City planners got their first look at the Palm Beach Land Trust's conceptual renderings last week. Planned for the site are a 29-story hotel and condominium community; 12-story office and apartment building; 10-story, 2,600-space parking garage; rooftop conventional and sculpture garden; ground-floor retail and restaurant space; and a large fountain-highlighted public courtyard. The city, county and state have approved up to 1.6 million sf of development on the site at North Orange Avenue and Livingston Street.

The mixed-use project will be directly across the street from the two-million-sf Orange County Courthouse complex.

"This will be a catalyst for change for Orlando," David Barley, president, Palm Beach Land Trust LLC, tells GlobeSt.com. "There are 8,500 people going in and out of the courthouse every day and nowhere to go, really, and another 2,500 [employees] at the Bank of America Tower, and we'll add another 3,000 over three years or so."

About $1.3 billion worth of new development is under way Downtown, as GlobeSt.com previously reported. "There's a lot of action" going on Downtown, Barley adds. He and partner David Ortiz of Miami are among the lead investors in the project that GlobeSt.com first reported Jan. 10, 2005.

Bernardo Fort-Brescia, founder of Miami-based Arquitectonica, heads the design team for 400 N. Orange Ave. Fred Kent, founder of New York-based Project for Public Spaces, is working with Arquitectonica in creating the public-friendly project. Barley calls Fort-Brescia and Kent "world-class artists." He tells GlobeSt.com "good architecture is rarely partnered with place-making, but it's the trend. The financial institutions will begin requiring it because it creates long-term value."

Barley says Kent's Project for Public Spaces is doing the place-making "for Harvard and the entire country of Holland. The office park guys are taking a hard look at making more of a place in the so-called Parks. Why? It goes to recruitment and retention of employees."

Barley adds, "Boring won't do any more. People expect and deserve more. If you create, say 10 activities, you create a destination, such as Lake Eola [in Downtown Orlando] and if you connect these destinations, you begin to have a city." The developer tells GlobeSt.com, "I hope what I'm doing is profitable and socially responsible. What a challenge it is. I'm giving it my best shot."

Instant Insights /

GlobeSt.com UPDATE: Barley-Ortiz Unveils Plans for $387M Mixed-Use Plaza

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