Plans for 2 new downtown Orlando parks take shape
Plans for two new downtown Orlando parks are coming into focus and are expected to bring a container park to a prominent downtown intersection and install historical markers into another at the center of the Creative Village.
City council is expected to vote Monday on a $6.5 million package to pay for construction of the two spaces, using a fund of property taxes paid by people downtown. In all, commissioners will vote on six different items Monday involving construction contracts, permitting and funding related to the two parks.
The proposed container park, to be named Art2, is planned for a vacant lot at Orange Avenue and Robinson Street, which for years was talked about as a potential open space.
Designs call for it to focus on screens and video boards displaying digital art, as well as a stage for live performances with a two-story shipping container structure. Inside will be a café selling coffee daily and beer and wine on the weekends.
The roughly quarter-acre space will also have hammocks for rent, space for two food trucks and be anchored by a massive video board. The containers will also have a shop selling locally made pieces and space for private events on the second floor.
“What I really wanted it to be is an activated space — that you could be walking through [downtown] and experience art at any given time,” said Josh Almeida, the founder of Ascend Studio, the company designing and managing the park.
Ascend Studios is primarily an audio and visual company, working with clients to install large video boards used for advertisements and displaying messages.
Built into the Art2 design is a video screen about 20 feet wide by 10 feet tall used to showcase digital art, he said, and also display footage from a live camera pointed at the stage during performances.
“It’s going to be a really nice space, something unique for downtown,” said Thomas Chatmon, the executive director of the Downtown Development Board, who said the agency worked to create more experiences throughout downtown Orlando.
The property is owned by Dr. Phillips Charities,
which is leasing it to Orlando’s Community Redevelopment Agency, a special taxing district downtown. The CRA requested bids for creative uses of the land about three years ago and has been working with Ascend on the idea since. If $3 million in funding is approved Monday, the park is expected to open next spring.
Luminary Green
The park under construction at Creative Village in Parramore, to be surrounded by apartments, UCF and Valencia’s downtown campus and Electronic Arts’ new headquarters, is moving closer to opening next spring as well.
In the package of funding
for downtown parks, $3.5 million is included to pay for LED lighting along sidewalks, seating and a series of markers to honor historic figures in Parramore’s history.
Now, amid cranes and construction, the planned park is a fenced-off patch of dirt but is expected to open next spring. When the campus was in planning and development, a placeholder name of “Central Park” was used to describe the space, mainly due to its location within the layout.
“The discussion evolved where the idea … was to actually celebrate the stories of individuals whose ideas
have had positive impacts on downtown in general, and specific to Parramore,” Chatmon said.
The planned kiosks to honor west Orlando luminaries will be a signature feature of the park and are expected to stand between 6 and 8 feet tall.
Some may honor an individual, while others could detail multiple people under a common theme, Chatmon said.
The CRA plans to add kiosks over time to have 26 in total, though likely about six will be added initially.