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ORLANDO, Fla. – City leaders in Orlando plan to begin construction this summer on a major redevelopment project beneath Interstate 4 that officials say could reshape downtown.<\/p>\n
The project, known as The Canopy, will transform about 10 acres beneath the I-4 corridor between Washington and Church streets.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The backstory:<\/p>\n
Construction is expected to last 18 to 20 months, with completion projected in 2027 or 2028.<\/p>\n
City officials said the reimagined space is designed to serve as a gathering place rather than a pass-through area.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Credit: The City of Orlando <\/p>\n
Plans include festival and event space, public art, pedestrian and bicycle paths, digital projection features and more than 300 public parking spaces.<\/p>\n
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX LOCAL APP<\/a><\/p>\n The Canopy is the latest version of what was previously called the “Under-I” project. City planners said the concept was shaped by community feedback calling for more green space, improved mobility and places that encourage social connection.<\/p>\n Credit: The City of Orlando <\/p>\n SIGN-UP FOR FOX 35’S BREAKING NEWS, DAILY NEWS NEWSLETTERS<\/a><\/p>\n The Canopy is funded through a $30 million Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) investment and is part of the city\u2019s updated Downtown Orlando Community Redevelopment Area plan, now known as the DTO Action Plan.<\/p>\n What they’re saying:<\/p>\n David Barilla, Executive Director of the Downtown Development Board and Community Redevelopment Agency, said the project will help reshape Downtown Orlando\u2019s urban core.<\/p>\n “We are integrating both a digital projection which will allow it to be a different space every day,” Barilla said. “We are checking off all of those boxes and being able to introduce that area back to downtown in a way that it can really be a part of future growth.”<\/p>\n What’s next:<\/p>\n Construction on The Canopy is expected to begin this summer, with an expected completion of 2027\/2028.<\/p>\n Another project tied to the DTO Action Plan is the conversion of Magnolia Avenue from a one-way to a two-way street. City officials are set to break ground on the first phase of that project Tuesday at 10:30 a.m.<\/p>\n The Source: This story was written based on information shared by the City of Orlando.<\/p>\n \u00a0 Orange County News<\/a>Orlando News<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. – City leaders in Orlando plan to begin construction this summer on a major redevelopment project…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[47,115,1335,139,141,140,628],"class_list":{"0":"post-149829","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando","8":"tag-fl","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-orange-county","11":"tag-orlando","12":"tag-orlando-headlines","13":"tag-orlando-news","14":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Canopy3.png\")
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