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Pete C Whistle-Stop

Pete C

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Looks like yet another recycle of the sports bar at Pine & Magnolia. What was The Clubhouse was replaced with Primetime ... which looks like (at least from driving by) it has gone out of business. Windows are all covered in paper and there's a sign up that says "Vs. coming soon".

Looks like Vs. is yet another attempt at a sports bar in that location, as in "Versus"

I don't see how that will succeed either now that the far superior Frank & Steins is right around the corner.

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popsiclebrandon
popsiclebrandon

Stayed at the DoubleTree this weekend and took this photo from the room.  

klstorey
klstorey

My friend grabbed some shots of downtown while flying into ORL. This one really shows how the I-4/408 interchange is coming along.  Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

KJHburg
KJHburg

I think Lake Eola Park is one of the best urban parks in the country.  Today.  Haven't been to Orlando in 10 years or more and there is a lot more life downtown and around this park.  Great to see an

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tennis32801 Whistle-Stop

tennis32801

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I don't see how that will succeed either now that the far superior Frank & Steins is right around the corner.

Franks and Steins do not have liquor, and it can get pretty crowded. Versus will have 3D TVs, full hot menu, and if it fully renovate the inside unlike Primetime, it can be successful.

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mrh3 Hamlet

mrh3

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Sounds like Baker Barrios would have to be blocked from designing this sort of architecturally interesting space ;-). I see great potential for the frontages along Colonial and Orange. Law firms and companies would like an Orange Ave. address, and the views back toward downtown would be awesome since the courthouse tower is pushed back in the middle of its block. A building at least 10 stories tall built right up to the sidewalk would drastically change the feel of that part of town. If every corner of the Orange/Colonial intersection is redeveloped, it would have a calming effect on the traffic, and drivers would see pedestrians that are doing more than panhandling.

The market is down now, but we'll get back on track with the usual seven-year boom-bust cycle. Uptown will be the focus of future development, and the Sentinel property could be the gateway to this evolving part of town. The local paper is a huge part of any city's identity, and whatever happens, the Sentinel should resist the economic forces that may lure it away from downtown. If it moved, I'd like to see it as an anchor tenant of the Creative Village.

Did you ever see this PalmTree??? Not much chance that they'll be anchoring a Creative Village in the near future. Shrinking Sentinel

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Pete C Whistle-Stop

Pete C

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A few things I have noticed downtown recently...

Camden Orange Court has converted all of their first floor retail units into something else. This happened a few weeks ago, but I still don't know what they are doing. They have recessed the entrances, created diagonal windows next to them, and installed metal gates facing the street. Anyone know why they did this? I hope they are not planning to rent those out as apartments now.

The Dolive building continues to appear to have activity inside. Every time I think something is going on, the next week it looks dead. Well, now there are step ladders inside the front windows, and what looks like new drywall. I could be wrong as I only get a glimpse on the way home from work.

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palmtree73 Whistle-Stop

palmtree73

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Did you ever see this PalmTree??? Not much chance that they'll be anchoring a Creative Village in the near future. Shrinking Sentinel

Yeah, I've been following the successive rounds of layoffs and the Tribune bankruptcy filing. I hear there's another round of layoffs coming in the next month. I think the newsroom is flirting with under 100 people on staff when there used to be nearly 300 in the last 10 years. It's sad, but probably the most valuable part of the Sentinel's balance sheet now is the land its buildings sit on. If they're desparate for cash, I'm sure the easiest thing to do is sell off one of the blocks and redevelop what's remaining.

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John Hargrove Hamlet

John Hargrove

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Some recent retail developments ...

Euphoria has gone out of business, another 7-Eleven is coming to downtown - this was a small cafe opposite Piper's in the main Plaza corridor. It used to be Volcano's Coffee Bar which also went out of business. I received piss poor customer service from this place. The really interesting bit is that it's apparently becoming another 7-Eleven. This will be two of them in less than a block. The Plaza will have one, and 55 West will have one. I spoke with the guys who run the 55 West 7-Eleven and they indicated that it was being opened by 7-Eleven corporate, and not by their franchise chain. Add to this that the convenience store adjacent to Vintage (Plaza Market & Spirits), which has been closed for several months and is set to re-open as a liquor store in the fall .. and you have a lot of competition in a relatively small area. We'll see how that goes. My prediction is that both 7-Eleven's survive, with the Plaza location surviving on Solaire and day-time office customers, while the 55 West location survives on it's much lower rent and 55 West's 90% occupancy rate. Plaza M&S will survive on their liquor license alone.

