Orlando News

[Gaz]

Some you will know.

Some you won't





Universal Orlando is opening an outlet store at Festival Bay mall on International Drive.

The theme park resort has filed paperwork with county officials for construction of the store, which will go into a newly built-out area near the movie theaters. Spokeswoman Cindy Gordon said the store would open in mid-August and specialize in end-of-season merchandise from various Universal seasons and special events. The goods would range plush toys to candies.


Universal previously had outlet stores in other area outlet malls, but they were closed last year.



Gaz

[Gaz]

Tavistock purchases Race Rock for $7.5M


There's a huge garage sale in Race Rock's future.

Management of the highly popular racing-themed restaurant on International Drive closed the bar, shut down the kitchen and laid off about 70 employees March 22.

 
On March 26, owner Bobby Moore's company, Race Rock Real Estate Inc., closed a deal with The Tavistock Group to buy the restaurant and its 3.25 acres for $7.5 million.

Tavistock plans to renovate the 23,000-square-foot building and introduce a new entertainment-oriented restaurant concept.

Tavistock founder Joe Lewis and his father were involved in the restaurant business, and the company has restaurants in its clubs as well as a catering business.

This would be the company's first free- standing, startup restaurant.

Details are expected to be announced in a month, according to company sources.

Moore has 60 days to vacate the building and clear out several million dollars worth of racing artifacts ranging from the world's largest Monster Truck to a Nomex racing suit worn by the late Dale Earnhardt.

Once a restaurant
Moore bought the property in 1995 from Orlando Entertains, which had developed the site next door as King Henry's Feast which Tavistock also owned at one time -- now a recently renovated Olive Garden restaurant -- and the Race Rock building as Caruso's Palace, a high-end Italian restaurant.

Moore's company paid $3.3 million for the land and building. County records assess the property at $4.9 million, including 3.37 acres of land, the building and 173 parking spaces.


Gaz

[Gaz]

Prime Outlets-International on Wednesday announced the first phase of its renovated outdoor shopping complex on the north end of International Drive will open Aug. 10.

The first phase of the $300 million, 1 million-square-foot project involves the opening of 100 stores and a 500-seat enclosed food court with eight restaurants. The main section of the mall -- known as Mall 1 -- also has several public gathering features, including a canal, five fountains, outdoor seating and a full-service guest center expected to open in November.

 
Prime Outlets also announced it will begin work on the next phase of the center, where its luxury retailers will be housed, by demolishing an existing structure that fronts Oak Ridge Road Aug. 13. That phase, which includes retailers such as Banana Republic Factory Store, Brooks Brothers Factory Store and kate spade, is slated to open in spring 2008.

The mall also has two full-service restaurant sites available, which are not part of the food court, says Jackie Young, marketing director of Prime Outlets-International.

Baltimore, Md.-based Prime Retail LP., parent company of the center, also plans to renovate other nearby properties to reflect a similar architectural style to the main shopping center. A building on the other side of International Drive is expected to feature a renovated Reebok store, which will be the center's only stand-alone retailer to date, Young says.

In addition, the area's first Neiman Marcus Last Call clearance center, which is part of the luxury stores area in Mall 1, is still slated for a Labor Day weekend opening.


Gaz

[NicolaUK]

We were to see the Universal store shut at the Premium Outlet Mall, they did have one at S192 too but that shut ages ago!

Finally someone's putting some more life into Belz I don't think we ventured that way at all last time, will have a butchers in September though.

[Markb]

We went to Prime in April It was just a huge building site. Glad it's on the way up again

[Gaz]

Pointe Orlando planning 4 new anchor restaurants

ORLANDO -- The $10 million makeover of Pointe Orlando, a destination retail center on International Drive, is about to ignite the second stage of its success rocket.

A quartet of new high-profile, upscale anchor restaurants is coming to Pointe Orlando in the next year -- The Capital Grille, Oceanaire, Tommy Bahama's Cafe and B.B. King's Blues Club -- confirm officials with New Plan Excel Realty Trust Inc., a New York-based real estate company that owns and operates Pointe Orlando.

 
All four eateries are new to Central Florida.

"I think this is very good news," says Alan Villaverde, general manager of the 900-room Peabody Orlando hotel on International Drive. "This kind of name- brand restaurant helps to make the convention district a destination."

But, he cautions, the new restaurants can't just count on convention business. "Their challenge is how to overcome the local residents' reluctance to visit the convention district."

'Two-punch business battering'
Overcoming that reluctance, of course, is exactly what New Plan Excel Realty Trust is trying to do, with the center's overall renovation. Pointe Orlando announced its redo a year ago, after taking a two-punch business battering from the opening of the Mall at Millenia and expansion of the Florida Mall that significantly impacted consumer traffic and tenant rental.

Chris Ralph, the center's general manager, says Pointe Orlando's redevelopment was the result of a two-year study of market trends and consumer demand that pinpointed a need for more name-brand retail and entertainment venues and high-quality restaurants.

