Last weekend we visited Baldwin Park in Orlando. The 1,100 acre site was a former Naval Training Facility that was BRAC'ed in the early 1990's. It's a very interesting and successful mixed use, new urbanism community. Construction on the property continues.
EDIT: Crap...it pays to search first. hilldweller did this in 2006. Oh well, compare and contrast.
http://www.cyburbia.org/forums/showthread.php?t=27337
Last edited by Richmond Jake; 18 Jun 2013 at 6:21 PM.
A nuisance may be merely a right thing in the wrong place — like a pig in the parlor instead of the barnyard.
Thanks RJ for the updated picture from HD visit in 2006. Has this portion of Florida felt the impact of the burst in the housing bubble? If so, any idea how that has impacted Baldwin Park?
Also, with NASA being located at Cape Canaveral, about an hour and a half drive maybe, do you think it's closing will have any effect on the housing market and overall economic impact in BP as it has had in Port St. Joe, Titusville and Cocoa?
I'd like to know how sustainable BP has been through the economic reset that we appear to be climbing out of.
For a mixed use place it seems to be a little dead. Where are all the people?
Need a planner? Why not Dvd?
RJ shies away from people in most of his photos. He likes buildings more than people. I am most often the same way.Originally posted by dvdneal
It is interesting to see new urbanism somewhere other than drawings in a plan.
I don't follow the economy throughout Florida, so I can't answer. There is still on-going construction in BP. So they must know something. Also, Port St. Joe is on the panhandle and the Cape is not closing...the Shuttle program has ended. BP needs a macy*s.
mg is correct; I don't do people. Fact is, I don't like people. It's my human condition.
A nuisance may be merely a right thing in the wrong place — like a pig in the parlor instead of the barnyard.
We stand on street corners for the longest time.... just another few seconds....til that guy clears the intersection....by then, I'm halfway back to the car.
Maybe I've drank too much of the Kool Aid but I actually really like this cookie cutter style of development that seems to be so prevalent in much of Florida and other southern climes (maybe it would be more popular here too if we were actually adding significant population).
My in-laws spend the winters in Naples and every time I go down there or see RJ's pictures I make my case to my wife that we should move to Florida. I have not started to pack our bags yet though so I must not be making my argument well enough.
"Where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost." - 1980 Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan
I'm right there with you. Except my wife and I are on the same page. It's just more a matter of when, not if.
"I'm very important. I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany"
Cookie cutter sucks. Next time in central FL we will post pics of the historic, beautiful neighborhoods in Orlando and Winter Park. Yes, there are those. RJ has had a whiff or two of those over the years. Central FL is not all Disney.
For new development, this ain't half bad. But all the bright colors still burn my northern eyes- where are the browns and greys?
I've seen cookie-cutter in the Orlando area, Baldwin Park is not it! Baldwin Park was actually a redevelopment project.
Now for taking the train further off-topic:
Florida in general does the 'resort' development style better than most areas. I was having this conversation with my pretend-in-laws the other day who just moved from the West Palm Beach area (half-back) to Chattanooga, TN. They are building a house in an inclusive-type community/neighborhood with several hundred homes, resort-style pool, recreation amenities, etc. This is one of the few of this scale in the area and they were suprised that there were not more of these types of communities. I think they have lived in South Florida so long (where they lived in a resort-style neighborhood) that they forgot that those types of developments are not the norm outside of Florida or other resort and retirement areas.
In Florida at least these communities have the following: Gated or guarded access, large pool and amenity center or country club, golf course, private beach or water access, HOA maintained landscaping throughout and private streets. Cookie-cutter architecture or all custom homes to boot.
"Never invest in any idea you can't illustrate with a crayon." ~Peter Lynch
Perhaps you should look again? I see lots of earthtones.
A nuisance may be merely a right thing in the wrong place — like a pig in the parlor instead of the barnyard.
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