Our Town
It's urban and rural, wealthy and middle-class, bustling and laid-back, traditional and edgy, conservative and liberal, sophisticated and na?e.
But for all its contradictions, the Central Florida communities known collectively as Orlando are unmistakably family-friendly and unabashedly welcoming to newcomers.
Despite its outsized international profile, Orlando proper is, in fact, a medium-sized municipality of fewer than 200,000 people.
The Orlando metropolitan statistical area, however, encompasses 1.7 million people throughout Orange, Seminole, Osceola and Lake counties. Like the region's best-known city, the dozens of communities encompassing the metro area boast charms all their own.
In Central Florida you'll find picture-postcard villages where tree-shaded streets are lined with antique shops and Victorian homes, farm towns where citrus packing plants still crate and ship delicious oranges, and modern mixed-use developments built around resort-style amenities.
And everywhere you'll see beautiful lakes. These thousands of shimmering bodies of water-some huge, some tiny and many interconnected by man-made canals or natural tributaries-provide some of the choicest real estate in all of Florida. Indeed, many cities and towns have made their placid shores community focal points. In Orlando, for instance, Lake Eola Park, a 20-acre urban escape, is arguably the heart of the city.
Given the region's charms, it's no surprise that rapid growth is continuing. In fact, areas once considered to be on the periphery are increasingly being drawn into Orlando's orbit. To the northeast, Volusia County, home to world-famous Daytona Beach, is a hot spot for growth. And to the southwest, once-sleepy Polk County is rapidly sprouting subdivisions where orange groves formerly thrived.
And that pace is expected to continue for decades. While the United States is expected to grow 47 percent through 2050, Central Florida is expected to grow 136 percent - adding another 4 million residents and making the region larger than all but four other metropolitan areas.
But with so much going on in so many places, where should a newcomer look for a home?
We can help. Following is a county-by-county primer where you'll find everything from new master-planned developments to funky historic districts.
Undoubtedly there's a neighborhood, and a home, perfect for you and your family.
ORANGE COUNTY AT A GLANCE
LAND AREA: 907 SQUARE MILES
PERSONS PER SQUARE MILE: 1,054
POPULATION (2004): 989,926
POPULATION INCREASE (1990-2004): 46%
2005 PROJECTED OPULATION: 1,003,800
MEAN TRAVEL TIME TO WORK: 26.6 MINUTES
MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME: $41,816
FACTOID: ORANGE COUNTY WAS ORIGINALLY CALLED MOSQUITO COUNTY. THE NAME WAS CHANGED IN 1845, WHEN FLORIDA BECAME A STATE. TODAY, MORE THAN 43 MILLION PEOPLE ANNUALLY VISIT ORANGE COUNTY, WHICH BOASTS MORE THAN 100,000 HOTEL ROOMS AND ROUGHLY 4,000 PLACES TO EAT.
APOPKA
Apopka's roots, literally and figuratively, are in agriculture. However, this booming city of 35,000, located in the northwest corner of Orlando" target="_blank">Orange County, now encompasses some of the region's most exclusive addresses.
Since 1990, Apopka has more than doubled its area by annexing some 11,000 acres, much of it previously rural land. This land grab has often put the city at odds with Orlando" target="_blank">Orange County, especially when it comes to protecting the fragile Wekiva River basin.
Apopka was settled in the 1840s and named after the Timucuan Indian word meaning "big potato" or "potato-eating place." Ironically, the farms that still surround the city grow just about everything but potatoes.
Noted as "The Indoor Foliage Capital of the World," Apopka's foliage industry is a multimillion-dollar business. Consequently, downtown boasts a stainless steel sculpture of a Boston fern, instead of the expected war hero or early pioneer. Cut flowers, blooming plants, roses and bulbs are also grown in abundance.
But agriculture is rapidly vanishing as dozens of muck farms, created when Lake Apopka was diked during World War II, are purchased by the state and shut down in an effort to restore the polluted body of water to a pristine state.
Just west of Apopka is the agricultural town of Zellwood, home of the annual Zellwood Corn Festival. The event, held each May for more than 30 years, draws thousands to hear country music and nosh on what is widely regarded as the sweetest sweet corn grown anywhere.
