The hub will replace an aging and inadequate nearby Downtown terminal. Targeted completion is 2005. The site is bounded by Garland Avenue, Amelia and Livingston Streets, not far from a planned $1 billion public-private rejuvenation of the low-income Parramore district.

Lynx has $26.1 million in the bank from federal, state and local tax funds for the project. The remaining $3 million is expected to come from other federal funds.

Conceptual drawings for the terminal on the city-owned six-acre site show the six-story building will probably offer five floors of office space; an undetermined amount of retail; bays for 23 buses; a bike-storage station; separate driver and passenger lounges; ticket counters; and platforms for future light rail systems. The design will copy features at existing transit stations in Los Angeles and San Diego, CA.

The existing Central Boulevard terminal has often been described by city officials and developers as an accident waiting to happen. There is no passenger waiting area; no drivers' lounge; and only six bays facing one of Downtown's busiest arteries.

Dean Fritchen, senior broker in the Winter Park, FL office of Arvida Realty Services Commercial Division, has been monitoring Downtown traffic congestion for years.

"If Downtown doesn't get hold of public transportation soon, it must eventually hit the wall with even more auto congestion," Fritchen tells GlobeSt.com. "Central Floridians don't want to waste 20 minutes getting in and out of parking facilities to make a business appointment or do an errand."

The broker says Downtown tenants, their employees and other business enterprises must embrace a full-service public transportation system shortly or Orlando will never achieve global status as a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week office market.

"For better or worse, high-rise cities ultimately require accepting public transportation," Fritchen says.