ORLANDO, Fla. – Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer joined District 4 City Commissioner Patty Sheehan and others to hold a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday morning for a pocket-sized expansion of Lake Eola Park.
A news release described how $3.25 million raised in partnership with the Orlando Land Trust and another $1.625 million in Community Redevelopment Agency funding — or $4.875 million total — is reportedly what it cost to acquire the property and donate it to the city.
According to Lynn Long, vice president and treasurer of the Board of Directors of the Orlando Land Trust, the effort seeks to maintain and preserve green space in downtown in order to improve city dwellers’ quality of life.
“Our first project was to acquire the land we’re on today so that it could be donated to the city of Orlando and remain green space in perpetuity. We were honored to partner with the city to make this endeavor a reality. I want to thank Mayor Dyer and Commissioner Sheehan for their support and unwavering commitment to this project,” Long said. “I also want to acknowledge the person who championed the vision of downtown Orlando for many years, the late Thomas Chatmon, former executive director of the Downtown Development Agency and the Community Redevelopment Agency. Without Thomas’s support, guidance and dedication to downtown, we would not be standing where we are today.”
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The 0.12-acre parcel at the northeast corner of East Central Boulevard and Rosalind Avenue, across from the Orlando Public Library, had been occupied by several businesses in recent memory, such as a barber shop and a 7-Eleven.
Dyer also invoked Chatmon, stating the move to replace the convenience store with a preserved open space is one he would get behind.
“There was no one that was more passionate about downtown and committed to ensuring that downtown is a real neighborhood for everybody, and Thomas would certainly say that ‘Today is a great day for DTO,’ and he would be very proud about us coming together to make downtown even better. So it was roughly a year ago that we were on this very spot and started the demolition of a convenience store, and today we’re beginning something a little different than that. It’s the start of a project that’s a major step toward our vision of expanding Lake Eola Park and ensuring this area is preserved as open space,” Dyer said. “Providing outdoor amenities for residents is one of our top priorities. Parks are not only great places for people to gather, children to play and where residents can build community, but they’re a great place for creating memories.”
The expansion will feature large sidewalks, artwork, shade trees, new benches, native landscaping and updated lighting, according to the release, with most of that shown in renders of the project.
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Sheehan described how the Orlando Land Trust came together with a plan, prompted by the possibility that a developer could come in and propose something like a high rise be built instead.
“This developer assembled a parcel, how are we going to control that if they want to ask permission to build another high rise? Which, frankly, a lot of people in this area did not want. So you know what? Some interesting women from a group they formed called the Orlando Land Trust — I don’t call them little old ladies, I call them power women — they got together and they decided ‘You know what? We want to work together to try to purchase this property, because the way to control what happens on a parcel is to own it,’ and I have to tell you, it was an amazing effort,” Sheehan said. “...Today we are here to commemorate the expansion of the crown jewel of downtown Orlando, and that is Lake Eola Park. Thousands of people visit Lake Eola Park every week. It’s home to outdoor movies, festivals like Come Out With Pride and our beautiful holiday happenings (that) have become so popular and so much of an important part of celebrating the holidays in this city.”
Completion of the “pocket park” is expected in the fall, according to the city.
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