COLLEGE PARK
Retirees so dominated Orlando's College Park in the early 1970s that there was talk of closing Princeton Elementary, a well-regarded school that had stood since the neighborhood was platted in the 1920s.
Today, although the demographics may be changing, much about this beloved Orlando neighborhood remains the same. The 80-year-old commercial district along Edgewater Drive has always been home to an array of delightful mom-and-pop shops and eclectic eateries. The streets have always been quiet and the homes well kept and charming.
College Park residents still enjoy a Grower's Market, held in Albert Park every Thursday evening from October through May. And throughout the years, many of Orlando's best-known personalities have called the neighborhood home. Today's roster ranges from the likes of Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer to rock-'n'-roll legend Roger McGuinn of The Byrds.
So protective are College Park residents of their neighborhood that they banded together to protest the removal of a circa-1950s sign adorning the local Publix supermarket. The grocery chain quickly dropped its plans and restored the sign to its original Eisenhower-age splendor.
Much of the talk in College Park these days is over mixed-use condominium, office and retail developments such as the Wellesley, a five-story, $48 million project now rising on the corner of Edgewater and Princeton Avenue, in the heart of the community's Mayberry-esque main drag.
Kersey, who's a College park resident, has also bought parcels along Edgewater Drive for future development, leading some longtime residents to worry about increased traffic and an unwelcome change in the neighborhood's small-town ambience.
But most residential real estate activity in College Park still involves resales. Heather Dean of Sutton and Sutton Realty says College Park homes can still be found for around $250,000, although many smaller bungalows are being razed to make way for new showplaces.
EATONVILLE
Eatonville, notable as America's oldest African-American municipality, was incorporated in 1883. But it has been difficult for the historic city to remain viable under the burden of a declining tax base and routine accusations of financial mismanagement among elected officials.
Eatonville's most famous former resident is the Harlem Renaissance author and folklorist Zora Neale Hurston, who spent her early years in Eatonville and wrote about her childhood in books such as Their Eyes Were Watching God and Dust Tracks on a Road.
The Hurston connection has been the catalyst for the city's signature event, the Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities, which generally attracts more than 50,000 people on the last weekend in January. The Zora Neale Hurston Museum of Fine Arts is the organizer.
In addition, a highly rated TV movie based on Their Eyes Were Watching God, starring Halle Berry, aired last March, bringing national attention to Eatonville. And the city's fortuitous location between Maitland and Winter Park and its attractive land prices finally have begun to attract commercial and industrial investment.
Improving the city's aesthetics will be a streetscape program along its main thoroughfare, Kennedy Boulevard. And boosters are proud of a new Orlando" target="_blank">Orange County branch library, which celebrates the community's heritage with a large Hurston display.
GOTHA
If you're not a horticulturist, perhaps you've never heard of Gotha, a tiny rural enclave tucked inconspicuously north of upscale Windermere.
But if plants are your passion, you may know Gotha as the onetime caladium capital of the world and home of Henry Nehrling, a horticulturist who specialized in growing tropical and subtropical plants.
Nehrling, who moved to Gotha in 1884, established one of the most renowned botanical gardens in the world, as well as an experimental agriculture station for the study of exotic strains of bamboo, amaryllis, bromeliad, orchid, ficus and, of course, the caladium, which Nehrling was the first in Florida to grow and sell.
The famed botanist once described Gotha as "a dreamland, with almost untouched evergreen woodlands and hundreds of lakes glittering like mirrors." And that "dreamland" remains charming, although upscale homes are spouting like, well, caladiums.
But the tree-shaded, one-block commercial district features the wood vernacular, circa-1920 New Life at Zion Lutheran Church. And across the street is Yellow Dog Eats, a funky restaurant that occupies a circa-1879 structure that had previously been a private home and a general store.
The post office still has a community chalkboard out front, where notices are posted about civic meetings and potluck suppers.
As for Nehrling's ramshackle homestead, dubbed Nehrling Gardens, it was almost torn down last year after the nonprofit Nehrling Society fell short in its bid to buy the home and the six acres surrounding it for a botanical park.
But a Winter Park woman who grew up in a foliage-raising family stepped forward late last year and snapped it up, then entered into a lease-purchase agreement with the society.
