After a decade and a half of collecting dust in the middle of downtown, Orlando’s 10-story tower at 1 N. Orange Ave is finally getting a shot at a comeback. The Downtown Community Redevelopment Agency has moved to bring on a broker to market the long-vacant building, a stone’s throw from Lake Eola, with hopes of luring in restaurants, offices, and even housing. City officials say picking a broker is the first public move in a downtown revival strategy that has been in the works for years.
According to the Orlando Business Journal, the Downtown CRA is selecting a commercial real-estate broker to take the lead on marketing the property at 1 N. Orange Ave. The agency expects that broker to handle outreach to potential tenants, test different concepts for the ground floor, and help drum up interest in how the upper floors could be reused.
How the city acquired the tower
The tower has largely sat empty for about 15 years, and it was folded into a multi-property deal the CRA pursued to speed up downtown redevelopment. Officials signed off on roughly a $20 million purchase that bundled the 10-story building with three other parcels. That acquisition, framed as part of the DTO Action Plan, was pitched as a way to reconnect streets to Lake Eola and bring in new public-facing uses, as reported by WESH.
What the tower could become
Ideas for the makeover run the gamut. City staff and downtown advocates have floated possibilities that include a two-story restaurant or other active use on the ground floor, along with office-to-residential conversions upstairs that could add attainable or workforce housing. Coverage of the effort has noted that the CRA is angling for mixed-use concepts that pull in visitors while also giving nearby residents more everyday amenities, per MyNews13.
How this fits into bigger plans
The broker search is landing right as the city lines up a broader wave of downtown projects paid for through a recently approved $160 million bond package that targets streetscapes, parks, and mobility upgrades. "I jokingly say that this year in downtown, it will be shovel after shovel," Downtown Development Board executive director David Barilla told WFTV, as the city maps out construction timelines for multiple projects.
What comes next
From here, the CRA will move to finalize the broker agreement and kick off a formal marketing push aimed at recruiting tenants and development partners that fit its community benefit goals. The selected broker is expected to roll out listings and outreach in the coming months while the CRA reviews proposals and explores potential public-private partnerships, according to Orlando Business Journal.
