Cities work together to transform 429 corridor
Ocoee, Winter Garden hope to link downtowns
The neighboring west Orange cities of Ocoee and Winter Garden are working together to develop an economic corridor linking their downtowns.
They hope to transform a six-mile stretch of drab commercial and industrial road into dual complementary city gateways at a State Road 429 interchange.
“We look at the 429 corridor as one of the most valuable land assets serving both cities,” said Craig Shadrix, Ocoee’s assistant city manager and development director. “We want to ensure that the corridor between the two cities looks and functions as well as possible.”
Both cities have drafted similar developmental frameworks so the properties along the road have a common and more inviting look, feel and vibe.
The road, named East Plant in Winter Garden and Franklin Street in Ocoee, was a key part of an economic study partly funded with a $100,000 state grant.
Ocoee leaders introduced their development plan to city commissioners Tuesday. Winter Garden commission-
ers approved their version Thursday.
Planners for the cities envision a thriving economic future for the road as it becomes a front door to two downtowns.
But transforming a historically industrial area into a welcoming gateway may be a challenge, as aluminum-sided warehouses, auto-repair shops and a funeral crematorium dot the road’s landscape.
Winter Garden City Manager Mike Bollhoefer likes to show doubters an aerial view of West Plant Street from 1975 — three decades before it became the heart of west Orange’s liveliest city.
There were no brick streets then, no frosted acorn-shaped street lights, no quaint cafes or boutiques, all of which highlight West Plant’s rebirth.
The Garden Theatre, now a cultural anchor in Winter Garden, was once showcase for farm tractors. The Plant Street Market and the Crooked Can Brewery rose from rubble of a low-income, rundown apartment complex near City Hall.
“We fully expect we’ll see the same redevelopment along East Plant as we’ve seen downtown,” Bollhoefer said. “It takes time and a plan.”
Ocoee’s leaders look west for hope, too.
“I absolutely think this can be successful because we have a very good example just to the west in the city of Winter Garden,” Shadrix said.
He said Ocoee’s plan, which includes updated codes and standards, emphasizes aesthetics long overlooked on Franklin Street, which leads to downtown.
“It’s no secret now that our commission has appropriated $40 million to develop a new downtown here in Ocoee,” Shadrix said.
The standards hopefully will improve existing properties “that may not look so great today,” he said.
“It may take a little while,” Shadrix said. “But in an era of new growth, an economic recovery, such as we’re experiencing now, we’re very hopeful.”
He said developers, who once shunned Ocoee, are willing to submit to better, tougher building standards.
“They know they will get a return on their investment.”
While Ocoee has two other interchanges with the toll road — one north, one south — Shadrix described the Franklin-Plant interchange as “arguably the most valuable in west Orange County.”
Angelos Angelou, an economic-development guru hired in 2013 to craft a strategy for region, described it as potentially an “economic powerhouse,” able to stack up with any area in the nation.
As if underscoring that view, Ocoee leaders participated Tuesday in a groundbreaking ceremony for The Park at 429, a highend 643,000-square-foot industrial park on East Crown Point, about a mile north of Franklin Street.