2011 State of Downtown

Mayor’s Remarks
State of Downtown
October 24, 2011

Good Afternoon.

I have one question for everybody. Who loves Orlando?

A special thanks to everyone who volunteered to be in our video. You certainly have inspired me. Let’s give them all a round of applause!

I want to begin by saying that amid the fun associated with State of Downtown… the future of Orlando is serious business. Jump-starting our economy, creating jobs, and revitalizing downtown will make a difference in the lives of all Central Floridians. Just because this work is serious… doesn’t mean it can’t be done with pride, a positive attitude and with Love.

There’s an important reason we use the word… “Love.” When we love something… We Cherish it. We fight for it. We’ll do extraordinary things in the name of love. Yet, most of us think of love only in terms of our spouse or family. We don’t associate “love” with our relationship to the place we call home. But, that relationship between people and their places is actually one of the most powerful forces around.

For example:

It can inspire people to work together to solve problems or help those in need.
It can turn a visitor… into a resident.
It can bolster local businesses.

This idea is the focus of a book Leslie Hielema recommended. The book is called “For the Love of Cities,” and it ranks Orlando in its top 20 list of “most lovable” cities. After reading it, I was so moved that I got in touch with the author. I told him that people come up to me all the time to say they love Orlando. So, what can we do to harness that love… and use it to make Orlando even better?

Peter Kageyama, the author, is here today. With Peter’s help we gathered some of Orlando’s most creative minds and asked if they would help put together a simple, organic movement to:

1. Make people more cognizant of why they choose to live in Orlando
2. Start a public conversation about ways we can make our city more lovable

The response was overwhelming. What started out with 35 people turned into a workshop last month with 150 residents. It’s important to note that the City and our sponsors merely set the stage. It’s our residents who are making this project happen.

A little later this afternoon we are going to report on the plan those residents created… and officially launch: “Why I Love Orlando.” But, before we do that, we want to first spend some time celebrating the reasons we love Downtown Orlando. After all, this is the State of Downtown Address!

Downtown Orlando is home to 17,000 residents. Every day, 75-thousand people come to work here. Downtown Orlando is Central Florida’s economic engine. It’s our region’s gathering place. It’s our hub for arts, entertainment and small business.

You are here today… because you’ve invested in the future of our Downtown. More than that, you’re here because of a connection with Downtown. Maybe you had your first date at Lake Eola Park. Perhaps you have a favorite restaurant Downtown. Or maybe taking your kids to a parade is an annual tradition. In ways large and small, Downtown is an important part of your life.

In the last nine years, we have worked incredibly hard to reinvent and revitalize Downtown Orlando. Early on, success seemed to come easily. We saw a building boom that doubled our skyline. We watched 624 new businesses open their doors that are still operating today. Our Downtown tax base doubled. As we all know, the national recession slowed our progress. So, we’ve had to work that much harder.

I am proud to report that despite the effects of this recession, we made important strides in the past year. This month, we celebrate the one-year anniversary of our award-winning Amway Center! Nearly 1.5 million people have attended events in this building since its opening. The Amway Center has meant thousands of jobs for our residents and been a catalyst for small businesses. While we’re talking about the home of the Magic… I want to publicly appeal to the NBA and the Player’s Union to find a way to compromise so we can salvage the season. I think I can safely speak for everyone in the room when I say, we want our Magic back!

Around the corner the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts is under construction. This project is also creating jobs and keeping businesses afloat. The Dr. Phillips Center is the realization of a dream this community has had for decades of a world class home for arts and cultural events in downtown Orlando.

We also remain committed to ensuring that the Citrus Bowl gets the upgrade it deserves so we can retain our bowl games and compete for new events that bring fans and dollars into our City. If you’ve spent time at Lake Eola you know our iconic fountain has been brought back to life! Our beloved fountain is the perfect example of something unique that inspires love for a city. I can’t tell you how many people have approached me to say how happy they are that the fountain is fixed.

But, we didn’t just repair our fountain… we brought it back bigger and better than ever. Tonight, I invite everyone to join me for the first nightly “fountain show” at 8 pm. The show incorporates music, water and lights into a performance that will give residents and visitors another reason to enjoy Orlando’s signature park.

We also love Orlando because of our distinct Downtown neighborhoods and tree-lined red brick streets. This year, we began installing plaques to recognize our historic homes that are over 100 years old. As our economy begins to recover, we’re also seeing positive signs for Downtown Orlando’s economy.

In the past year, 150 new small businesses opened their doors Downtown. Our retail office market appears to have finally stabilized, and our office occupancy rates are up slightly. More and more people are choosing to live Downtown. In fact, our major residential apartment communities are all over 90 percent full. There is one more important number I need to talk about today. The number 50.

