By Ken Storey
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I stopped by the new Walmart Neighborhood Market construction site at the corner of Orange Ave and Michigan in Downtown South. The Neighborhood Markets focus almost exclusively on grocery items and are typically much smaller than a normal Wal-Mart. The exterior of the building is almost finished. This is just one of the many Wal-Marts currently under/soon to be under construction in the area. This one is located in the newly remodeled Market at Southside plaza. The plaza now features an Applebee's and Domino's. The site plan calls for three stand alone commercial out parcels to be built against the roads, one on Michigan and two on Orange with a small plaza between them.
The 49,000sq ft Walmart Neighborhood Market replaces a long empty 60,000sq ft Albertsons. While it is good to finally see something coming to this empty plaza it is a shame to see this piece of land still be used for strip mall development. SODO just up the way offers a great alternative to the strip mall approach. Midtown in Miami, White Plains, New York, and Fort Trotten in DC are three great examples of what an urban Wal-Mart can look like. For a more strip mall approach look at this Wal-Mart in Long Beach, California. This property could easily have been developed with one of those examples along with some much needed apartments for the area. So while I'm glad for new clean development I also know Orlando that we can do better.
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| Note the wide sidewalk just behind the truck. This is a pedestrian access to the two out parcels. |
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| The northern side of the building, facing Michigan Ave |
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| The plaza now features this great landscaped area that used to be part of the parking lot. |
