PFT Media

TRANSCRIPT: A Starbucks with a drive-thru is in the planning stages at the SW corner of the intersection of Fern Creek Avenue and Colonial Avenue according to the Plan Review filed with the City of Orlando. The official title of the Starbucks project is “Colonial & Fern Creek Redevelopment.” The property currently houses an auto repair shop built in 1955.

Phase 1 of the onePULSE Foundation memorial and museum construction project is nearing completion at the original site of the club at 1912 S Orange Ave. Phase 1 is an interim memorial. Once opened, it will provide a park like setting for visitors, survivors and their families to gather. The interim memorial is the first step towards the non-profit achieving its goal of the space becoming a place of rememberance, reflection and call to action.

The Ivanhoe Main Street District is on the hunt for its 7th Executive Director in the brief 9 years its been in existence. It’s even lost its accreditation as an official Main Street Program. The Ivanhoe District stretches from Mills down Virginia then splits off down both directions of North Orange Avenue.

The Firefly Kitchen and Bar in the Winter Park Village is getting taken over and becoming The Hangry Bison. It will serve burgers, craft beer and probably everything every other man-restaurant sells across the country. The new owner is looking at a June grand opening.

A  2,660 square foot bar is going in at 2401 East South Street in the same shopping strip at Southern Nights and Southern Craft bars. All three projects are owned by the same person, Rick Kowalczyk. This new bar will have pool tables, dartboards, shuffle board and karaoke. Did you catch that? Shuffleboard. The two existing bars are gay themed. It’s not known at this time if it will keep with that theme.

The City of Orlando is currently seeking proposals from multi-family developers for the redevelopment of two city-owned properties located in the Mercy Drive area into quality residential development. The two currently vacant sites were formerly known as Peppertree Shores and Peppertree Circle. The vision for this development is for mixed-income housing communities to include low to moderate income households and increase the inventory of permanent supportive housing in the city. Proposals are due at 4 p.m. on Thursday, May 31, 2018.

Orlando Sexton Don Price led a nighttime educational walk through Greenwood Cemetery last week with the focus on former resident July Perry who was lynched on election day 1920 in Ocoee. No one was ever charged for the lynching. Perry is the only person on record lynched in Orlando. Price also discussed the relocated Johnny Reb statue that moved from Lake Eola Park to Greenwood Cemetery as well as acquaintances of Perry who are also buried in the cemetery. Valencia College organized the presentation.

5,300 Floridians died from opioid overdoses in 2016, a 36 percent jump from 2015. The Orlando Sentinel is putting on a free public panel to discuss Florida’s opioid crisis Tuesday May 15th at 7:30 in the morning at Leu Gardens in the Camillia Room.  

The City of Orlando’s Historic Preservation Board is seeking photos capturing the beauty of the City’s historic streetscape and landscape enhancements in the city to feature in its 2019 calendar. With multiple historic neighborhoods and more than 50 local and national historic landmarks throughout the city, the 2019 theme will celebrate Orlando’s historic streetscape and landscape features. The calendar has been produced every year since 1991. ALl the details can be found at thedailycity.com.

Last week the new Tinker Field History Plaza had its Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at Tinker Field, 287 South Tampa Avenue, in the shadows of Camping World Stadium. The Plaza celebrates 100 years of Orlando baseball and Civil Rights history and was developed with a vision to create a space for people to gather, learn, reflect and honor the many baseball legends who played in Orlando as well as the local and national heroes of the Civil Rights Movement who integrated professional sports the city.