Lake Nona Uses Disney World & Cows To Sell Its Latest Neighborhood

Map via LearnLakeNona.com

Laureate Park is just the latest housing development to pop up in southeast Orange County.  The 503 unit development is one of six neighborhoods found within the 7,000 acre master planned community of Lake Nona.   Laureate Park has seen many new homes pop up within the community since it broke ground within the last year.  In 2012 Lake Nona was the best selling community in Orlando and 14th best in the nation.  This year looks just as good with much of that growth within the New Urbanism styled Laureate Park. 

Laureate Park is the closest neighborhood to the medical village part of Lake Nona.  At the center of the community is the Village Center that will feature an aquatic center, restaurant, a small market, and a fitness center.  The aquatic center should open by end of 2013 with the rest of the Village Center opening in 2014.  The restaurant is being developed with consulting by Concentric Restaurants- parent company Winter Park's Prato and Luma on Park.  The restaurant will feature two sections: a sit-down area and a coffee shop/café area.

Out of the 503 housing units within Laureate Park 367 are single family units.  The remaining 136 units are broken into a mix of housing options: 80 duplexes, 30 triplexes, and 26 townhomes.

One fun aspect of the housing development are the unique , local focused signage seen as you drive down Tavistock Lakes Boulevard.  Each uses short sentences, some with humor reminiscent of the Burma Shave signs of yesteryear, to both attract new residents and inform those who've already moved there.

Here are a few of the signs that I liked:

Polaroid Camera with Filters = Printed Instagram-Like Pics

We love our Instagram account. So, a camera with instagram-like filters that prints your photos sounds fun. The Socialmatic camera is talking with Polaroid and C&A to produce the camera by early 2014. It will have the following features:

• 4:3 size screen (not 4,3 Inches!)
• at least 16GB of internal memory
• 3G, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity
• SH-HDC slot for external mass storage
• GPS
• Internal Printer
• Optical Zoom
• Proprietary filters
• Android based OS
• Sharing option to share your photo on the most famous Social Network, by email or MMS
• Exclusive Socialmatic Network Connectivity

Orlando Shakes Will Not Be Adversely Affected Financially by Philharmonic's Departure

With the Orlando Philharmonic leaving Orlando Shakes and moving into The Plaza Live, we were curious if that would leave Orlando Shakes in a financial bind. So, we sent some questions to Orlando Shakes, and they were answered by PJ Albert, Managing Director of Orlando Shakes, on Wednesday May 22, 2013. 

TDC: Will this put a financial strain on Orlando Shakes?

PJ Albert: The decision by the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra to move to another location was based on the upcoming renewal of their sublease. We have been in communication with the Executive team at the Orlando Phil throughout the process, and have been preparing for their final decision in regards to the purchase of the Plaza.

TDC: What will Orlando Shakes have to do to fill that financial hole?

PJ Albert: We are meeting with the Board of Directors in the coming weeks to determine the best path for our organization in regards of the future use of the space within the Lowndes Shakespeare Center.

TDC: Will you rent the space out to another group?

PJ Albert: We are not prepared to make that decision without having met with our Board of Directors.

TDC: What percentage of your income is from space rental in total?

PJ Albert: The sublease with the Orlando Philharmonic is not a space rental. The Orlando Philharmonic covers the costs incurred by their use of space in regards to utilities, maintenance, cleaning, etc. Therefore it is not truly income to us, but only a reduction in the overhead costs of running the Lowndes Shakespeare Center.

Orlando Philharmonic Buys The Plaza Live

The Orlando Philharmonic has rented space in the Orlando Shakes building at Loch Haven Park for years, but Shakes may be looking for a new tenant soon because the Phil has up and bought The Plaza Live at the corner of Bumby and Colonial. The org will use it as their new permanent performance space, office space, rehearsal hall and music library.

The 1,000 seat theatre will be updated. Their gigantic shows will still be held at Bob Carr Performing Arts Center until the Dr Phillips Performing Arts Center gets completed. 

It appears the current staff of Plaza live are staying: Plaza Live general manager Kirk Colvin said "...we are excited to begin working with people who are as passionate about music as our staff and patrons are."

The venue will not be a classical-only spot. They will host "rock, jazz, comedy and contemporary music" events as well.

We've reached out to Orlando Shakes for comment. (See the interview with Orlando Shakes here)

Photo Source

Tomorrowland the Movie December 2014: What's It About?

