shift towards DPAC; building up south orange ave (the Lucerne development). 

I currently think there really isn't a center to downtown and I see City Commons and DPAC being set up as a natural choice. 

 

Basically I was told to think of Orange Ave as the trunk of a tree with large urban areas branching off from it. Areas such as: Creative Village, Uptown, the Magic Complex, Lucerne, etc... and SODO would actually be considered part of downtown at the end. 

[cwetteland]

So, a little birdie told me the center of downtown is going to shift towards DPAC; building up south orange ave (the Lucerne development). 

I currently think there really isn't a center to downtown and I see City Commons and DPAC being set up as a natural choice. 

 

Basically I was told to think of Orange Ave as the trunk of a tree with large urban areas branching off from it. Areas such as: Creative Village, Uptown, the Magic Complex, Lucerne, etc... and SODO would actually be considered part of downtown at the end. 

Hmmm, this may be true as an outcome of current development, but by invoking the little bird scenario, your post implies that some secret entity has deemed this part of a master plan.  Which is it?

 

I do see the encroachment of residential projects from the north and west as a pressure on the CBD, to shift it's center, but never saw that as part of a master plan.  Lucerne is also primarily residential so that really isn't a shift in the CBD.  My guess was that if the CBD (and by that I mean office-related projects) were to expand much beyond the loosely proposed CNL III and Highwoods, then a second CBD would have to sprout elsewhere, maybe in Creative Village.

 

BTW, my use of the word "encroachment" is not intended to be a negative.  

Edited January 30, 2015 by cwetteland

[Jernigan]

I wouldn't agree with that assessment. You can counter Lucerne with Ivanhoe Yard. We are hospital to hospital and infill is the name of the game

[cwetteland]

I wouldn't agree with that assessment. You can counter Lucerne with Ivanhoe Yard. We are hospital to hospital and infill is the name of the game

I'm all about infill, and I'm very positive on both these projects.  My comments were only about the shift in the cbd center, and whether it is an outcome of current development projects, or part of a plan as indicated by the post I was responding to.

[prahaboheme]

There is an unnatural barrier to consider...the 408.  Downtown ends there.  Remove it (submerge it?), and suddenly you are opened up to a much larger downtown area that includes the Lake Lucerne area.

[Universe_Explorer]

I think the 408 and I-4 create barriers that are too much to overcome - even in the largest cities, freeways/underpasses stop pedestrian progress in their tracks.  For the time being, the  central "business" district - meaning office space I presume - is fairly locked into the region east of I-4 and north of the 408.  That said, there is still plenty of space right there (the CNL area, the surface lots left on Orange, the Capital Plaza 3 area, the Rida Development - just that real estate alone is probably more than I can honestly imagine ever filling with downtown office space in Orlando)