MAITLAND
Since the 1960s, Maitland has been a quintessential bedroom community. Some of the area's first suburbs were built there to attract young families looking for large lawns and good schools.
In the late 1970s a sprawling office park called Maitland Center was built near the I-4 interchange, giving the city a distinctive business identity as well. The 190-acre development contains a hotel, 45 office buildings and 400 businesses. More than 12,000 people work there.
Another big project that promises to give Maitland's somewhat nebulous downtown district a more cohesive look is Uptown Maitland West, a seven-story retail and condominium development. The project was stalled when six local residents sued the city for allegedly approving it in violation of its own planning guidelines. But the suit was thrown out late last year, so Uptown Maitland West is on again at this writing.
Although Maitland can only be described as a thoroughly modern suburb, it has actually been in existence longer than most Central Florida communities.
It was established in 1838 as Fort Maitland, named in honor of Capt. William S. Maitland, a hero of the Second Seminole War. In 1880, the railroad from Sanford arrived, sparking a tourism boom that lasted until freezes in the 1890s scuttled the visitor trade.
In 1937 sculptor Andr?Smith founded the Mayan-themed Art Center at Maitland, which was originally intended to be a compound where artists could live and work. The center, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, features an open-air chapel that has become a popular spot for weddings.
To help preserve vestiges of its past, city officials have established a historic corridor in the Lake Lily-Lake Catherine area. Along the corridor are roughly a half-dozen homes built in the 1880s through the turn of the century. There are also a handful of historic commercial buildings along Maitland Avenue.
Today Maitland is home to the Enzian Theater, the region's only art-house cinema and setting for the annual Florida Film Festival. And two large art festivals are held in Maitland: one in October, sponsored by the Maitland Rotary Club, and one in April, sponsored by the Maitland/South Seminole Chamber of Commerce.
The Florida Audubon Society was founded in Maitland, and its headquarters, including a bird hospital, remain on Lake Sybellia.
OAKLAND
More than 100 years ago, Oakland was the industrial and social hub of Orlando" target="_blank">Orange County. Today the picturesque town, which lies two miles west of Winter Garden on the southern shores of Lake Apopka, is home to just 1,800 people.
Elected officials still refer to Oakland as a "town," although it was incorporated as a city in 1959. The "city" designation does seem a bit incongruous for this rural enclave, where voters have rejected proposals to pave the narrow clay streets for fear that more people might want to drive on them.
Still, change is coming. Oakland's population has nearly tripled over the past three years, and planners say 5,000 people will call themselves Oaklanders by 2010.
Much of the growth has come from new, gated subdivisions on the south side of S.R. 50, where some residents feel little connection to "old" Oakland and its small-town traditions.
However, bringing longtime residents and newcomers together is the Oakland Avenue Charter School, which was built using an $8 million, 30-year bond issue. The idea, say city officials, is to unite the community's disparate elements behind a community institution that benefits everyone.
Among the city's other assets is the 19-mile West Orange Trail, a mecca for hikers and bikers that begins in Oakland and stretches northeast to Apopka along the original Orange Belt and Florida Midland rail beds. More than 50,000 people per month traverse the trail's length.
Oakland is also home to the 93-acre Oakland Nature Preserve, where wildlife abounds and paths and boardwalks line the shores of Lake Apopka.
OCOEE
Ocoee remained an isolated citrus town clustered around Starke Lake until the 1980s. Now, with 29,215 residents, it has edged ahead of Winter Park to become the third-largest city in Orlando" target="_blank">Orange County, behind Orlando and Apopka.
The transformation began two decades ago, when devastating freezes destroyed thousands of acres of citrus trees and opened west Orange and south Lake counties for development. Today, Ocoee boasts a 1-million-square-foot regional mall and at least two dozen new subdivisions with homes in all price ranges.
Ocoee's beginnings were inauspicious. In the mid-1850s a physician named J.D. Starke led a group of slaves into the area and established a camp along the western shores of the lake that now bears his name. Capt. Bluford Sims, who hailed from Ocoee, Tenn., arrived in 1861 and bought 50 acres from Starke. He then platted what would become downtown Ocoee.
