ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 In the latest effort to move redevelopment forward in Orlando\u2019s downtown historic district, city leaders approved an incentive program that would work in partnership with a recent moratorium.<\/p>\n
The moratorium allows redevelopment proposals to bypass the Historic preservation board\u2019s review.<\/p>\n
While it was approved in June, its effective date was postponed out of caution after the state Division of Historic Preservation claimed it needed a 30-day notice or the city could lose certain funding. Nonetheless, the moratorium officially went into effect on Aug. 10, followed by the approval of the incentive program later that day.<\/p>\n
In a 6-1 vote, Orlando city commissioners approved a new Downtown Historic Redevelopment incentive program. District 4 Commissioner Patty Sheehan stood as the opposing vote.<\/p>\n
Sheehan\u00a0also voted no on the moratorium.<\/p>\n
According to David Barillo, the executive director of the Downtown Development Board, those who invest in contributing or landmark structures within the Downtown Historic District would be eligible for a significant tax credit. However, he said during the Aug. 10 meeting that some form of review would still be required.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs they reactivate that, they do have to make sure they keep those historic elements of the building and have them reviewed appropriately,\u201d Barillo said.<\/p>\n
In order to qualify for the incentives, projects must have a minimum $5 million investment, an amount that\u00a0Sheehan argued doesn\u2019t align with the idea of making the investments available for everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere have been significant redevelopments in our downtown that are much less than $5 million,\u201d Sheehan said. \u201cI feel if they really wanted to encourage saving the historic buildings, they would not have put that high amount on it. My concern is someone will say, ‘Well, you know, I don\u2019t want to spend up to $5 million, I\u2019ll tear the building down and build something else.’\u201d<\/p>\n
Timothy Green, a developer mainly based in the Parramore community, said he believes downtown Orlando is on the upswing, though he also agrees that its history should be preserved. He said he\u2019s for the incentive program and believes that it will draw new life and more people to the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the last decade these places have stayed empty, and no matter what you do, your hands are tied for what you can really do,\u201d said Green, who is the lead developer and founder of Green District Master Plan and Holdings. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t really bring people, so you can\u2019t produce the type of construction that would activate the streets because you\u2019re tied into what\u2019s already there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Green said that despite a lack of recent development, he believes the latest efforts taken by the city will help restore Church Street as an epicenter of downtown Orlando \u2014 something similar to what he said he’s trying to do in Parramore.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a developer, we\u2019re all about the numbers. Does this make sense?” Green said. “So, an incentive can definitely help a project that would typically not pencil.”<\/p>\n
During the vote to approve the incentive program, Commissioner Bakari Burns \u2014 who voted against the moratorium \u2014 voted in favor of it. In a statement, he said incentivising downtown development and historic preservation don’t have to be separate things.<\/p>\n
\u201cI support continued investment and development in downtown Orlando, and I also believe we can grow without losing the character that makes our downtown special,\u201d Burns said in the statement. \u201cI think this is a conversation and process that should continue between city staff, the Historic Preservation Board, developers, and the community as we look at the future of downtown.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo my knowledge, there haven\u2019t been projects that couldn\u2019t move forward under the previous requirements, so I am interested in seeing how this new process and incentive program encourage investment.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all want to see a thriving downtown. The goal should be finding the right balance between welcoming new developments and maintaining the character of the area.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 In the latest effort to move redevelopment forward in Orlando\u2019s downtown historic district, city leaders…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[767,2031,274,558,770,3316,115,1335,139,141,140,278,14104,835],"class_list":["post-375647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-app-community","tag-app-local-business","tag-app-top-stories","tag-business","tag-community-news","tag-jaclyn-harold","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topic-latest-local-business-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375647","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=375647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}