Screenwriter/Producer Damon Lindelof is making a movie called Tomorrowland coming out December 19, 2014 according to Moviefone. Says Lindelof via Slashfilm, "I’ve always been fascinated by Disneyland and Disney World, and my favorite part of the park was always Tomorrowland. But there’s no story there... I would love to give Tomorrowland a story..."

So what will that story be? According to Hitflix, "A teenage girl, a genius middle-aged man (who was kicked out of Tomorrowland) and a pre-pubescent girl robot attempt to get to and unravel what happened to Tomorrowland, which exists in an alternative dimension, in order to save Earth." Art Source

This Will Change Food Trucks Forever

The Easy Tray can now free your hands to take food pics, text your friends and ask why they're not at the truck with you, hold your baby, do pushups, and more.

It holds a drink and food and like its predecessor, the fanny pack, makes you look really cool.

You could even wear it sans food and you would look cool.

You're welcome.

Bike Share Programs Are Great... Unless They Completely Displace Small Businesses

By Mark BaratelliOwner, The Daily City

Orlando is getting a bike share program eventually . But a word of caution to those deciding where these bike share racks will be placed: don't disrupt business. 

In this story, an office building owner in New York City who wanted food trucks and carts to not be parked in front of his building (they'd been there a long time) tried and failed to get them to go. Along comes bike share. He requests for, and gets, the bike share racks installed in front of his building. No more food trucks. Five trucks and fifteen jobs affected. 

This cannot happen in Orlando because food trucks are not allowed on sidewalks or streets without a special events permit. But businesses can place these bike share stations on private property possibly, and food trucks *are* allowed to be there (with a written agreement from the property owner and a permit).

So city, please be aware of food trucks and carts when you're deciding where to place these things. Just something to keep in mind. 

FBI Shoots Man 10 Miles From Walt Disney World

27-year-old Ibragim Todashev was shot shortly after midnight in Orlando, Florida by an FBI special agent after being interrogated about the Boston Marathon bombings. This took place 10 miles from Walt Disney World at an apartment complex. Read more here

Photo Credit: WESH

Citra At Windermere Apartments Now Under Construction As Part of Horizon West's Lakeside Village

Lakeside Village is a mixed use development that is a part of the larger Horizon West project.  Horizon West is the fastest growing community within the Central Florida region.  It includes seven 'village centers' of which Lakeside Village is one.  The 21,000 acre master planned community of Horizon West will have an estimated 50,000 to 70,000 residents at full buildout which should occur by 2030.  Orlando based Boyd Development is currently working on two of the major village centers within Horizon West; Lakeside Village and Hamlin. 

Image via BoydDev.com

The Lakeside Village development has two planned elementary schools and a middle school within walking distance.  A 47,000sq ft Publix Supermarket anchors 128,000sq ft of retail that also includes two banks and an urgent care center within the Village Center. Windermere Trails is an 862 unit housing development that is located within the development.  32 townhomes will be developed as well. There are also two apartment complexes as part of the project.  The first is CrossWater Apartments, a lakefront 300 unit lakefront complex that is now leasing.  

There is also the 360 unit Citra at Windermere apartment complex.  Palm Beach Gardens based Ram Residential LLC is currently building Citra as its first multifamily development in Central Florida that it has designed and built from the ground up.  The Citra property was originally zoned for townhomes instead of apartments but with the demand for apartments being high in the region while that for townhomes remains lower.  Ram also developed and manages the retail aspect of Lakeside Village.  They also own another Orlando area multi-family complex: Laguna Oaks apartments on Lake Fredrica in southeast Orlando. Ram purchased that forty year old property in 2012.

Rendering via Citra at Windermere Apartments facebook

Citra at Windermere will feature garden-style apartments with a clubhouse, a 24hr fitness center, a billiards room, a tennis court, tot lot, an outdoor kitchen and entertainment space, and a dog park.  The clubhouse sits on a central pond that has a small walking path circling it.  Residents can also lease private garages.  Estimated rents for the one to three bedrooms offered at the complex will range from just below $900 to around $1,600 per month.  The smallest apartment is a 855sq ft one bedroom one bath, the largest is a 3 bedroom 2 bath 1460sq ft unit.  The apartments feature 9 foot ceilings, walk-in closets, and open concept kitchens.  The apartments should open by fall 2013.

Here are some pictures of the current construction of Citra:

The old Reams Road, the road now goes through the new village center instead.