City leaders are also working on a new park on Orange Avenue.
Earlier this week, the city voted to buy three properties where they are planning the expansion.
Orlando City Council members voted Monday to purchase a group of sought-after downtown properties with the goal of adding to the appeal of the commercial hub.
Two of the properties will specifically be used to expand the city’s crown jewel: Lake Eola Park.
The purchases, totaling $19.4 million, will be paid for by Community Redevelopment Agency funding and will not affect the city’s budget.
The purchased properties include 205 and 215 East Central Boulevard, sandwiched in between Lake Eola Park and the newly-added pocket park where a 7-Eleven store once stood.
City planner David Barilla said 205 East Central– the larger of the two buildings – will be torn down to create a gateway to Lake Eola from Rosalind Avenue, while 215 might be preserved as a park venue.
The properties also include 30 S. Orange Avenue, which was the site of a sandwich shop that burned down and has since been a vacant lot.
The city government leased the 30 S. Orange Ave. site last year with the intention of eventually buying it and turning it into a pocket park to add greenery to the city’s main street.
1 N. Orange Avenue is a 10-story building considered to be Orlando’s first skyscraper. It has sat vacant for 15 years.
Orlando City Planner David Barilla said the city will examine keeping 1 N. Orange Avenue as office space or converting it to housing, either market-rate or affordable, and the city is eyeing the two-story bottom floor for a possible restaurant.
“It’s a very exciting time,” City Planner David Barilla said. “We had the opportunity come up to be able to take down four very impactful… sites in the heart of downtown to not only make one vision come to fruition, but a multitude of them.”
Barilla said plans were already in the works for the 30 S. Orange Avenue project, and that would be the first to undergo visible changes.
The order of the others wasn’t as clear. Barilla said the city would likely repackage the skyscraper to a developer with conditions attached so it’s used in a way the city sees as best for the community.
The purchases will be finalized between 90 days and one year after the vote.
1 N. Orange Avenue is a 10-story building considered to be Orlando’s first skyscraper. It has sat vacant for 15 years.
The city also released new early renderings of what the development could look like.
Leaders plan to create a gateway to Lake Eola by knocking down the building at 205 East Central Boulevard.
