Early renderings for a planned pocket park that will replace a popular 7-Eleven building adjacent to Lake Eola Park are being evaluated by the Appearance Review Board this week.

The building was purchased through the efforts of a privately-led non-profit the Orlando Land Trust (Website) with assistance from the CRA, which wanted to protect the property from future development by preemptively taking it off the market and donating it to the City of Orlando to be used in perpetuity as public park space.

The 7-Eleven vacated the property in October 2021 and it has sat vacant since with fencing recently erected around the building ahead of upcoming demolition work.

The design attached at the bottom of the post is interim in nature, and consist of hardscape, landscape, site furniture, and streetscape elements the City is proposing for the site and could change following the demolition of the building.

Up until this point, it has been unclear as to how the Land Trust was proposing to connect the pocket park to the greater park as it would still be separated by three adjacent properties, as you can see in the 1956 Sanborn Insurance Map below. But the City has shared in the renderings a potential plan to remove a neighboring multi-story building that separates it from the park as part of a “Future Park Expansion.”

These plans are planned to be seen at the April 21, 20022, Appearance Review Board meeting.

Brendan O'Connor

Editor in Chief of Bungalower.com

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  1. This project is wasteful should be used for 20+ Stories building. This is ridiculous already have the under I4 project to allow for more park recreation development.

  2. Dumbest waste of money ever. There is no access into Lake Eola Park and Iexpect this new “park” to be used mainly by the homeless