The excitement hasn’t yet died down from yesterday’s big purple party in downtown celebrating Orlando City Soccer joining Major League Soccer (MLS) in 2015.
The first request for proposals is for architectural and design services on the $84 million, 18,000-seat stadium, is due today Dec. 3, according to a posting on the city of Orlando’s procurement site for the community venues. The project could create more than 800 temporary construction jobs, as well as help revive a piece of downtown Orlando and bring more traffic to existing businesses.
Winter Park-based Orlando Sports Holdings LLC, owner and operator of Orlando City Soccer, is the project developer and is looking to break ground on the project by the spring. Orlando Sports Holdings is responsible for managing design and construction of the stadium, which will be city-owned.
The two-block parcel where the stadium is set to be built is bordered by Church Street, Central Boulevard, Terry Avenue and Parramore Avenue. And there’s still plenty of opportunity for new development surrounding the stadium’s site, as reported by my colleague Richard Bilbao.
Be sure to check out an in-depth look on the topic in Orlando Business Journal’s Nov. 22-28 weekly edition: http://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/blog/latin/2013/11/game-on-1st-bid-package-out-for-84m.html#!