Through the years, Ocoee developed into a thriving citrus-producing center. Today, however, housing is the city's hottest commodity. The Florida Turnpike, the East-West Expressway and a new Western Beltway all pass through the city, meaning once-remote downtown Orlando is now just a 15-minute commute.
Despite its growth, Ocoee has managed to preserve its past. For example, the annual Founders Day celebration starts with a parade and ends with fireworks. And those who want to soak up some additional local color may tour the Withers-Maguire House, once a winter refuge for a Confederate general and now a museum.
Also of interest is the circa-1890 Ocoee Christian Church, with its gothic architecture and Belgian-made stained-glass windows, as well as several vintage commercial buildings in the original downtown area.
New residential development is focused on the northwest side, along the S.R. 429 corridor. A new community center and senior center are slated for the area, while a new high school, aptly named Ocoee High School, opened this year.
DOWNTOWN ORLANDO
Scarcely a week passes without another major condominium project-many boosted by controversial tax incentives-being announced for once-sleepy downtown Orlando. And as quickly as announcements are made, buyers swoop in and plunk down deposits.
In fact, more than 30 projects are either planned, under construction or recently finished. About 7,000 condominium units are on the way, along with six buildings encompassing 1.1 million square feet of office space.
And on the fringes of downtown, huge expansions at Florida Hospital and Orlando Regional Medical Center are under way while Florida A&M University's law school and a new federal courthouse have just been completed.
Along Central Boulevard, at the bustling mixed-use complex known as Thornton Park Central, the day begins when gourmet-trendy Central City Market opens for breakfast.
Next door, Shari Sushi Lounge attracts a glittery lunch and evening crowd while the spacious Urban Think! Bookstore offers in-the-know readers a gallery/bistro hangout.
And at the corner, trendy Hue remains one of the hottest dining spots in town, especially during its monthly "Disco Brunches," when the restaurant's self-serve Bloody Mary bar draws long lines and the retro sounds of Donna Summer fill the street.
And all that barely covers just one neighborhood in Orlando's dynamic downtown corridor.
In addition to all the new shops and markets, and an ever-changing firmament of nightclubs and restaurants, the city's central core has become one of the liveliest real estate markets in the region, attracting not only youngish, single career seekers who like to congregate where the action is, but also middle-aged professional couples who appreciate the convenience of a daily routine that doesn't depend on the vagaries of Central Florida traffic.
Of course, there are residential options downtown aside from new condominiums.
The charming old neighborhoods ringing the city have been gentrifying since the late 1980s. While Thornton Park is perhaps the highest-profile example, property values are also soaring in the city's other designated historic districts, including Lake Eola Heights, Lake Lawsona, Lake Cherokee and Lake Copeland.
As builders build and buyers buy, Mayor Buddy Dyer and others are looking for ways to boost downtown arts and entertainment options while enhancing pedestrian-friendly transportation systems and attracting a greater variety of businesses.
Everyone agrees that a downtown performing arts center, which Dyer has made a priority, would be a wonderful addition. But almost no one agrees on how such a project, which would cost at least $150 million, would be financed.
Still, Dyer has promised that ground will be broken by the end of his term, in 2008, and a committee of community movers and shakers is working to develop a plan.
Renovating or replacing the TD Waterhouse Centre, home to the NBA's Orlando Magic, is also on Dyer's to-do list, as is an overhaul of the Citrus Bowl, currently home to the University of Central Florida Golden Knights and two annual bowl match-ups.
But the so-called "O-rena" would cost $70 million to renovate, while a new facility would cost perhaps four times that much. And the Citrus Bowl upgrade, which would cost at least $150 million, has become an iffy proposition since UCF officials finalized plans to start building an on-campus stadium this year.
Despite these hurdles, the foundation for enormous change downtown is already in place, says Downtown Development Board executive director Frank Billingsley.
"There's a trend across America of more and more people moving into downtowns, and we have a very desirable and pleasant downtown infrastructure in place," says Billingsley, who points to the city's brick streets, urban lakes and architectural variety.
"Our downtown is a neighborhood where you can feel very connected to friends, family and community. It's a much richer experience, living in an urban environment where you can feel connected to the pulse of the community."
WINDERMERE
Nestled among the spring-fed Butler Chain of Lakes, the cozy Town of Windermere, population 2,300, has emerged as the region's new-money address of choice.
