A long-vacant tower downtown could see new life if the city of Orlando’s community redevelopment agency buys the property.
The 10-story, 46,730-square-foot building at 1 N. Orange Ave. is among four properties the CRA has proposed purchasing. One North Orange LLC currently owns the building, and the proposed sales price is $9.59 million.
The building has been vacant for over 15 years. Orange County government bought the building in 1973 and used it as office space. From 2001-2006, part of the building was a temporary home to the Florida A&M University College of Law, which moved to its own downtown Orlando campus in 2005.
Orange County in 2007 sold the building for $5.8 million to a buyer who wanted to revitalize it, including adding a rooftop restaurant, but that never came to fruition. The current owner bought the property in 2011 for $2.05 million.
City spokeswoman Ashley Papagni previously told Orlando Business Journal the property’s possible uses include a two-story restaurant space on the ground level as well as attainable housing.
Representatives with Chicago-based One North Orange LLC were not immediately available for comment.
The city also could offer incentives to draw a restaurant to the ground-level space and look at incorporating uses like co-working space into some floors.
All four properties the city may buy are at high-profile downtown intersections, and would bring new activity and uses to the area, thereby benefitting surrounding businesses.
Tim Garito, owner of Garito & Co. who is a real estate broker and owns businesses downtown, told OBJ the proposed property purchases signal a willingness from the city to draw investment downtown. That could be positive for investors or potential tenants looking to move into the urban core.
The city’s involvement could help draw more amenities as well as more daytime traffic, he added. “That investment is a huge indication we are moving in the right direction downtown.”
Meanwhile, other city governments also have taken on projects to convert downtown buildings into a new use.
For example, the city of Atlanta plans to convert a 44-story government office building previously owned by the state of Georgia into a mixed-use development with retail, office space and attainable housing for residents across income levels.
Source: https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2024/02/28/downtown-one-north-orange-tower-building.html
