West Side Winter Park on the Move
Affordable Housing, Apartments, Restaurants and Boutiques Add to the Mix
(Excerpt from Carole Arthur's article in the June 17 edition of the Winter Park Observer)
Not too many years ago, Winter Park's West Side was a blighted area with drug dealing and ongoing concern to the residents. Today, thanks in part to the city of Winter Park; the area is on the move, with affordable housing, elegant apartment buildings, tony restaurants and boutiques, a beautiful park, and more.
On Monday, June 14, the city of Winter Park, the Canton Park Redevelopment Committee and the Orlando Regional Realtor Association broke ground on the Canton Park Redevelopment Project located on Israel Simpson Court off Pennsylvania Avenue in Winter Park.
The Canton Park Redevelopment project is a unique collaboration consisting of "Art In Architecture," a project of the Orlando Regional Realtor Association that seeks to develop attractive, well designed affordable housing; the Metro Orlando Homebuilders Association, the Orlando Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, Orange County Division of Housing and Community Development, SunTrust Bank, and technical assistance from Florida Community Partners.
The Art In Architecture program challenges builders, designers, Realtors, lenders and architects to create attractive, well-designed affordable housing that does not look like a typical block home.
Rhodes Brito Architects of Orlando are participating in the unique project. As their contribution to the effort, Rhodes Brito is designing two single-family homes with 1300 square feet of space.
The project will also be utilizing a Community land Trust, a new affordable housing development concept to produce and maintain long term affordability for the housing on this site.
Following remarks from the officials, participants in the official ground breaking included Mayor Kip Marchman; Winter Park City Commissioner Barbara DeVane; Orlando Regional Realtor Association's president, Greg Rokeh; Art In Architecture's chairman, Steve Chitwood; and Canton Park Redevelopment Committee's chair, Bedilia Campbell.
During her remarks, Campbell noted that as a result of her participation in the Canton Park Redevelopment, she was in essence, "witnessing history." She said the community and the city were "walking hand-in-hand" to develop diversity, a sense of community pride, and an opportunity for the community's residents to move forward into the future.
In the Hannibal Square section of the West Side, Winter Park developer Dan Bellows, of Sygan Corporation, has done much to bring new businesses to the former drug-invested area of Hannibal Square.
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