Real estate was fun a few years back. As developers sought to take advantage of easy credit and rapidly appreciating values, skylines and neighborhoods changed almost overnight. Anything seemed possible.
But then came the crash of 2008. A few projects were finished; many more were abandoned. And everything looks the same as it did the year before and the year before. Right now, very little seems possible.
But in Orlando, a game-changing project has just been resurrected”right in the heart of the Mills 50 gayborhood.
Mills Park will be built on 15 acres at the northwest corner of Mills Ave. and Virginia Dr. The huge property”former home to the iconic Mills Nebraska lumber yard”was cleared four years ago and has been dormant since. Before the real estate bust it was to be the site of an ambitious $350 million mixed use project by Pelloni Development Corp. Now DeBartolo Development, best known for building some of the biggest malls in the country, and Tampa-based Forge Capital Partners, have acquired the project with plans to fast track construction.
Mills Park will feature a one-acre park fronting Mills Ave. and surrounded by three-to-six story buildings containing office, retail and restaurant space as well as 425 apartments ranging from 700 to 2,200 sq. ft. Plans call for the urban park to include a coffee shop and wine bar, seating areas and water features, and an open-air performance venue. Mills Park will connect with walking and bike paths that lead to Lake Ivanhoe to the west and the Loch Haven Park cultural center to the north.
But the imposing mid-rise development may change the texture of funky Mills 50. Stretching from Robinson St. north to Princeton St., the gay-friendly commercial district just announced itself with colorful new “Mills 50″ lamppost banners. It is home to several gay and gay-friendly bars, restaurants and businesses, as well as tattoo studios, palm readers, hair salons, yoga and spiritual providers and a busy car wash.
With its conspicuous urban green space and open-air dining options, Mills Park could provide a transition between diverse and unpolished commercial spaces to the south and medical and other offices to the north.
But some may question the wisdom behind adding hundreds of apartments to an overbuilt residential market. Experts believe the downtown area can absorb new development; particularly Mills Park, which is in a highly desirable location just blocks from the growing Florida Hospital medical community.
“There is very good demand for rental housing in locations like this that are close to employment,” real estate consultant Shelton Granade told the Orlando Sentinel.
New residents are good news for the many LGBT-owned businesses in the area.
Eddie Nickell and partner Nicholas Olivieri have opened two restaurants and a wine shop in Mills 50 in recent years.
“It was always our intention to revitalize the area,” Nickell said.
Streetscaping would increase foot traffic along pedestrian unfriendly Mills Ave., but city plans are currently on hold due to funding shortfalls. But this much-discussed project won't be shelved due to lack of attention. Three-term city commissioner Patty Sheehan, up for reelection next year, lives directly across the street from Mills Park.
The new development will forever change a commercial area that has been a heavily traveled but unsightly bridge between Winter Park and downtown Orlando. And it will create more prized residential and commercial space for gays and lesbians to covet.
New ownership of Mills Park was announced in April. Surveyors can be seen on the property, and ground is expected to be broken soon.
