We first wrote about popular UCF restaurant Lazy Moon Pizza (Facebook | Website) opening their new Mills 50 location back in 2015, HERE. Since then, they’ve hit a number of permit-shaped road blocks which has delayed their construction and planned opening in the former Cruises Only building [GMap], but the restaurant is getting closer to being a reality.
One of the owners, Matt Griffis, reached out to us concerning the delays, ” … build-out has taken forever, but is finally coming to a conclusion as we have [received] some of the delayed approvals which have held us up.”
Griffis did not tell us when to expect Lazy Moon to be open, but assured us that they would let us know as soon as they’ve jumped through their last hoop with the City. Editor’s Note: He’s a Bungalower fan too, so don’t worry, we’ll get the scoop.
Griffis invited us to visit the studio of local artist Blair Sligar, of Hog Eat Hog (Facebook ), to see a commissioned mural that was being made for the new location. The piece is really a triptych of three separate panels. Everything you see was created using spray paint and stencils, layered on top of each other like lasagna. The subject matter is Floridian wildlife with alligator gar, manatees, a swamp ape with a third eye, and even a nod to steam ships and alien architecture, a la the Linton E. Allen Memorial Fountain in Lake Eola. Sligar told us that the piece still still needed a lot of work but was coming together fairly quickly.
Sligar is also a woodworker by trade, although he’s trying to do more painting lately. We managed to snap a few photos of his work space while we were visiting. Another woodworker/artist who happened to be there was Maxwell Hartley, pictured below with a massive piece of cedar that he’s been widdling away at for months.
Fellow residents of the neighborhood, we understand and share your frustrations with the recent disruptions.
The parking lot, building exterior, and everything for 1011 East Colonial Dr. is the responsibility of the landlord and property owner. Given that Lazy Moon is merely a tenant of the building, our input and standard of expectation wasn’t a consideration in the process of parking lot resurfacing (which is pretty standard in commercial leases). Lazy Moon moving into the location sparked the landlord to do the resurfacing, but we had no decision with regard to the subcontractors selected, timing, payment, design, or oversight. We heard about the permitting issue and thought it a shame that the contractor that was procured chose to cut corners on something so black and white as that, as we felt that mentality could trickle further downstream into the quality of work, as well as understandably upsetting the residents nearby. Our issues with City of Orlando are wholly unrelated to that incident and are indicative of something much more systemically broken. We really can’t wait to open soon, make some pizza, sling some tasty libations, and take care of the community.
I feel compelled to mention that at least one of Lazy Moon Pizza’s “permit-shaped roadblocks” was of its own making. My nearby neighbors and I endured weeks of brain-rattling, glass-in-the-cabinet-shaking parking lot renovation (from early morning to late night) only to learn that they were busted by the city for attempting a permit runaround in which they claimed to be making minor improvements, when they were in fact doing a complete resurfacing… Something the city informed me that they would not have allowed in the manner in which it was performed (read: it would have taken a lot longer and been much less disruptive) due to proximity of residential. City did a complete stop-work and made them go back to the drawing board. But glad they’re keepin’ it local with Hog Eat Hog — just wish they would’ve extended that same local love to their new neighbors.
We loved Blair’s work at his Winter Park Art in Chambers exhibition.
Happy to serve!
I was wondering the other day what was happening with that. Thanks for the update
The mural suggests that the Mills50 location will have a spirit more closely aligned with the original LM location than that sterile, corporate-ass space the UCF LM has now.
Stewart Shebroe Farnaz Azar Taylor Price soon….