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Creative Village
 Frequently Asked Questions
 It
is a collaborative effort between the City and the selected
master developer, Creative Village Development (CVD), to
reinvent the former Centroplex site. The Centroplex is
approximately 68 acres in area, and includes the former
Amway Arena and its parking lots. Together, the City and CVD
envision Creative Village to be a place where high tech
companies will locate, and where employees of those
businesses and other residents will live, work, learn, and
play. The idea behind the Creative Village is for it to be
the next stage in the evolution of Orlando’s burgeoning
digital media industry. The City’s existing digital media
companies already make up one of the top ten digital media
clusters in the United States. This project will further
strengthen Orlando as a high tech destination, as well as
build a powerful mechanism for creating jobs for the future.
The Creative
Village redevelopment area is generally bounded by Hughey
Avenue to the east, Central Florida Railroad (CFRR) rail
spur to the south, Parramore Avenue to the west, and Concord
Street to the north. The area is approximately 68 acres in
size.
 When the new
Amway Center opened in October 2010, the former Amway Arena
became vacant. Seeing the opportunity ahead for this key
location in Downtown, the City issued a Request for
Proposals from interested master developers to bring the
City’s vision to life. The City’s selection committee
reviewed the applications and made a recommendation to the
City Commission. The Commission reviwed the applications and
moved to select Creative Village Development, LLC (CVD) as
the master developer for the project. The Master Development
Agreement and the Purchase Option Agreements are available
on the Documents page.
What can I
expect to see on the site over the next 60, 90 days and year?
Over
the next 60 to 90 days… Crews will sort and recycle demolition
material. The building’s concrete will be crushed and stored on site
for future use within the Creative Village development. Finally, the
Amway Arena site will be graded and covered with a layer of soil and
grass seed so that the finished product will be a fenced green
space.
 Over
the next year… After the demolition of the Amway Arena is
complete, construction will begin on the neighborhood street grid
system as part of the first phase of ground-level improvements at
the Creative Village and in the surrounding Parramore neighborhood.
This work is being funded by a Transportation Investment Generating
Economic Recovery II (TIGER II) grant. The Creative Village TIGER II
grant award represents an important vote of confidence in the
project from the federal government.
The scope of work
also involves the expansion of the LYNX LYMMO bus circulator system to
serve Creative Village, Parramore and the west side of Downtown Orlando.
Digital Media is the creative convergence of
digital arts, science, technology and business for human
expression, communication, social interaction & education.
Here in Orlando, the digital media industry represents the
convergence of already successful industries; modeling,
simulation and training (MS&T); film and television production;
theme park/ride and show and; interactive and immersive
entertainment. Digital media in Orlando has emerged from the
union of our MS&T cluster and film and video production
industries.
 As the current recession has illustrated in
vivid detail, our state and our City can no longer rely on
tourism and growth as the only engines of our economy. Pursuing
a more diverse and dynamic economy will ensure the long term
health of our City as well generate new, high quality, high wage
jobs for our residents
For the past seven years, the City of Orlando
has worked incredibly hard to diversify the local economy by
expanding the footprint of “next generation” industries such as
digital media, modeling and simulation in Central Florida. This
effort has resulted in the creation of a growing digital media
cluster in Downtown Orlando that includes; the UCF Center for
Emerging Media, the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy,
the University of Florida’s Citi-Lab and the east coast
headquarters for the House of Moves motion capture studios.
The Creative Village would build on this
existing digital media foundation by creating a unique platform
to attract businesses and workers to a place that is tailor-made
for their creative lifestyles.
The Creative Village means new jobs at a time
when we desperately need them. The Creative Village will act as
a magnet to attract new companies outside of Orlando and be the
“place to be” for local start ups and existing businesses. The
companies that choose to call the Creative Village home will
need a high tech work force to support them. These companies
will also need support staff and other non-technical employees.
These aren’t just any old jobs. These are good,
high paying jobs in a growth industry. The latest research shows
that the average salary for a high tech worker in Orlando is
more than 70-thousand dollars a year. The digital media industry
already directly employs nearly 10,000 Central Floridians. This
project would increase that number dramatically.
Equally as important as the jobs in those
companies will be the jobs that come from the development of the
neighborhood in terms of retail, restaurant and entertainment
offerings. The selected development team has identified a
strategy for implementing the City’s Blueprint to ensure that
local firms and residents have an opportunity to benefit from
the implementation of the project.
The high tech
employees that will be drawn to the Creative Village are
members of what’s called the Creative Economy – a workforce
that is generally younger, has formal education, is highly
diverse, and is interested in living in a vibrant urban core
that offers a variety of lifestyle amenities. These
individuals tend to make location decisions based on quality
and sense of place. These workers are attracted to locations
based on the diversity of people, jobs, and amenities.
 The Creative
Village will be another Downtown destination for all of
Central Florida’s residents. It will include retail shops,
as well as restaurants and entertainment establishments. It
will also include multiple parks and greenspace for all to
enjoy.
The Creative Village will also establish a variety of job
opportunities for Orlando residents along with the high tech
jobs. Above all, having this unique platform to attract new
businesses helps diversify our Central Florida economy,
which helps everyone in the long run.
Ensuring that
the Creative Village blends into and helps support the
surrounding Parramore neighborhood is a critical element of
the vision for the project. The selected development
proposal includes:
- Opportunities for upgrade or
replacement of existing public recreational facilities
within the development area,
- A plan to upgrade or rebuild the Nap Ford
Community School, and
- A mix of affordable, attainable, and
market rate residential units.
Will there be a
chance for members of the community to
ask questions and/or provide input?
The City
has already benefitted from considerable community input in
helping to craft the overall vision for the Creative
Village. Throughout the past five years, Parramore residents
and leaders from the digital media industry have
participated in neighborhood open houses, workshops, and
other interactive sessions designed to make sure everyone
plays a part in shaping this residential and business
district of Downtown Orlando. That collaboration was
essential in creating the broad vision for the Creative
Village, which will guide the developer as they create plans
for the project.
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