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Oviedo on the Park, a proposed master-planned community with 1,200 homes and rental units and 100,000 square feet of retail space, is being developed by Broad Street Partners. |
OviedoOnThePark.com 2006
A new downtown for Oviedo?
Early steps taken to develop $275 million, mixed-use project.
Plans for a new mixed-use community called Oviedo on the Park, valued at more than $275 million, would give this Seminole County community a mixed-use town center in a master-planned, 50-acre development near the northeast corner of Alafaya Road and Mitchell Hammock Road.
The project, being developed by Charleston, S.C.-based Broad Street Partners, would accommodate 2,500 residents and feature a mix of 1,200 homes and rental units, plus more than 100,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.
Plans also call for a new park and lake at the center of the community, as well as an amphitheater for local events, according to development details provided to Orlando Business Journal.
"This is one of the biggest projects we have had here in Oviedo," says Tom Walker, development review manager for the city of Oviedo. "It has a significant retail and office component and a significant population increase for the city."
Leaders in Oviedo, which has about 31,000 residents, hope the project will provide three economic sparks: keep residents shopping in Oviedo; give them a distinct retail shopping experience; and help to revitalize the city's original downtown core.
For many residents and Mayor Tom Walters, the project would be the fulfillment of a dream that began years ago.
"It's a magnificent project with far-reaching potential," Walters says. "We are taking a section of town that is physically located in the center of our community and are making it the new downtown."
Melissa King, executive director of the Greater Oviedo Chamber of Commerce, says the project will keep people shopping in Oviedo, instead of losing them to other downtown shopping destinations such as Winter Park.
"The business community is very enthusiastic about this project, and I know several businesses that are already interested in moving there," King says.
The main artery for the project, currently called Division Street, is in the beginning stages. Trees are being cut down and a two-lane road with on-street parking on both sides will take its place. Plowing for the stormwater system is also being done.
The company is moving toward the building permitting process. Kupp expects construction to start by the end of the year, with the first buildings to be completed a year later.
Full buildout for the entire project could be completed in four to five years.
"Work will be done in multiple phases, with mixed-use buildings being built along major roads that will include retail on the first floor and residential above that," Kupp told OBJ. "There will also be areas that will be 100 percent residential, with a heavy emphasis on traditional architecture and landscape for a pedestrian-friendly community."
New vs. old downtown
While Oviedo on the Park is touted as the new downtown, Mayor Walters is quick to say that Oviedo's original downtown near Central Avenue and Broadway Street also will be revitalized.
"We have a commitment to revitalize the old downtown and connect the two by ways of a trail system and a future road," Walters says.
But the old downtown revitalization is currently in limbo as a study is being done to widen state roads 426 and 419, which could impact the placement of up to 20 existing businesses.
With the status of so many businesses still up in the air, King just hopes there is an old downtown left when all is said and done.
"We have to hope our old downtown businesses can withstand the changes, but I think the new downtown will eventually attract business to our historic downtown," says King.
The mayor, meanwhile, doesn't deny that the current geography of the original downtown core could "change dramatically."
"But we are committed to making both projects (downtowns) work."
Source: Orlando Business Journal 2006 |
