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• Micro-brewery
• 4,000-square-foot event space Signature restaurant and bar
• Large parking area
• Monument sign for The Packing District 14,000 sq ft of retail space
• 10,000 sq ft of office space
• Plans call for construction to begin early next year with completion by the end of 2020. If you’d like the run down of every food hall project in the works or already open, go to orlandofoodhalls.com.

We told you awhile back that the folks behind Domu in East End Market were opening a restaurant in Mills50 called Tori Tori. Well, the City of Orlando is giving the restaurant $50,000 through its Small Business Facade, Site Improvement, and Adaptive Reuse Program to go towards improvements including adding a front porch dining area facing Mills. Domu is a busy company. Along with keeping Domu running and opening Tori Tori, they’re also working on opening a quick serve restaurant Domu Chibi Ramen in the Waterford Lakes Town Center.

Winter Park Village is getting a new restaurant tenant inside inside the old Mitchell’s seafood space: Bar Louie. The expected opening time frame is early 2019.

Two of the top five zip codes millenials are moving to in Florida are located right here in Orlando according to RentCafe.com. One is 32821 which includes I-Drive, Millenia, and the theme park area. The other one is 32814 which is Baldwin Park. The site used data from the US Census Bureau to create this list.

Wallet Hub says that according to a study, Orlando ranked second on a list of 182 cities for “Most Fun City” in America. Number one was las vegas.

An almost 100 year old bodega called Handy Pantry is closing its doors for good this year. It’s located in the Lake Eola Heights district at 522 E. Amelia Street. Since the building is located within a historic district, it’s protected from demolition.

Rob and Joe Nunzaita put out a survey asking folks what the two developers should do with the downtown building they just purchased on Church Street for $3.97 million. How great! Developers asking the public what they want in their city! Rob and Joe are the folks who brought a beautiful historic building at the corner of Church and Orange and… put a walgreens inside. The building they want your feedback on  is on Church Street and was most recently Ferg’s Depot. The tenant options on this survey found at makeorlandogreat.com (PAUSE) include extremely ambitious brands like Apple, Amazon, Cheesecake Factory, Chik Fil A, Chipotle. There is one non-branded option on the survey called “Chelsea Market Concept.” Well you know that’s what The Daily City would vote for!

The Daily City would like to thank the hundreds, and hundreds and hundreds of people who came out to the inaugural Orlando Flea. We put together this indoor makers marker with 38 vendors, a dessert court, dranks and music on September 16th in downtown Orlando. This event is about bringing attention to local companies and communicating to visitors that the city we live in is creative. Local shoppers got introduced to brands they’d never heard of as well as meet the owners of the products they already know and love. Vendors sold out of t shirts and jewelyy, the food vendors sold out of gelato and cookies, and attendees gave us some very helpful feedback on what The Daily City can do to make the next Orlando Flea even better. Based on that feedback, we will be taking over multiple venues, expnding the space for guests to walk and view merchandise and hang out, as well as provide more space to house more vendors. The Daily City would like to thank our fans and newly made friends for making Orlando Flea the huge success that it was. Please follow orlando flea on instagram at simply… orlando flea.

The movie theatre at Universal Citywalk will transition from AMC to Cinemark with a grand opening set for September 15th. Moviegoers can expect “Cinemark Luxury Lounger” seats, and one new Cinemark XD auditorium which will bring “expansive wall-to-wall screens, custom-engineered surround sound with multichannel speakers and state-of-the-art projection systems capable of delivering 35 trillion colors.”

The new PDQ in Winter Park at 925 S. Orlando Avenue held its grand opening Sunday. The Tampa-based chain serves chicken tenders, sandwiches, salads and milkshakes. This new location is a block away from the Winter Park location of Chik Fil A.

The antennae at the Rollins college radio station WPRK has finally been repaired and is back up after getting knocked down September 8th of last year during Hurricane Irma. The only way listeners could get the station’s shows and music since then was via online streaming.

Jinya Ramen bar opened in Thornton Park at 8 North Summerlin Avenue next door to Starbucks. Construction began December of last year. The reason for its elongated construction period was the detailed interior design the chain chose. The space formerly housed Verde and before that, Tijuana Flats.

Jimmy Hulas opened downtown at 68 E. Pine Street. Along with selling tacos and beer, it will serve local brands Foxtail Coffee and Valkeryie Donuts.

The free-standing retail building located at the corner of Colonial Drive and Hampton Avenue at 2000 East Colonial Drive in Mills50 is for sale for $1.7 million dollars. The building has 7,446 sq ft, 20 parking spaces and was built in 1957. The parking is divided with a portion in the front and a portion in the back.

