Colonial Lanes bowling alley in the Mills District, open since 1959, will cease operations Thursday May 24th. The building at 400 N. Primrose Drive is 33,000 sq. ft. and has 197 parking spaces. The new Master Plan calls for demolition of the bowling alley building and splitting the lot in half for a two-phased development. One parcel will include a personal storage facility with ground floor retail. The contents of the second parcel has yet to be determined.

Winter Park City Councilapproved naming the campus of the Winter Park Library and Events Center“The Canopy”last week during a council meeting in City Hall. The park in which the campus is located will remain “Dr Martin Luther King, Jr Park.” The name “The Canopy” came from a City Commission-authorized Task Force led by a branding expert (Evolve Design Group, Inc.). The group met three times under the direction of Evolve to develop a brand and name for the campus and facilities.

Along with the choice of the new name, City of Winter Park City Council approved $382,000 for infrastructure (but not construction) for a rooftop venue atop The Canopy. If the City finds funding, the rooftop venue will be built along with the rest of the library, altogether. If not, due to that infrastructure getting built, it can be built at a later date.

Peppino’s restaurantis closed after just 6 months in the newly created Hourglass District. Sources say the original owner sold it and the new owners expect to open in August. Food expert Scott Joseph says the failure of the restaurant was caused by poor service.

Grape & The Grain wine and beer barhas opened at 1110 Virginia Drive in the Mills50 District. The main attraction is the outdoor porch and green space. The bar will feature live music, local art, food trucks and local beer and wine selections.

Learn from some neighborhood pioneers why Pine Hills just might be the next great frontier for Central Florida residents and investors.” Michelle Owens, Executive Director of the Pine Hills Neighborhood Improvement District, is giving a talk calledPine Hills: The Next FrontierTuesday, May 29th, 6:30 – 8 pm at Credo Conduit, 1001 N Orange Ave.

4 new downtown restaurant spaces will be added to the Central Business District thanks to a large scale renovation of the plaza at 20 N. Orange Ave across from Wall Street Plaza starting June. A portion of the building that faces Wall Street will receive a new retail canopy, new glass storefront doors, stucco repair, and exterior lighting. Landlords of buildings like this generally prefer nationally-backed long-term leases which can nix the opportunity of getting spaces like these for smaller local brands.

The City of Winter Park Planning and Zoning Boardrecommended conditional use approval for the First Church of Christ Scientist at 650 North New York Avenue. The building is 6,989 sq ft with 44 parking spaces on their property.

The One Orlando Alliancerescinded their Executive Director job offer from openly gay Alabama legislator Patricia Todd when the Alliance learned she publicly stated the Governor was a closeted lesbian and requested that someone out her. Their press release stated “(Outing) is a form of psychic and emotional violence” But this isn’t the only time Todd was involved in the act of outing. Back in 2015 she threatened to out elected officials involved in extramarital affairs which could have ended in the outing of some of them.Did the One Orlando Alliance know about this? We will update this story once they respond to our questions.

The Baldwin Park Publix Hasn’t Been Inspected by the State Since 2016. Four Orlando Publix haven’t been inspected by the State since 2016. Eight didn’t even get inspected in 2017. Eleven didn’t get inspected in 2016. What’s going on?We have a list of all 33 Orlando Publix and their inspection status on thedailycity.com. 

Welcome back to Orlando Opinions. I’m Mark Baratelli. I’ve got a passion for Orlando and a bod for sin.. Let’s get started!

Back in May we introduced you to The Hourglass District, a mass of older buildings purchased by National Real Estate for the purpose of turning them all into shops and restaurants, really turning a dead corner into a hot spot where people want to be so the developer can build buildings around it and rent them out. Back then the developers told The Daily City that one of the old structures, a dead 3/4 acre car wash structure at 416 Curry Ford Road, would be transformed into a farmers market with gathering spaces and a lounging area.

Those plans have changed according to a rendering we found credited to Interstruct. In that rendering, the dead car wash structure is shown as a food truck park! In the rendering one can see the trucks parked underneath the car wash roof, Adirondack chairs, wooden planters acting as space dividers, lighting, greenery wall, patio covering and what looks like an orange sculpture. You can check out the rending on thedailycity.com.

A 1925 building across the street from the soccer stadium  617 W. Central Ave got approved by the City for a major overhaul of its facade including giant wood and metal walls covering the front of the building, indoor and outdoor bars, a bocce court and ornamental fencing. The name was to be… Tubbs Brewing. This was in 2016. Sine then, no work has been done to execute that facade overhaul. They did however get permits to turn an empty corner space into a food truck and lot beer handout on game days. So there was that.

Now the owners have returned to the City with a new facade plan, this one being MUCH LESS ambitious. Essentially, they’re proposing to preserve the original design of the 90-year old façade, open the previously boarded up window areas, and add a new contemporary storefront design and glazing. The name is to be… Big Squeeze.

Maudlin trucking company is turning the Merita Bread Company building into a 77,600 sq. ft. truck dealership and service center. They’re placing a new 54-ft sign facing I-4 so they can enjoy the same advertising-to-I4 benefit that the Merita sign enjoyed. Since the new I-4 will be signifigantly higher when completed, they need this taller sign. The appearance review board says ok. Now it has to go to City Council. Reember the neon charm of the older Merita bread sign? This new sign will be nothing like it. It’ll be two empty cubes stacked on top of eachother with their brand name (sans serif people, SANS SERIF) on the top. It’s got the charm of an office park cafeteria 6 months before it closes.

The artwork of famed street artist Shepard Fairey/Obey Giant has begun to pop up around Orlando on billboards owned by Outfront Media. Fairey is best known for his Obama “Hope” poster. There are 5 billboards so far. Each signs’ design and message are completely based on prior works by Fairey including a  globe installation inside the Eiffel Tower, an 8-story musal in England and an art show that recently closed in Los Angeles. We called for a press release but they didn’t have one prepared yet. Losers.

And finally, The squealy-boxed Orange County Bar Association turning off their squealy boxes is not the only positive change coming to the North Quarter. Church Street Entertainment, owner of Ember, Latitudes, Cahoots, Chillers, Irish Shannon’s, 180 Skytop Lounge and Crafted, is bringing their brand of FUN to the district. They’re turning the North Quarter Tavern into a “neighborhood focused local pub” and Bar Room into a “modern interpretation of a classic cocktail lounge.”

The two spaces are owned by Craig Ustler, who developed the two original concepts. Ustler has announced he is hanging up his restaurant developing pumps after 17 years to focus on developing Creative Village and Florida Hospital Health Village. Who’s gonna hire the waiters Mister Downtown???? This will be his second and third restaurant handover with the first being handing over the Citrus Restaurant space to Reyes Mezcaleria.

North Quarter is a sleepy suburb made up of over a thousand apartments. The retail is nil, the restaurants are few, and most buildings don’t even feature ground floor retail. These folks bringing a potential shot girls, hot bod contests, three-for-one tequila nights vibe may be just the thing to get North Quarter residents out of their suburb and into the street to get so drunk they can’t push the buttons on their elevator to get back home.