As first reported by Ryan Lynch for Orlando Business Journal, Orlando’s Community Redevelopment Agency is considering an ambitious four-property real estate sweep at this month’s board meeting.
The first of the four properties up for grabs is 30 S. Orange Avenue [GMap], the former home of the historic O’Connell Building before it burned down in 2005. The CRA is currently leasing the space from the owner and using it as a pop-up park/open space but according to the CRA meeting agenda, they are hoping to purchase it for $1,362,294.
The second property is one of Orlando’s original skyscrapers, located at 1 N. Orange Avenue [GMap]. The ten-story State Bank of Orlando and Trust building was built in 1924 but has been vacant for roughly 15 years. If the CRA gets its way, it will purchase it for $9.59 million for “future redevelopment and re-use.”
In Lynch’s piece, he quotes PIO Ashley Papagni suggesting it could potentially house a two-story restaurant use on the ground level and some sort of “attainable housing.”
The third and fourth properties at 205 and 215 E. Central Boulevard [GMap] are adjacent to each other and sandwiched between the new pocket park project at Rosalind and Central and the larger Lake Eola Park. The CRA is proposing to purchase the two properties for a combined $8,390,648 to be redeveloped by the City and incorporated into the park. The property is of particular interest to the city as a new potential gateway to Lake Eola as part of its upcoming overhaul.
The purchasing of the four properties will be voted on by the Community Redevelopment Agency Advisory Board at the upcoming February 28 meeting at Orlando City Hall at 3 p.m. If approved, the purchase of all properties will occur simultaneously over the next year, with a price tag of almost $20 million.
