Reshaping downtown

Maitland’s mayor will present a new vision for downtown redevelopment that includes shared parking during a workshop held noon Friday in City Council chambers.

The two core pieces of the city’s defunct Maitland Town Center project — the former Winn-Dixie and Royal Plaza properties — have broken free of bankruptcy and have a new owner, New Traditions National Bank, which has offices in the Royal Plaza.

The properties were already in foreclosure when the city terminated the development agreement with Brossier Co. at the end of 2010. Brossier declared bankruptcy to stave off a foreclosure auction.

Master plan

Now Brossier is completely out of the picture, and the city is looking to start anew with fresh plans. The city contracted with Professional Design Associates in Orlando to draft a master site plan for the blighted parcels that incorporates city property just to the west for a parking garage with a retail component.

That plan is still conceptual, said Ed Cantu, project manager and designer for Professional Design Associates.

“Nothing is set in stone because the market is in constant flux,” Cantu said. “It’s more of an exercise to enhance the downtown.”

Mayor Howard Schieferdecker said the idea is to have one development that gets developed all at once, even if there is more than one property owner. The city is already in the middle of constructing a new fire station and city hall on Independence Lane and Packwood Avenue.

The city and the property owners would share the garage, proposed to be built where city hall stands now.

“We’ve come to realize that parking is an Achilles tendon for any developer,” Councilman Phil Bonus said. “Having to build infrastructure on their own site, parking and water retention, takes up a lot of land and money.”

Apopka-based Finfrock has already designed the five-level garage, and it would be built with public and private dollars. The city would take one level for staff parking. A front liner building with shops and restaurants would hide much of the garage and wrap around to the park in front of the new city hall, Schieferdecker said.

Schieferdecker stressed that this is a concept and has not been vetted by the City Council or any city boards. Friday’s work session will begin that process.

“This is just a vision so we can promote to developers and give them the incentive in seeing the opportunity to go ahead and work with this,” Schieferdecker said.

Projects on horizon

This is just one of the proposed projects to be discussed on Friday. Also in the pipeline is a proposal by Atlantic Housing Partners to build 90 senior housing units on U.S. 17-92 and Sybelia Avenue. Across the street to the south is the Estates at Maitland (formerly Residences at Ravinia) property, slated to have 425 apartment units and 20,000 square feet of commercial development.

There’s a proposal to redevelop the northwest corner of the intersection of Horatio Avenue and 17-92 with 28,000 square feet of retail, restaurants and a pharmacy.

The city also plans some roadwork, including extending Independence Lane to George Avenue, opening up the main downtown artery. It will also extend the city’s stormwater grid, tying it to the regional stormwater facility. Horatio Avenue is slated to get new turn lanes, traffic calming and on-street parking.

Plans for the city’s SunRail station will be discussed. There’s also a transit-oriented development project planned for the Parker Lumber property adjacent to the SunRail station that is in very preliminary stages, Schieferdecker said.

“We have a lot more (projects) coming,” he said. “As long as the economy keeps going, I think we’ll be OK. These developers are doing plans and spending money; they’re not saying this is something we’re going to do one day.”

Bonus was also optimistic about the downtown redevelopment making progress after being stalled for years.

“It’s been a difficult journey, very incremental,” he said. “We were in such a deep hole with the Bob Reese (Maitland Town Center) deal.

“To be able to claw our way back to surface and step up on an orange crate or two and show leadership has taken a long time.”

Friday’s noon workshop is open to the public.