The 2014 contract the City has with Dr. Philips Center for the Performing Arts, Inc. for its  management of the Bob Carr Theatre is set to expire on August 31st. A new agreement will extend the term for an additional year.

By 2020 the Florida legal medical marijuana industry is expected to generate $456 million dollars in sales according to ArcView Market Research and BDS Analytics. In five years the industry is expected to create 25,000 jobs.

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. 

TRANSCRIPT: A Starbucks with a drive-thru

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.

TRANSCRIPT: The Daily City has confirmed directly with owner Lou Palo he’s opening up Stasio’s Italian Deli and Market in the front window space of the building at the corner of Robinson & Bumby in the milk district.The expected opening time frame is March/April. The deli will offer Sandwiches made to order on homemade bread, Full espresso bar, handmade Pizza and Breakfast sandwiches and hot breakfasts. The market space with shelving will be stocked with products imported from Italy like olive oils, balsamic vinegars, prosciutto, Pasta from Italy, seasonings, snacks, and bottles of wine.

Maitland City Centre is getting a food hall after all! A new food hall hybrid… (what?) is joining this Maitland project after the Grandstaff/Ashy/Bonomo/Miller team yanked their Spindrift Food Hall concept last year from the 6,756 sq ft space due to “too many new (restaurant) projects hitting the (Maitland) market at the same time.” Ahem. What?

The Maitland City Centre Market food hall hybrid project consists of 5 individual food stall bays ranging from 550-632 sq ft. Each stall will have its own glass garage door w/separate entrance door and individual restrooms.

Each stall will have its own outside seating area linked to their neighbor to allow for patrons to easily dine, drink and experience the various concepts in an open format.

Tenants will sign 3-5 year leases with rates starting at $2500 a month. They’re looking for businesses that love the idea of a food hall but want the ability to open and close by their own hours, create their own unique spaces and continue to build their individual brands.

Small local food makers interested in getting a spot in this market should contact Willow Shambeck (willow@acrefl.com) or Sandi Bargfrede (sandi@acrefl.com).

We have a great interview with Steve Brown, owner of The Glass Knife in Winter Park at 276 S. Orlando Ave (MAP) on the blog. Here’s a snippet but be sure to go read the full story.

Brown chose to make his restaurant 100% cashless. No cash is accepted. Purchases must be made with credit, debit, Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Brown was inspired to go cashless after a trip to New York City. While dining at Danny Meyer’s Daily Provisions, he experienced firsthand their cashless payment system and loved it. He learned the main reasons for Meyer’s installation of the system were safety and guest service. His waiters were traveling home by foot or subway with wads of cash. They were easy targets being that they were still wearing their work uniforms. It tipped thieves off. Also without having to travel back and forth to tables and cash registers, waiters had more time to serve guests.

Brown is seeing the improved guest service with this system. In a restaurant with a standard payment system, the register can only be operated by one employee. With the cashless system, any employee in the restaurant can take orders and receive payment. This speeds up the guests’ wait times and leads to more free time for employees to take care of guests. Also, it eliminates the over/under moment at the end of the night for employees using the register that occurs at normal restaurants. There’s no chance an employee can be over or under his cash amount with a cashless system. Everyone is accountable because it’s all on record.

As for safety, there are no waiters with wads of cash in their pockets leaving the restaurant.The bakers working overnight are not working in a building full of cash. The building itself never has cash in it. Everyone is safer.

And finally, some quick hits:

Chela Tequila and Tacos‘ has a January 23rd opening date in the former KASA space in downtown Orlando. What I am excited about most is their Taco Tuesday deal: all you can eat tacos for fifteten bucks. We stopped by there and the employees are working tirelessy. Window clings have gone up, furniture’s been turned on its side and new metal multi-colored chairs were spotted this week by The Daily City.

The SODO District location of Gringos Locos at 517 E. Michigan Street is now open. The exterior has has 2 new temporary signs, a yellow paint job with faux brick accents and a freshly tarred parking lot.

Leguminati announced Tuesday January 9th they’re making a second attempt at opening their first brick & mortar location. This will be a partnership with Foxtail Coffee inside the Hourglass Market in the Hourglass District. Plans call for an opening in the first quarter of 2018. Leguminati will offer plant-based breakfast, lunch, and dinner options seven days a week at this location. Their menu will include everything from CrunchMacs to Breakfast Sandwiches.

TRANSCRIPT: For years

Starting Tuesday January 9th, Tasty Takeover moves to the smaller lot and go from from 13 to 10 trucks and a new event called “Tuesday Food Trucks” run by Berio Enterprises LLC will take over the larger lot with an as-yet-undisclosed number of trucks. The lots are next door to each other and both events will run every Tuesday 6-10pm.

