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.

A huge metal one-piece bridge-like section of the currently-in-construction Colonial Pedestrian Overpass has been placed at the project’s construction site: the intersection of I-4 and Colonial. Once complete, the overpass will be located east of I-4, west of N. Orange Avenue, and crosses W. Colonial Drive until touch down approximately 340 feet south of Colonial. At a cost of nine million dollars, the overpass will take users into the core of Downtown Orlando while also providing a safe pedestrian and cyclist crossing of Colonial Drive. The overpass will connect the Orlando Urban Trail to the Gertrude’s Walk Trail. There’s been a focus by the City on completing the trail located in the Central Business District. due to the addition of the bike share program, increased residential density, burgeoning sports and entertainment complexes, and expanding bus and rail transit options.

New downtown coffee shop Deeply Coffee is opening this Summer at 111 N. Magnolia Ave, across the street from the i-the-planning-stages Cambria Suites Hotel, a block from the downtown public library and a block from Lake Eola Park. The shop will serve a coffee brand roasted in Tampa called King State Coffee, roasted in Tampa, Chicago tea brand Spiri Tea, and a quarterly guest coffee roaster brand. Beer will be served in the evenings and Pearl Sugar Belgian Liege Waffles will be made in house.

We told you in January that Stasio’s Italian Deli & Market was coming to the Milk District. According to the owners, it’s expected to open late July/early August. The market will be located at the corner of Robinson & Bumby at 2320 E. Robinson Street and will offer sandwiches made to order, a full espresso bar, pizza, breakfast sandwiches and hot breakfasts, and freshly made bread. The market shelves will be stocked with products imported from Italy like olive oils, balsamic vinegars, prosciutto, pasta, seasonings, snacks, and wine.

The @citybeautiful is going to SHAKE UP the old downtown Information center with the help of the local creative company at Prismatic. The redesigned center will feature a retail shop with locally made goods, a circular information desk, digital walls, large murals by the formally local and internationally known artist Boy Kong and more. The space will expand from 1,950 sq. ft. to 3,800 sq. ft. During construction the Info Center will operate a new temporary location starting Tuesday, July 10 at the CityArts Factory at the corner of Orange Avenue and Pine Street Tuesdays-Fridays from 11 a.m.-5pm.

The Mayors Consent Agenda going before City Council June 25th contains four purchase requests for a total of 123 vehicles with a total cost of $3,398,379. According to City documents, the purpose of the purchase of these vehicles is to supplement the current City Fleet, and support the operational functions of various City Divisions.

The following vehicles are to be purchased:

• 44 Ford F-Series Trucks

• 28 Toyota Camry Hybrids

• 19 Ford Police Interceptors

• 10 Ford Explorers

• 8 Ford Escapes

• 6 Ford Transit Cargo Vans

• 5 Ford F-150s

• 3 Chevrolet Colorado Trucks

As we reported in January, the new food truck park “À La Cart Street Food and Craft Beer” is coming to to 615 Irvington Avenue in The Milk District. The culinary and craft beer hub just announced it will open in July. They also announced their truck lineup which will be serving up Poke Bowls and Burgers, Vietnamese and Korean fusion dishes, Brazilian meat skewers, Swedish meatballs and burgers and 45 varieties of Brazilian empanadas. hThe venue will feature an open-air pavilion with seating for 61 guests along with 15 taps from artisan breweries and an outdoor courtyard with lawn games. À La Cart Street Food and Craft Beer will be open seven days a week 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday – Thursday and 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday – Saturday.

The Developer of a hotel project in SODO has submitted an application for review and approval as a designated Transit Oriented Development (TOD). The project consists of a 6-story, 110-room hotel called TownPlace Suites by Marriott on 2.13 acres at 51 Columbia Street in SODO. If approved as a Transit Oriented Development, the developer will receive a 25% reduction in Transportation Impact Fees because it meets or exceeds city code for pedestrian facilities and bike facilities. The total reduction will be $92,000. The developer could have received an additional 25% reduction had the hotel project (1) been composed of a mixture of land uses, including residential, with the ground floor consisting of primarily active uses and (2) agreed to fund or subsidize transit ridership for employees and residents. City staff support the reduction. It goes before City Council for approval June 25th.

Ivanhoe Park Brewing Company has released its soft opening hours for its new location at 1300 Alden Road in Ivanhoe Village. Starting July 2nd hours it’ll be open Thursday 4-10pm, Friday 4-10pm, Saturday 12-8pm, and Sunday 12-8pm. Ivanhoe Park Brewing Company is an independent craft beer maker.

In fiscal year 2017 – 2018, Florida Hospital received $18,421,896 and ORMC received $10,753,953  to cover the costs of providing healthcare for the indigent and uninsured. Florida Hospital and ORMC wanted, and is now going to get, even more. On June 11, Orlando City Council voted unanimously to adopt a resolution  which would allowing the State to pay ORMC and Florida Hospital and Nemours a much higher percentage of their uncompensated charity care costs to maintain and even expand their charity care programs. That money comes from the State of Florida Agency for Health Care Administration Medicaid Program Finance Low Income Pool (LIP) program. LIP was to have ended June 2017 according to the Obama administration because the Medicaid expansion that was coming would have covered what LIP had been covering since 2006. That expansion never came. In 2017 Governor Scott and the Trump administration said the LIP program would continue.

