The content below comes through a partnership that Bungalower Media has with ClickOrlando.com, the website of WKMG-TV, which is focused on providing Central Florida communities with the information, resources, and support they need.
CATHERINE SILVER, WKMG – Crews have started demolishing Orlando’s first and oldest public housing community with a mission to make it a better place.
Our News 6 crew on Thursday watched as some of the buildings were torn down at Griffin Park. The 9-acre property is located next to Interstate 4 and State Road 408 in the Parramore area. It has sat unoccupied since 2022 but now that the Central Florida Expressway has removed a ramp, the Orlando Housing Authority has plans to reconnect the property with the Parramore neighborhood.
CEO Vivian Bryant said the proximity to the interchange will be considered in future plans.
“The expressways were built over it,” Bryant said. “So, we want the new development to be a way from the expressway.”
The current housing units will be demolished, and new mixed-income housing units away from the highway flyovers will take their place.
Of the 23 buildings on site, two of them will be preserved. That includes a six-unit residential building and the administration building.
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Bungalower shared the news of Griffin Park’s pending demolition back in June 2018. The entire community is almost completely encircled by I-4 and SR 408, just west of downtown Orlando. It was profiled by The Huffington Post in an article called “Even Breathing Is A Risk In One Of Orlando’s Poorest Neighborhoods” in January 2018, which included scathing reports of generational respiratory problems from the poor housing standards.