By Ken Storey
A new 85 room boutique hotel is planned for Orange Ave
directly across from Orlando Health. A
partnership with Orlando Health and a developer will help transform a current 3-story
medical office building into part of the hotel with a new 8-story, 104 ft tall
tower being wedged between two existing buildings.
The new hotel at 1315 and 1405 S. Orange Ave will be built
in two phases. Phase 1 will feature the
new tower with 60 rooms while Phase 2 will add 25 more rooms, those rooms being
located within the current medical office building on the northern edge of the
property. A 7-story medical office
building on the southern part of the property won’t be affected by the new
hotel other than a paint job and new canopy along Orange Avenue.
The hotel tower is designed with a future pedestrian sky
bridge over Orange Ave linking to ORMC in mind though no timeline or approval
for the bridge has been set. The third
floor of the hotel will feature the main check in area with a bar area containing
open air balconies overlooking Orange Ave.
A new elevated walkway will link the third floor lobby to an existing
parking structure on the eastern side of the property.
The planned development was initially on the April 2013 City
of Orlando Municipal Planning Board’s agenda but was postponed before the
meeting. It was then shifted to the Mayagenda before being postponed again.
While the plans have yet to go before the MPB a similar plan but with an
odd Mediterranean style to it was approved in 2008. Those plans now look to be dropped for the
more contemporary plans seen here. Downtown South Neighborhood Improvement
District has listed the new plans in a recently published ‘Key Projects’ portfolio
signaling that the district expects the plans to be approved once they go
before the MPB.
This will be the second hotel project connected to Orlando
Health’s reimagined campus. A new 6-story
Hampton Inn is planned for Columbia St. along with a new Medical Office
Building on that tract. A new 10-story
patient tower is also planned for ORMC, along with a number of smaller projects
including a SunRail stop at the Amtrak station on the western edge of the
district.
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| Unless otherwise noted renderings via cbaarchitects.com |
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| Rendering via Downtown South NID Key Projects |
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