The plaza area between the north and south tower of the Zora Neale Hurston State of Florida Regional Service Center at 400 W. Robinson Street will be renovated. The existing plaza is a series of large, paved, tiered spaces at different elevations with step transitions that impede fluid movement around the plaza. There are also several large planter areas surrounded by seat walls between the plaza terraces that also restrict movement around the plaza. The redevelopment plans greatly reduce the amount of pavement area in favor of landscape and open lawns. The existing terraced areas have also been greatly reduced providing smoother unrestricted flow through the plaza because of less vertical impediments. New furniture, lighting and pergolas are also identified in the plaza redevelopment plans. The north and south towers of the Zora Neale Hurston State of Florida Regional Service Center were completed in 1977 and 1987. The plaza area that connects the two buildings was begun and completed in the same time period.

Outdoor Food Hall– Lake Nona Land Company, LLC is requesting a temporary use permit from the City of Orlando to allow the development of an open-air food, entertainment, and recreation venue, what we’re calling an outdoor food hall, at 6877 Tavistock Lakes Blvd in Lake Nona. The venue will be comprised of repurposed shipping containers filled with food makers, bars, candy shops and retail shopping. Also present will be a dog park, kids recreation area and mobile food vendors.The project goes before City Council this week.

Oviedo Food Hall– Michael Collard Properties is developing a 5.600 sq ft food hall called “The Food Factory”within the Oviedo on the Park development. It will contain seven micro-restaurants, a brewery, a 1,600 sq ft Wine Bar and dog friendly outdoor seating. Opening is planned for late 2019.

The Ultimate E-Bike – Over the past 8 months a start up called The Soil Company has been engaged with NASA and other scientists looking for a natural solution to remove human created pollutants (like oil and diesel) from soil and groundwater. To fund the startup, it’s selling an E-Bike they spent the last 12 months developing called “The Soil Bike.” The bike has a 12 miles per hour top speed and a 50 mile range with pedal assist. Sales begin next month.

Putnam in Their Place – Publix announced May 25th that it has officially suspended corporate-funded political contributions after the public backlash it received for supporting the self-proclaimed “NRA sellout,” Adam Putnam. The announcement came the same day as an in-store peaceful protest took place in several cities across the state called for earlier in the week by Parkland High School shooting survivor and anti-gun activist David Hogg.

They Still Love the Styrofoam– And since we’re on the subject of Publix, did you know the City of Orlando is not allowedto create a city-wide ban on styrofoam? In 2016 Publix spent $1 million “lobbying lawmakers to pass legislation that would pre-empt local governments from enacting bans on Styrofoam containers” according to the Miami Herald. The legislation passed. No city in Florida except Miami can pass anti-styrofoam laws.

SODO Beer Spot– Rockpit Brewing is coming to the SODO Districtat 10 West Illiana Street behind Cecil’s BBQ restaurant. This small batch craft brewery, taproom and home brew shop will offer rare, one-off, eclectic and everyday beers. The home brew shop inside the brewery will be run by Orlando Homebrew Supplies. The facility is expected to open July.

New Pizza Maker– Peppino’s Pizza in the Hourglass District will re-open September 1stas F&D Italian Wood-fired Kitchen. It’s been purchased by the owners of F&D Kitchen and Bar in Lake Mary. We told you February the restaurant was inspected twice and instead of the allotted 27 seats allowed by the health department, it was found to have over 60. When we spoke to the owner back then, he stated that before he moved his restaurant into the space, he was expecting to have over 80 seats, but due to the restaurant being on a septic system and not city sewer, the number of allowed seats was reduced to 27. We spoke to the landlord of the building National Real Estate this week and according to them prior to the sale of the business they put the building onto city sewer.

What Could Go Wrong?– It was uncovered by the ACLU that the Orlando Police Department is using facial recognition to spot people in real time. OPD said earlier in the week that it’s only on 8 cameras and they’re not testing it on the public. However, during a Thursday press conference, Police Chief John Mina revealed that that was not the case, that downtown Orlando has 3 cameras already using this softwarewith no prior announcement by Orlando Police Department or the City of Orlando. The software is called Rekognition and is provided for a nominal charge by Amazon.

Goodbye to Long Running Oblivion– May 26th was the final day of businessfor the Oblivion Tap Room at 5101 E. Colonial Drive. The restaurant and bar opened in 2011 and was purchased in 2016 by new owners who were customers and fans of the restaurant. The current owners did not disclose the reason for the closure to media, but on a recent visit to the establishment by The Daily City, it was clear to anyone in the facility that there was an issue with the roof. It happened to be a a rainy evening and multiple buckets throughout the restaurant were being used by the owners to collect water that was seeping through the roof. The Daily City did not reach out to the landlord for comment.

Saving Lives and Being Awesome– Thanks to John Morgan Esquire, it is nowlegal to smoke medical marijuanain the State of Florida. The state’s ban on smoking medical marijuana was ruled unconstitutional. After the ruling, Morgan tweeted “Baboom! I get (expletive deleted) done! Where’s my Jack Daniels?” That last sentence is a fabrication. Please do not sue us, future governor of Florida and current reigning King of Medical Marijuana.

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.