With Lake Butler on the west, Lake Down on the east and Lake Bessie on the southeast, Windermere is a verdant peninsula where 317 of 837 homes are on the water. Winderemere-or at least the area surrounding it-is also home to some of Central Florida's most upscale new communities.
But although they advertise Windermere addresses, most of these ritzy developments aren't technically in Windermere, much to the chagrin of some locals who object to the alleged misappropriation of the town's proud name.
In fact, Windermere itself is just 689 acres, and consists largely of a laid-back retail district with a few mom-and-pop stores and a scattering of older homes lining sandy streets. Those streets remain unpaved, to discourage traffic and prevent runoff from damaging the Butler Chain, which consists of eight pristine lakes connected by a canal system.
The lakes attracted one of Windermere's first investors, Joseph Hill Scott, an English clergyman who in 1885 bought 150 acres. Scott's son, Stanley, homesteaded the property and supposedly named it after Lake Windermere in England.
The railroad connected Windermere and Kissimmee in 1889, but freezes in 1894 and 1895 destroyed the town's citrus industry. Little changed until 1910, when a pair of Ohio investors named D.H. Johnson and J. Calvin Palmer bought all the land they could piece together and formed the Windermere Improvement Company for the purpose of developing it.
The pair promoted "Beautiful Lakes of Pure Spring Water" and aimed their marketing at moneyed Northerners.
Although few who live here want to see the town change significantly, Windermere city officials are making concessions to the growth surrounding it. The town recently completed a $2.5 million public works project-the largest in its history-to revamp the downtown area, bricking three blocks of Main and Frontage streets, expanding parking lots, replacing stop signs with roundabouts and generally upgrading its appearance.
And developer Kevin Azzouz, who in 2003 purchased much of the property in the business district, has talked about creating a town center, much to the consternation of residents who like downtown's unpretentious combination of shabby and chic.
WINTER GARDEN
It was 1857 when Becky Roper Stafford's great-great-grandfather first glimpsed Lake Apopka. W.C. Roper was riding through the backwoods of west Orlando" target="_blank">Orange County on horseback, seeking a place to build a home for his family waiting back in Merriwether County, Ga.
Roper bought 600 acres along the shore, between present-day Winter Garden and Oakland, and returned a year later with his wife and 10 children. The ambitious settler operated a sawmill, a gristmill, a sugar mill and a cotton gin. Later he built a tannery for making shoes, and served as Orlando" target="_blank">Orange County's superintendent of schools from 1873 to 1877.
Fast-forward to the 1920s, when Roper's son Frank planted the area's first orange trees, marking the humble beginnings of an industry that would sustain and define Winter Garden, which had been incorporated in 1903, for the next six decades.
Winter Garden remained an idyllic small town throughout World War II and into the 1950s and 1960s. Far removed from Orlando, which was about to be reshaped by the advent of Disney World, the city remained self-sufficient and unpretentious.
"Winter Garden was the quintessential vibrant small town," says Stafford. "We had the distinction of being the only town with two train depots, because it was such a busy shipping community with fresh fruit going all over the world."
Fast-forward again to the 1980s, when devastating freezes destroyed thousands of acres of citrus. Roper Growers Cooperative, Heller Brothers and Louis Dreyfus Citrus eventually recovered. But as growers regrouped or retreated, once-bustling downtown Winter Garden became a virtual ghost town.
Concurrently developers began buying up decimated groves for new homes, creating new subdivisions seemingly overnight. But most of the residential growth, and the retail growth that followed, was outside the city, which made Winter Garden proper even more of an anachronism.
Then came a brilliant project called Rails to Trails, through which abandoned rail beds across the country were converted into hiking and biking trails.
The popular West Orange Trail passed directly through Winter Garden, thus converting the all-but-forgotten city into an oasis for thousands of ready-to-spend strollers. In fact, city officials estimate that the trail is responsible for generating about 50,000 downtown visitors per month.
And most are charmed by what they see. In 2001 the tired downtown district underwent a facelift. Brick streets were restored, old buildings were remodeled, and Centennial Fountain, saluting the city's citrus-growing heritage, was constructed.