Frank & Steins opens in the Plaza - The old 47 Clothing spot is now occupied by the always-busy Frank & Steins. The food is great, they have a ridiculous selection of beers and it's always busy.

"Heat" has folded - The club at the base of 55 West has closed after only a few months. No word on what's happening to that primo space.

Superman Pro Barbershop opens in the Plaza - A new barbershop has opened in the main corridor of the plaza, opposite Mochi's Frozen Yogurt. This is the second location in Orlando. They have put an awful lot of effort into their marketing and it's a solid idea, I just don't know if a male-focused barbershop is going to be sustainable in that location. Their rent has to be astronomical. If they can survive until the NBA season starts (whenever THAT is...) they can run on their "Superman" + Dwight Howard marketing. Even with that, I give this place a slim chance of surviving.

Primetime at Magnolia & Pine Closes, Versus Opening Soon - Primtime sports bar and grill has gone out of business. Yet another sports bar concept failing in this spot. Versus is expected to replace it (another sports bar), and should be opening soon.

Oh, and I did my part and closed on a few thousand square feet of office space for my company. We're taking up some space in the Plaza south tower for the next couple of years. We've added a couple jobs in downtown this year and plan to add plenty more in 2011-2012. Worth mentioning is that I got sniped on two of the properties I was looking at, so there's definitely some interest in the downtown market. I hope that's a good sign!

Edited by castorvx
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Pete C Whistle-Stop

Pete C

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FYI, the Camden Orange Court first-floor retail units appear to have been converted to residential units now with small patios that are on street level. Someone already has a small table and chairs outside. I don't know about you, but I would not want to have my patio on Orange Ave.

I wonder if the new apartments being built across the street planned to have first-floor retail? They might want to reconsider.

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Pete C Whistle-Stop

Pete C

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The Montage is the one I thought had the best chance of coming back, because it was conceived as an apartment tower rather than a condo tower. The rental market in Thornton Park is very strong, as the Paramount operates at 97% occupancy right now based on what they tell me. Rents there are not cheap either. The art deco style of the Montage would fit perfectly with the Waverly and Paramount.

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alex Hamlet

alex

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Even if they do a ton of work on the building, $2.8 million still seems like an incredible price given the location. It's not even a block from the DPAC and a 10 minute walk to the Amway Center. To get to the Amway, guests could walk Orange and Church or get a really good view of downtown by taking Anderson over I-4. Also, it's nice to see buildings being re-purposed instead of torn down.

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alex Hamlet

alex

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Has anyone heard of this new "urban garden" being proposed close to Lake Eola? Looks like a really interesting project:

http://www.thedailycity.com/2011/09/downtown-urban-garden-information.html

However, does this mean that East On Park is definitely dead? It looks to be the same lot, but the website is still up (http://www.eastonparkcondos.com/contact_us.html).

Given that it's condos, it might be dead. We really need some more apartment buildings. I recently learned that about a third of surveyed Americans prefer to live in an urban environment (the other third suburbs, and the other third didn't know). It's hard to tell how many Central Floridians really want to live in cities, since there's not enough urban housing for 1/3 of the people here. But based on current occupancy rates, we could really use some more.

Anyway, as much as I'd love to see a new building go up, this garden idea looks pretty awesome. In my environmental class we've mentioned Orlando as a potential Portland of the South -- maybe one day!

PS: Sorry for the crazy links, can't figure out how to post using the regular editor...

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smileguy Burg

smileguy

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There is also a very small garden by the executive airport.

I have a plot in the Festival Park garden. I'd say there are about 30 plots and we have a could of shared citrus trees. That garden, along with Paramore and Nap Ford School were initiatives of UCF/Get Active Orlando. A year after they were open, each garden spun off to be its own entity with a board, etc.

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