Dotted line signed to bring development to downtown Maitland

Maitland’s city center is in the market for a major makeover, now one step closer to transforming from an old, run-down Winn-Dixie and half-vacant strip mall to a $67 million mixed-use development.

Developers signed on the dotted line late last month to purchase the 3.2 acres that make up a large chunk of Maitland’s downtown area for $4.2 million.

A year ago this month, the Maitland City Council approved plans for the Maitland City Centre project, which will replace the Winn-Dixie and New Traditions Plaza with a 220-unit apartment building, 42,000-square-feet of retail space, a 503-space parking garage, and a 41-space surface parking lot.

“Maitland City Centre is not just another mixed-use development,” said developer W. Allen Morris in a press release. “It is a lifestyle. A destination that will establish, for the first time in Maitland, an urban, vibrant downtown community that offers a true sense of place for the city’s residents.”

Developers announced last month that the project will keep two familiar storefronts in the new Maitland City Centre. According to the press release, both Subway and Jeremiah’s Italian Ice have both committed to renting spaces in the new development.

Maitland Mayor Dale McDonald said he was pleased to hear the news that Jeremiah’s won’t melt away as the new development heats up. McDonald and members of city staff met with the Italian ice shop’s owner last month to swirl up some ideas to keep the frozen treat stand in the city.

“Jeremiah’s fills a niche that no one else does, we don’t want to see them go,” he said. “…For a long time, that little store on the corner has been our downtown.”

Maitland City Centre is slated to break ground this fall, with doors set to open for business in 2017.