Penny Pritzker, CEO of Pritzker Realty Group, commended the city and its planning staff for keeping the project on schedule. Pritzker Realty Group is the managing partner of Orlando NTC Partners Inc., the project's developer.

Baldwin Park, a 10-year project, is the most ambitious public-private commercial undertaking ever attempted in Orlando, according to seasoned brokers and developers following the venture's progress.

The completion of the demolition will allow site work to begin immediately in preparation of the ground breaking for a 350,000-sf retail town center, 1.5 million sf of office; 3,000 single and multifamily residential units; two schools and three parks totaling 200 acres. One of the parks will honor Navy veterans who served at the former Training Center.

Today's event also officially renamed the Naval Training Center, honoring Robert H.B. Baldwin who commissioned the base in 1968. Baldwin Park's ambience, described in the developer's literature, will be crafted as "a traditional neighborhood development featuring architecture of the pre-1940s era in Central Florida."

An estimated 8,000 residents occupying 5,000 jobs will live at Baldwin Park at buildout in 10 years, according to the developer.