The addition of these just-announced restaurants meets part of that expectation. And "there are definitely more restaurants and retail tenants to be announced" in the coming months, says Susan Godorov, director of marketing for New Plan Excel Realty Trust.

Clubby, fine-dining
The Capital Grille is probably the best known of the four new restaurants headed to Central Florida's I-Drive.

The 20-restaurant chain is part of Rare Hospitality International Inc., an Atlanta-based, publicly traded (NYSE: RARE) company that operates about 280 restaurants under the Longhorn Steakhouse, Bugaboo Steak House and Capital Grille names.


Allright, so I like shopping and eating


Gaz

[Gaz]

Local 6 Editorial: Basketball On International Drive


The following is text from station general manager Henry Maldonado's editorial:


Honk, if you would go to International Drive to see a basketball game.
 

If you're not honking, you had better get involved because this idea seems to have some legs and there doesn't seem to be too many people vehemently arguing against it.

Except for Patty Sheehan and Jim Philips, all of the usual suspects appear mysteriously soft-spoken about it.

And last week, developer Mark Watson unveiled his vision with riverwalks and all.

The players?

Well, Watson is obviously for it. He is a businessman and this is a big deal.

(As for) Mayor Crotty, the benefits are in his back yard.

And the Magic? They have every right to sit back and let it all settle and get the best deal.

And Mayor Dyer? Well, the mystery or maybe the solution to the mystery (is) he is not up in arms arguing for a downtown location. His silence says more than anybody's and it seems to say, "Yes, this could happen and (it) seems that everyone has something to gain from it."

So, if you're a fan and have an opinion about mixing it up with the tourists, better let one of these guys, know because basketball on I-Drive is beginning to smell like a done deal to us.

[Gaz]

Police Seek 550-Pound Fake Firefighter
Tuesday, July 17, 2007 10:04:50 PM
 
 

Police Seek 550-Pound Fake Firefighter
Two years ago a man went to several Seminole County eateries, claiming to be a firefighter and Demanding money for bad food that he never bought in the first place.

Now he is at it again and there is a collaborated effort to try to track down the man. News 13's Jackie Shutack is in Seminole County and has more.

Just over a week ago, 45-year-old George Jolicoeur stood at the counter of the Pancheros in Seminole County demanding money.

Ryan Adelman from Panchero's Restaurant said, "He said he ordered six burritos and all six had hair, believe it or not."

Jolicoeur explains that he's a firefighter. He identified himself as Lt. Stevens with Station 21. That station is located in Casselberry and there is no Lt. Stevens.

According to state statute it's a felony to impersonate a firefighter.

Deputy Chief Dale Metz from the Casselberry Fire Department said, "We know its petty theft but it puts firefighters in a bad light. We know the public trusts us we have a reputation and its important to preserve that.”

The employee of Panchero's were suspicious and took down his number. Jolicoeur left the restaurant.

When manager Ryan Adelman heard the description, a 550 pound man that was just under six feet tall, he knew this was no fireman. Adelman says Jolicoeur has done this before, demanding a refund, introducing himself as a Publix manager.

The Seminole County Sheriff's office is investigating this incident. Jolicoeur is well known in other parts of the county, he has falsely imperonated a firefighter at a Dunkin Donuts, CVS in Sanford and a Barney's coffee in Winter Springs.

[Thongy]

Hairy burritos!!!!

[Markb]

Is that straight slang for something?

[Lesley25LK]

I'd love to see him try and shimmy up a ladder.

[Gaz]

Not strictly Orlando


Passenger 'hid monkey under hat' 
 
The monkey was said to have been well-behaved on the flight
A man has been questioned by police at LaGuardia airport in New York after smuggling a monkey onto a flight from Florida by hiding it under his hat.
Passengers spotted the animal when it climbed out and perched on the man's ponytail, Spirit Airlines spokeswoman Alison Russell told reporters.

Ms Russell said the monkey - a marmoset - spent the remainder of the flight in the man's seat and was well-behaved.

It is unclear whether the unnamed man will face any criminal charges.

The man's journey originated in Lima, Peru. Ms Russell said it was not known how the man avoided detection there, and during a several-hour stopover in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

When passengers noticed the fist-sized primate on the flight, they asked the man "if he knew he had a monkey on him", Ms Russell said.

New York animal control officials said the monkey appeared to be healthy, the Associated Press news agency reported.

It said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was planning to quarantine the animal for a month.

After that, the monkey could be sent to a zoo, AP said.

 
When interviewed, Mark said "but I thought it was free"



Gaz

[NicolaUK]

When passengers noticed the fist-sized primate on the flight, they asked the man "if he knew he had a monkey on him", Ms Russell said.

Superb

[Thongy]

When interviewed, Mark said "but I thought it was free"

:bow

[Markb]

When passengers noticed the fist-sized primate on the flight, they asked the man "if he knew he had a monkey on him", Ms Russell said.

Superb

I'd have said no