Today locals and outlanders gather at Choctaw Willie's in the reopened Edgewater Hotel for barbecue, collard greens and sweet tea. Just down the street, Winter Garden Pizza Factory is all about pasta, fresh pies and family fun.
Proprietor-owned shops, like JR's Attic and the Downtown Herb Shoppe are thriving. But you'll still find a wonderfully cluttered hardware store that sells farming supplies, serving as a reminder that this town's quaintness isn't contrived.
And locals proudly note that Winter Garden features two historical museums open seven days a week. There's the Central Florida Railroad Museum and the Heritage Museum, both housed in restored depots. History buffs may also stroll around the city and view such landmarks as the 1860s-era Beulah Baptist Church.
And redevelopment is on a roll: Stafford is hard at work with the Winter Garden Heritage Foundation to renovate the historic Garden Theater on Plant Street, which will become a 300-seat performing arts center.
While the old downtown is re-emerging as a force to be reckoned with, several miles south a 1.15-million-square-foot open-air mall called Winter Garden Village at Fowler Groves is set to open late this summer.
There are more than 40 new home communities currently under way within Winter Garden's corporate limits. And the city plans to annex a large tract of mostly undeveloped land from its western boundary south of Florida's Turnpike to the Orlando" target="_blank">Lake County line. The tract contains 1,300 developable acres that could eventually contain 3,600 homes.
To the south of downtown, along C.R. 535 and S.R. 545, communities totaling 25,000 homes are expected to be built where citrus groves once flourished.
The biggest of the new developments is Horizon West, a 38,000-acre master-planned community that has been in the planning stages for a decade. At buildout, its two villages-Bridgewater and Lakeside-will contain nearly 18,000 homes.
Horizon West developers and builders, worried that a lack of schools and roads could slow the project, have proposed two novel plans to keep things rolling.
First, a homebuilding consortium has offered to lend Orlando" target="_blank">Orange County Public Schools $32 million to build a middle school two years ahead of schedule-and to pay $2.9 million in fees and interest until the loans can be paid off.
Second, Grosse Pointe Development Company is paying close to $6 million to develop a connector road to link Fiquette Road to the Horizon West Town Center and C.R. 545.
Further opening up the area to development will be an extension of S.R. 429, which eventually will stretch from Apopka to I-4 just west of Walt Disney World.
WINTER PARK
Once a haven for artists, writers and some of the most influential families in the country, Winter Park was promoted in the late 1800s as a refuge for "the cultured and wealthy." Those early boosters would almost certainly be pleased to see how it all turned out.
Today, the city is home to 70 parks and nearly as many oak trees (20,000) as residents (24,090). Its eight square miles encompass lovely old homes, an upscale shopping district, a prestigious liberal arts college, a plethora of galleries and museums and street signs that admonish motorists to "drive with extraordinary care."
The heart of Winter Park is Park Avenue, stretching 10 blocks and boasting more than 100 shops, from upscale national retailers to one-of-a-kind boutiques. The Avenue, as locals call it, is a European-inspired thoroughfare featuring hidden courtyards, sidewalk caf? and charming Central Park facing the storefronts.
In addition, the downtown shopping district has begun to spread west on New England Avenue as developer Dan Bellows builds posh apartments and retail stores in previously blighted areas.
On the south end of Park Avenue is the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, showcasing the world's largest collection of Tiffany glass. Each Christmas a set of priceless, holiday-themed Tiffany windows are moved to Central Park, where they're displayed as part of the city's seasonal festivities.
Several blocks farther west is Winter Park Village, a red-hot retail and entertainment center on U.S. 17-92. New condominiums are available in the Village, which attracts a generally younger crowd than Park Avenue and has emerged as one of Central Florida's most popular see-and-be-seen destinations.
Year-round the city is alive with festivals and special events, from the Sidewalk Art Festival, drawing more than 250,000 guests each spring, to the Exotic Car Show and assorted celebrations in Central Park.
On the shores of Lake Virginia, beautiful Rollins College, the oldest institution of higher education in Florida and one of the top-rated private liberal arts colleges in the country, is home to the Cornell Fine Arts Museum and the internationally renowned Bach Festival Choir.
Incongruous as it may sound, Winter Park also hosts a Saturday morning Farmers' Market, where visitors can buy everything from fresh produce to houseplants and crafts.
