O-Town West Plans Include a Boardwalk, Lagoon, Shops & Homes
O-Town West plans by Chuck Whittall’s Unicorp include boardwalk, lagoon, shops, restaurants & homes
The developer behind the IDrive 360 development known for the Coca-Cola Orlando Eye — as well as projects mixing residences and shops in Winter Park, Dr. Phillips, Lake Nona and Lake Mary — is meeting with architects this week on a project he has dubbed O-Town West.
With an option on 82 acres at Daryl Carter and Palm parkways in the southwest Orlando area, near Walt Disney World and outlet stores, Unicorp National Developments Inc. President Chuck Whittall said Thursday the project could take a year to get approvals. Construction will take 1.5 to 2 years, so we’re looking at mid-2019, early 2020.
“We’re trying to create a whole place. We’re trying to create a complete sense of place with dining, entertainment, shopping and living,” Whittall said.
The various aspects of the project would be branded with the O-Town West name. With a history of launching projects with a signature feature, Whittall said O-Town West would include a boardwalk with six to eight restaurants overlooking a body of water with “water shows” featuring jet fountains, lights, music, and digital LED screens visible from I-4.
He likened the entertainment to a former Orlando attraction called Dancing Waters. Whittall says this is a $1 billion project.
“So it’s important that we have special restaurants,” he said. ” We’re going to create a boardwalk that goes all around the water, so people can go there, go to a restaurant, go to a bar, and listen to live music – just to have a place to really spend the evening at.”
The O-Town Village part of the project would include jogging trails, a dog park, 1,500 luxury apartments and 300 to 400 single-family houses starting in the $500,000 range, he added. It would also be centered on a clear-lagoon style water body for residents’ use.
O-Town West will also have its own major grocery store and a bunch of to-be-determined retail.
“I can’t announce now, but we’re talking several interesting names that want to do a Florida destination, and this is the right place because it’s right along I-4,” he said. “With I-4 being completed and the exit ramps that will be installed at our property, it’s going to be the perfect place for people to go.”
Source: “O-Town West plans by Chuck Whittall’s Unicorp include boardwalk, lagoon, shops, homes,” Orlando Sentinel; “Could O-Town West be the next Baldwin Park?,” mynews13.com