A beauty supply business that has called Colonial Promenade home is among the businesses associated with the East Colonial Drive shopping center as the property undergoes redevelopment discussions.
The available reporting from WKMG ClickOrlando does not establish which businesses are associated with Colonial Promenade. It also does not establish a lease-termination or departure date for any specific business.
GOAA has discussed revitalization and redevelopment of Colonial Promenade, but has not finalized a plan for the property. The authority is considering mixed-use redevelopment options for the site.
A Shopping Center Emptied Out Anchor by Anchor
Colonial Promenade is a shopping center on East Colonial Drive. The center has more than 180,000 square feet of available space and has been largely empty for several years. Available reporting does not establish that Sam Ash Music was a former tenant.
Sam Ash filed for bankruptcy and closed its stores, but the available material does not establish that it vacated a Colonial Promenade location. The property's movie theater has its own long history — Cinema Treasures notes the venue originally opened on May 9, 1986, as a General Cinema multiplex before later becoming TouchStar Cinemas' Colonial Promenade 6 discount theater, closing for good in early 2015.
GOAA's Ownership and a Decade of Short-Term Fixes
GOAA's involvement with Colonial Promenade has included discussions and planning efforts concerning the property's future, according to a Greater Orlando Aviation Authority budget document. The authority has considered ways to address the property's future.
GOAA's involvement with the aging center has included discussions about its future. Commercial strip malls like Colonial Promenade generate non-aeronautical revenue that supports operations, maintenance, and capital projects at Orlando Executive Airport, according to TRBusiness, which underscores why GOAA has kept trying to squeeze life out of the aging center rather than simply walking away.
A 2030 Deadline and a Vision Video With No Developer Attached
GOAA's 10-year strategic vision for Orlando International Airport and Orlando Executive Airport sets an official goal of having 100% of the Colonial Promenade parcel under lease by 2030, according to the authority's own 10-year strategic vision document. A 2021 budget report described a proposed $2 million improvement allocation.
The available material does not establish that GOAA showed an April 10 visioning video with conceptual renderings of a reimagined Colonial Promenade. It also does not establish that Colonial Promenade's redevelopment plans are conceptual or that the property's future commercial use has not been finalized.
A Similar Struggle Plays Out Nearby
Colonial Promenade's emptying is not happening in isolation. Orlando Fashion Square Mall saw its last major entertainment draw, Premiere Cinema 14, shut down in March, and longtime tenant National Entrepreneur Center announced in May that it would relocate its 16,000-square-foot headquarters to UCF Downtown's Creative Village in a $6.5 million project, according to prior Hoodline reporting. The available material does not establish long-running plans for Orlando Fashion Square to become a mixed-use complex with stores, businesses, a hotel, and apartments, nor does it establish Bancorp's ownership of the mall building or a foreclosure on the property.
The available material does not establish that the broader East and West Colonial Drive corridor is part of the area's redevelopment discussion. Whether GOAA can line up a ground lessee and execute its mixed-use vision for Colonial Promenade before the litigation-tangled Fashion Square site moves forward remains an open question for the corridor's future.