Although the city was essentially built out decades ago, several infill projects offer new homes in older neighborhoods. The largest new single-family home development is Windsong, carved from heavily forested lakefront property once owned by the estate of philanthropists Hugh McKean and his wife, Jeanette Genius McKean.
The property adjacent to Windsong, where Glenridge Middle School once stood, is being incorporated into the development despite the objections of residents who had hoped the city-owned land could become a park.
Still, high-end condos account for most new residential construction in Winter Park. More than 500 apartments, condos and hotel rooms are either under construction or moving through the approval process.
To see Winter Park as it should be seen, shell out five bucks and take a guided tour along the Winter Park Chain of Lakes. Scenic Boat Tours, headquartered at Dinky Dock near Rollins College, has been cruising these canals since 1938, offering regular folks a chance to peek into the back yards of the rich and occasionally famous.
DOWNTOWN'S BOOM
Following is a list of major projects either planned, under way or recently completed in downtown Orlando.
For more information on downtown developments check: www.downtownorlando.com/index.aspx
Camden Orange Court: Four-story apartment complex with office and retail space, 600 block of
North Orange Avenue. Not yet started.
Capital Plaza III: Condominium and office complex with hotel, retail and restaurant space, southeast corner of Rosalind Avenue and Pine Street. Not yet started.
Corinthian Place: Five-story condominium complex with office and retail space, southwest corner of Washington Street and Division Avenue. Not yet started.
Dynetech Center: 30-story apartment complex with office and retail space, corner of Magnolia Avenue and Washington Street. Will house the international headquarters of Dynetech Corp. Starts second quarter of 2006.
55 West: 34-story condominium and retail center within Church Street Market entertainment complex,
Church Street between Orange and Garland avenues. Recently started demolition.
North Orange: 35-story condominium complex with a six-story professional office building and retail space,
759 N. Orange Ave. Starts second quarter of 2006.
Orlando City Place: Six phased buildings, ranging from five stories to two 40-story towers, with residential and hotel condominiums, retail, office and restaurant space, 304 W. Colonial Drive. Renovation of the existing hotel is under way.
Orlando Palace Towers: 34-story condominium complex and 37-story condominium complex with retail and restaurants, east of Radisson Hotel between North Orange Avenue and South Ivanhoe Boulevard.
Starts third quarter of 2006.
Paramount on Lake Eola: 16-story condominium complex with Publix Supermarket and office space,
400 block of East Central Boulevard. Starts second quarter of 2006.
Premier Trade Plaza: 21- and 16-story office complex, 29-story condominium complex with retail space and a movie theater, 101 S. Orange Ave. Under construction.
Presidential Tower: 41-story condominium complex with retail space on the first floor, between Garland, Gertrude, Jefferson and Washington streets.
Timeline TBD.
Star Tower: 18-story condominium complex with office and retail space, 421 E. Jackson. Under construction.
The Ivanhoe: Twin 35-story apartment towers with
retail space, southeast corner of Orange Avenue and Marks Street. Starts third quarter of 2006.
The Jackson: Nine-story condominium complex,
521 E. Jackson St. Under construction.
The M: Six-story condominium building, 32 units,
511 N. Magnolia Ave. Starts third quarter of 2006.
The Monarch: 23-story condominium with retail space, 300 E. South St. Starts third quarter of 2006.
The Sanctuary: 18-story condominium complex with office and retail space, 100 S. Eola Drive. Complete.
The Vue at Lake Eola: 35-story condominium and retail complex, 426 E. Central Blvd. Under construction.
Thornton Commons: 16- and 20-story condominium complex with retail space, Eola and Osceola drives. Starts third quarter of 2006.
101 S. Eola Drive: Twin 12-story condominium complex on two corners of Church Street and Eola Drive.
Starts second quarter of 2006 (phase one).
Tradition Towers: Twin 37-story towers with condominiums, office and retail space, 150 E. Central Blvd. Connecting "sky bridge" will house University Club. Starts second quarter of 2006.
217 N. Eola: 15-story condominium complex.
Project timeline TBD.
320 Palmetto: 18-story condominium building, 31 units.
Starts third quarter of 2006.