ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35 ORLANDO) -
The City of Orlando will consider a deal to spend $554,000 studying what should come next for the Parramore neighborhood. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer defended spending that money.
"We don't do anything haphazardly. We study areas and master plan before we do things. I did the downtown plan. I have done a Parramore plan, but it's 5 or 6, no 8 years old now. It's time we take another look because there's a lot that has gone on in the last 8 years."
The Amway Center has replaced the Amway Arena since then, and the Creative Village will eventually take up 8 city blocks if it is built according to plan. The mayor says the rest of the neighborhood still has plenty to accomplish.
"The commercial development is largely between Parramore Avenue and I-4, with the most intense development closest to I-4, stepping down into the neighborhood, so that it's most consistent with the neighborhood."
The money will come from a $2.4 million grant from the state to figure out how development should occur in and around SunRail stations. Dyer says using the SunRail study money is appropriate since new free bus service will start this summer in Parramore. That service will link directly to downtown SunRail stations beginning in 2014.
