Fly through 175-year-old tree at Constitution Green
When is a tree more than just a tree? Perhaps when it’s older than the state of Florida. Last month, a developer approached Orlando city Commissioner Patty Sheehan about plans to build an office and apartment complex on Constitution Green, the one-block park in downtown Orlando. In the center of that park, which is just a few blocks from Lake Eola Park on Summerlin Avenue, is a 70-foot-tall live oak with limbs so long they touch the ground. It’s listed on the city’s “Significant Trees Map” and is estimated at being between125 and175 years old. Florida became a state in1845.
The park is owned by the Carusos, a Central Florida citrus-growing family. The city of Orlando has leased the land from the family for $10 for 10 years (or a $1-a-year) since the late 1980s. (The city, however, does pay taxes on the land and maintains it.) The family or the city can terminate the lease with 30 days’ notice. City spokesperson Cassandra Lasfer told the Sentinel’s David Breen in March: “We have no applications for development, no applications for any tree removal and no notice for formal termination of lease.” The Curoso family would not comment on the possibility of developing the park. No matter what happens to the tree and the park, I wanted to document it. Last week, I reached out to Jim Hobart of Macbeth Photo. Hobart has a quadcopter, and so he flew it up into the tree and took some amazing video. Watch “Fly through the 175-year-old tree at Constitution Green” a t OrlandoSentinel.com/JonBusdeker .