OVIEDO, Fla. – City leaders in Oviedo voted Monday to approve hundreds of new apartments at the Oviedo Mall.
The plan calls for building up to 425 market-rate apartments in the parking lot of the abandoned Macy’s building.
Aside from the Dillard’s and the food court, the Oviedo Mall is filled with different kinds of non-retail businesses, like an orthopedic center and a childcare facility. Kevin Hipes, the mall’s redevelopment director, says that’s by design.
“People don’t come and walk the mall anymore,” he said. “You have to give them a reason.”
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Like many cities in Central Florida, Oviedo desperately needs more housing. The city is expected to add another 10,000 new residents in the next decade, and Hipes says the mall is the best location to accommodate the growth.
“It’s on the edge of Winter Springs, so it’s a little farther outside, but for density you want to be over by the 417,” he said. “Nobody’s going to commute from an apartment at the mall to Chuluota every morning and create traffic. It’s not going to happen. Right now, they’re coming the other way and it’s creating chaos.”
Some people who live in the area voiced their concerns during public comment at Monday night’s meeting.
“There will be a tremendous amount of impact with the amount of traffic,” one person said. “Those traffic patterns are antiquated. Long ago when they built Macy’s and this mall, that’s when there were literally no residents here.”
Mayor Megan Sladek said that the project will bring in less traffic than the Macy’s parcel was designed to handle.
“Though it will increase traffic, no doubt about it, what we’re comparing is not a failing closed Macy’s...” she said. “We have to compare a successful Macy’s or successful department store to these apartments.”
While the final vote approved the project at Monday’s meeting, the city will still need to work with developers to continue site planning.
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