Downtown News - Development Activity

Despite the current economic situation, there's still lots going on in downtown to tell you about. To start, there's the "Renaissance at Carver Square" project planned for the Paramore area to be located at the corner of Church and Paramore Ave. The project will receive $17M in incentives (about a third of its $50M price tag) from the city's CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) in an effort to rejuvenate the Paramore area. The area is currently buzzing with construction activity for the new Arena and surrounding infrastructure planning.

The Renaissance building will be located next to Paramore Heritage Square Park and will feature a 230 seat theater and recording studio that is meant to bring back the old historic Carver Theater. The 11 story building will include 4 floors of office condos, retail space for shops and restaurants, and 17 residential condos. The building will also contain a 302 space parking garage that can be used for parking during Magic Games and is being paid for as part of the city's incentive package in which the city will collect parking fees on evenings and weekends to gradually recover the investment.

Ground breaking is planned for next year with completion set for mid-2010 (that will coincide with the completion the Arena).

The controversy of Lake Eola Capital's plans to build a mid-rise office tower on their current property next to Lake Eola Park continues. Their plans to demolish and replace their current offices (renovated older homes that sit on land just next to the playground on E. Washington) though not designated historic properties, have met with much community resistance.

Since then, Lake Eola Capital has backed off on their plans but are now in formal negotiations with the city for a possible land-swap. The swap would involve the city taking ownership of their current properties (1.5 acres) and in return grant Lake Eola Capital land currently owned by the city (basically located in the backyard of the current property) that would front the corner of Central Blvd and Eola Drive.

A public hearing to change the zoning of the proposed new location to Office High Intensity (it is currently zoned as Public, Recreational & Institutional, and Residential High Intensity) along with an amendment to allow development of an office tower up to 200ft (16 stories) will be held on Tuesday, Oct 21.