Orlando Naval Training Center redevelopment begins

The Baldwin Park project is the largest new urban infill development in Florida. Since the Pentagon designated the Naval Training Center for closure in 1993, this 1,100-acre site has been the subject of one the nation’s most extensive public planning initiatives. It’s been a long road, but Baldwin Park, a series of interconnected neighborhoods anchored by a mixed-use town center and built around lakes and wetlands, promises to be the most significant infill and reuse development in Florida. At the moment, horizontal infrastructure work is underway, and later this year construction of residential neighborhoods and the town center will begin concurrently — there is a built-in market for retail, partly because Baldwin Park is connected to existing urban fabric on all four sides. The groundbreaking followed a challenging demolition and cleanup operation, which resulted in an innovative recycling of concrete buildings into material that now filters stormwater. The City of Orlando has taken a proactive approach to the redevelopment from day one and thoroughly involved the public in the planning process. The first step was taken in 1994 with the creation of a preliminary base reuse plan, which identified possible alternative uses for the site. Following that, a consulting firm prepared a business and development plan, estimating the cost of demolition, a redevelopment’s impact on the city’s services and revenues, and the cost of new infrastructure. The first phase of design began in 1997, when a team of consultants led by A. Nelessen Associates created a complete concept plan with extensive input from citizens. The community expectations and urban design guidelines contained in the concept plan formed the basis for the subsequent request for proposals. Four developer/designer teams, including some of the most prominent new urbanist firms, were shortlisted. City planners worked with each team to enhance the quality of submissions and make sure public expectations were met. In the summer of 1998, the city chose the development proposal by Orlando NTC Partners (now Baldwin Park Development Company) with design by Skidmore Owings Merrill (SOM). The SOM plan is still the template for development, although some significant changes have occurred. “Since the original submittal we have embraced more passionately the idea of mixing uses,” says David Pace of Baldwin Park Development Co. “The first plan had higher concentrations of uses in separate areas.” The master developer has also created specific design guidelines and a patterning standard based on local historic precedents. In 2001, Baldwin Park hired Torti Gallas & Partners/CHK to refine the design of the first multifamily neighborhood and the town center. Town center The plan for the 40-acre town center builds on the SOM concept with a few significant differences, says Robert Goodill of Torti Gallas. The landscaped waterfront green envisioned by SOM has been transformed into a paved plaza at the termination of the center’s main street. “We have also collapsed the mixed-use pieces into the half of the town center closest to the lake,” Goodill says. In addition to the multistory, mixed-use buildings lining the main street, the town center will include duplex units, flexible live/work buildings, stacked flats, and two condominium buildings flanking the waterfront plaza. The location of the town center — on a lake and removed from arterial roads with high traffic counts — mirrors the placement of Celebration’s downtown, which has been the subject of debate for years (see December 2001 New Urban News). With that in mind, building the town center at the outset could be considered a risky proposition. However, Pace notes that there is a “huge distinction” between the two town centers. Unlike Celebration, “we’re surrounded by a dense, high-demographic population and have 100,000 people within three miles who need a grocery store and would support good restaurants. Our downtown is placed at the center of town as an accommodation to the residents that were here first. They like the idea, but they don’t want the town center next to their homes.” Baldwin Park Dev. Co. is currently negotiating the sale of the town center development rights with a third-party developer, but stipulates that the sale cannot be closed unless the prospective developer can demonstrate that tenants are anxious to sign up. “The last thing we want is dark shops,” Pace says. The town center plan calls for up to 220,000 square feet of office space and 350,000 square feet of retail. The total entitlements for Baldwin Park include approximately 2,200 attached dwellings in townhomes and flats, 1,000 detached homes, 350,000 square feet of retail, and 1.5 million square feet of office. The first multifamily neighborhood, to be developed by Pritzker Residential, has been designed by Torti Gallas in consultation with SOM. Pace notes that this neighborhood will be at the first entrance to the community and will set the tone for the look of Baldwin Place. Emphasis was on the creation of a grid system, public parks, and parking spaces in the interior of blocks. According to Goodill, the traditional Charleston House type forms the basis for design of rowhouses, various multiplex buildings and garden apartments. The neighborhood square includes a community center that will serve the entire community rather than just the residents in the rental housing. Reuse of demolished buildings Today, only five buildings from the Naval Training Center remain, housing 700 workers who are part of the built-in market for town center businesses. The rest of the facility has been razed in an operation that removed 4.5 million square feet of offices, dormitories, and classrooms, 200 miles of underground utilities, and 25 miles of roads. But a large portion of these crushed buildings have been put to good use. Every bit of concrete that was found not to contain any lead-based paint or other contaminants has been buried in a trench 2,000 feet long and 300 feet across. The storm water that used to drain directly into the lakes is now filtered in this underground drain, which serves much the same purpose as a retention pond. The recycling of these materials saved nearly 10,000 truck trips to the waste dump, Pace notes. Baldwin Park contains 400 acres of buildable real estate. The remainder of the 1,100 acres consists of 250 acres of lakes, 200 acres of parks, and the streets, public spaces, civic sites, and existing buildings.