The addition of “Tuesday Food Trucks” will give The Milk District two food truck nights running on the same day of the week at the same time of day.

Also, just one mile away are two other food truck events at Orlando Fashion Square Mall: The Daily City’s Food Truck Bazaar has 10-15 trucks once a month on 2nd Sundays 6-9pm and Kona Food Truck Luau has 10-15 trucks once a month on 3rd Saturdays  6-9pm.

All 4 food truck events take place within a mile of each other so The Daily City is calling this area the Street Food District.

Honestly, I’ve heard attendance has dwindled lately at Tasty Takeover as it also has at Food Truck Bazaar. Maybe the days of food truck events are numbered. We are sure to find out in 2018. Perhaps the area is over-saturated. We’ll find out in 2018…

According to Wall Street Journal, NPD Group says tacos are one of the top five foods ordered at restaurants in the US. The owners of KASA must have been paying attendtion because they’re kicking their KASA concept out and replacing with… a taco restaurant! The name is Chela Tequila and Tacos and will launch the newall-Mexican menu January 23rd.

KASA isn’t the only restaurant heeding the call of the taco. The over abundance of taco restaurants made Orlando Weekly’s “Top 10 Orlando Food Trends We Hope Stay Behind” for 2018. The writer of that piece said,”Restaurateurs responded to Orlandoans’ cries for “better Mexican food!” with approximately 15,000 new Mexican restaurants…” Here’s one more!

Crate and Barrel is closing inside Mall at Millenia. I didn’t care either right? Cuz I’m a man and the only reason I’d ever need a $350 Le Crousset sauce pan is to slap my dick slide my nuts all over it because thats what men you you pussy fucks!!! Well apparently people do care about the closing of Crate and Barrel because we taped a tongue in cheek sad video walk thru of the 99% empty store and people’s comments were… sad!. Some locals really like this store and are sad to see it leave. Also, a couple employees said the closing was announced to them a week before Christmas. Now that is some sad shit right there we never thought about. We were too busy dick slappin’ water goblets in the tableware section to care. Watch the video on our Facebook page at facebook slash the daily city.

The U.S. Department of Justice awarded Orange County $3,125,000 to hire 25 full-time, sworn, career law enforcement officers over the three-year grant period ending October 31, 2020. The county must match that award with $3,409,749 coming from the Orange County Sheriffs Office.

The 25 officers will be assigned to three departments:

1. Problem Oriented Policing Squad (“a proactive enforcement plan promoting change in the community’s view of police response”)

2. SWAT

3. And Homeland Security.

This grant can be used for the following: (1) hire new officers, (2) rehire officers who have been laid off, or (3) are scheduled to be laid off on a specific future date, as a result of local budget reductions.

The maximum reimbursement for each officer’s salary and fringe benefits is $125,000.

And finally, get your hankies ready. On the blog I shared the top 10 clicked-on stories of 2017 and also shared my thoughts on the year and the history of The Daily City. I am going to read that now.

I am grateful for every click readers choose to give me. Bringing back this blog from the dead was a slow and steady, be happy with every click you get, write about what you want, write when you want effort. Getting back into the routine of being 100% responsible for 100% of the content took a year. 2017 was a year of getting back on the horse.

The Daily City grew slowly in popularity 2007-2012. It won all the blog awards, I was invited to City of Orlando brainstorms and I was putting on special events like Orlando’s first pop up shop, pop up dinner, recurring U-Haul art show, Cardboard Art Festival, Taco Truck Taste Test and eventually the gigantically successful Food Truck Bazaar. I loved what I and many many others had created: this little brand that could do a blog and events.

And then I caused its downfall (1) I turned my attention to Food Truck Bazaar which by 2012 had turned into a legit real business and (2) I fired my writer. Bazaar started as a one-night event but I turned it into a 8-15 night a MONTH event. While the decision to focus on Bazaar was the adult thing to do (I was a poor and old-ish), it took my attention away from the blog which was my passion and how everything got started. My passion was the blog… and yet I screwed that up by firing the one person who was creating content for it.

Bazaar flourished and The Daily City died.

In February 2016 I announced I was closing the blog after 9 years in business. Orlando Sentinel wrote about the closing which shocked me because I felt it’d been dead a long time. At that point in 2016, The Daily City had just no relevance anymore. It was gone.

Then in 2017 I told myself to screw my 5-posts-a-day requirement and (1) write when I felt like it and (2) write about what I personally was interested in and (3) celebrate any clicks I got ever. If I got 50 clicks I would make myself say “Awesome!” These three things brought me back to life slowly over 2017.

I am so proud of myself for completing 714 posts on my own this year and I want to thank you for reading the site in 2017. I appreciate your readership.