This is the 50th anniversary of the Downtown Orlando Partnership (DOP), the organization responsible for putting this event on every year. For half a century, DOP has helped elected leaders, residents and businesses craft a shared vision for how our downtown should grow and prosper. Please join me in recognizing the Downtown Orlando Partnership and its contribution to Orlando today and over the last 50 years.

Why We Love… The Future of Downtown Orlando

While we are proud of our history, we are equally focused on the next 50 years for Downtown Orlando. I hope everyone had a chance to see the 3-D model created by students from the Nap Ford Community School. It’s their vision of a revitalized Parramore neighborhood and downtown’s Creative Village. When I look at the project, I’m excited to think that these same children will likely play a role in bringing this vision to life in the decades ahead. These kids who are playing video games today… might choose a career designing them in the future.

The Creative Village is a 30-year project which will transform the site of the old Amway Arena into a hub for high tech companies and generate 5-thousand permanent jobs. Demolition of the Amway Arena begins in December. When it comes to the future, no single project will transform our city and our downtown more than SunRail.

SunRail will give Central Florida’s residents a needed alternative to their automobiles… and create tens of thousands of jobs. When our new Governor was evaluating whether or not to let SunRail proceed, he asked our local businesses to tell him why it was vital to our economic future.

Dozens of our region’s largest employers stepped up, including those associated with Downtown Orlando’s four SunRail stops. Orlando Health said SunRail will allow them to create an additional 8-thousand jobs in the next 15 years. Florida Hospital described its 810-million dollar plan to re-engineer their entire campus to connect with the rail line. The Orlando Magic said they would explore ways to make it easy for fans to use SunRail to get to games – and proposed a new retail and entertainment complex just steps away from Church Street Station. Last month, they added plans to move their corporate headquarters to the 100-million dollar mixed-use complex.

The LYNX Central Station stop will be Central Florida’s transit hub. Today, RIDA Development is announcing that they are moving ahead with plans to transform the adjacent property into a 200-million dollar mixed use development that integrates retail shops, residential units and green space into a walk-able village connected to a SunRail stop. The project, called “Central Station,” will be a national model for sustainable, transit-oriented development.

It will create hundreds of much-needed jobs and encourage new economic activity along the Orange Avenue corridor. These projects are examples of the power of public-private partnership. The private sector is making important investments in our downtown because of the infrastructure that the public sector is building. And it’s not just the areas near SunRail stops that will benefit… it’s our entire Downtown.

Plans are underway to expand LYMMO, our free Downtown circulator. We are working to bring LYMMO west to Parramore and east to Thornton Park and north and south to both Florida Hospital and Orlando Health. This will ensure that our entire Downtown core has easy access to SunRail.

Expanding mass transit has also set the stage for more development and more job creation including:

The old OUC building’s proposed transformation into a 117 room boutique hotel.
The new 300-unit residential complex called Steel House.
And, the 155-room Cambria Suites at Washington and Rosalind.

In all, there are 13 projects in the works that will create nearly a thousand jobs and bring 3 billion dollars of investment to Downtown Orlando. We are also working hard to bring customers into our downtown businesses.

Buy Local Orlando, our program to encourage residents to spend money at Orlando’s locally-owned businesses, is already a success. Next month, we are rolling out a free Smartphone App that will give users the ability to see real-time discounts and special offers using GPS technology. Imagine standing on downtown street corner… and being able to see that the restaurant across the street has a dinner special or the shop in front of you is giving 10 percent off. The Smartphone App is one more tool our community can use to work together to move our local economy forward.

It’s been said that when something is loved, it flourishes. That goes for people, pets, plants. Anything. It certainly goes for a city and its downtown. This is the ideology behind the effort we are calling, “Why I Love Orlando.” Now, I’d like to call Peter to the stage to talk about the work our residents have done in support of “Why I Love Orlando.”

Let’s give everyone who participated in the Why I Love Orlando workshop a round of applause.

To wrap up this afternoon, I want to encourage everyone to get involved by “liking” the Why I Love Orlando Facebook page. I can’t wait to see how our residents show their love for Orlando. One of our first examples is the “Giving Circle” done by Appleton Creative which is here on display today.

I want to say thank-you to the “Why I Love Orlando” sponsors. I want to thank the sponsors that made the State of Downtown Address possible. Your City government exists to help lay the foundation for you to succeed. I want to thank the members of the Orlando City Council for their partnership in moving our city forward. Most of all I want to thank each of you for being here and for your commitment to Downtown Orlando and our entire City. I know times have been tough. But, I also know Orlando residents are resilient. Uniting in our love for Orlando, we can move from recovery into prosperity.

I hope you remain as excited and optimistic as I am about the future of our City and the future of Downtown Orlando.

Thank you very much. Have a great day in Downtown Orlando!