Orlando: SoDo (South of Downtown) development

[thelakelander]

This place looks pretty impressive.  Given the site constraints, I suspect the revised Miles plan in Brooklyn will have a similar style of footprint.











pics courtesy of jzquice69 at: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=464050

[Jason]

Looks alot like Brooklyn Park.  Do you know if it will be linked to the commuter rail line?

[thelakelander]

Nope.  Depsite the tracks going right down the backside of the development, the nearest commuter rail stop is seven blocks to the north.  I assume that stop was chosen because its the site of the existing Amtrak station and the Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children is located next door.

[Jason]

Seven blocks isn't bad if there will be a trolly or bus to link the two.

[thelakelander]

No its not that bad, its a 1/2 mile from the station which is right at the limit of what most are willing to walk to get to a transit station.  Plus I'm pretty sure there's a bus running down South Orange Avenue.

[Jason]

IMO, Brooklyn Park (if built as designed) is a superior product.  Hopefully its success will lead to the further redevelopment of Brooklyn and even bleed over into LaVilla.

[Ocklawaha]

Baby Robert was born at Winnie Palmer, just down the street. So I saw the site just 2 weeks ago. The Super Target and the buildings on the North Side are already going up. The site seems narrow and deep. They are walling off the railroad, so it's going to be just another Town Center type development. It is close to the Orlando Amtrak station, but Orlando has done nothing to enhance this gate to their city. Allowing more warehouses and ugly to surround their depot then found at Jacksonville's Clifford Lane Am-Shack. Shame is, the Orlando depot is one of the original ACL Stations with mission style, domes and arches. Orlando would do well to make this a restoration project, tear down the South end of the station, a giant block long concrete block warehouse. If they then restored the building, and set the whole depot and old hotels into a historic park, by taking down the other ugly crap within a block or two of the depot. As it now sets, calling the depot an attraction for transit, would be like claiming our own Amtrak mess as the hub of our own city.

Orange Avenue is the "MAIN STREET" of Orlando, Certainly the equal to Roosevelt and Main rolled into one. There are many bus routes along this stretch that are flowing into downtown. So the new development is really bus friendly, auto friendly, hospital friendly but NOT rail friendly. It's not the developers fault, and perhaps there is some redemption planned for the depot situation. One of my rail contractor friends is doing the Orlando project, so we could find out.

Ocklawaha

[thelakelander]

It appears that they are already studying how to create a TOD for the Orlando Regional Medical Center at this site.  Here's an image taken from their commuter rail site.  They are looking at making the station a front door for the medical center with a park in between the station and hospital.



to see full TOD study of ALL Central Florida commuter rail station sites: http://www.cfrail.com/Files/Brochures/TODSketchbook.pdf

Btw, I wonder if JTA has been involved in any TOD studying around their BRT transit stations, such as this? 

[Jason]

Nice find Lake.  Orlando is really rallying behind this rail line.  This one improvement should truely be the tipping point for an Orlando explosion (if it hasn't happened already).