Watching Orlando Unravel 2

More documentation of the economic deconstruction of Orlando, FL.

The Marketplace is a small community mall located at the western side of the southern end of Dr. Phillips Blvd, where it dead-ends into West Sand Lake Road.

This particular Albertsons closed in September 2008. Competition from a Publix built across the road four years earlier and internal corporate problems combined with the worsening economy to kill it off.

Albertsons 1 Marketplace

Located at the north-west corner of Arnold Palmer Drive and South Kirkman Road. This used to be a Donatos, a pizza place. My wife and went there a number of times to eat. It closed within the last 12 months because the last time we were there was early 2008.

Donatos 1

Across Arnold Palmer from the empty Donatos. An example of an unfinished property (the end with the tower). Only enough of the building is finished (primarily the exterior) so as to present a good continuous exterior for the other tenants. But walk up and look in the glass and you'll see the sandy ground where a floor should be. Only the wall footers were poured. The rest of the slab for the interior floor was not. There is a smaller store next to the left that went out of business. I don't know what it was.

Empty and Unfinished 1

A block north on South Kirkman at the intersection with Metrowest Blvd sits a Super Walmart (north-west corner). On the north side of the Walmart parking lot somebody thought it would be a good idea to build a strip mall. Construction has slowed to a crawl. All interiors are unfinished and many floor remain unpoured, essentially pretty but empty shells sitting on the sand.

Walmart Kirkman Empty Buildings

Further north on South Kirkman at the intersection of Westgate Drive and South Kirkman, on the northwest corner. Built within the last six months on what used to be a heavily wooded lot. Sign at the entrance indicates it is a medical complex, but observations indicate no-one is there yet. Investigation of the bottom floors show finishing is still ongoing, but again, casual observations indicate work has slowed considerably.

Empty Complex

More to come. Overbuilt and empty commercial properties dot Orlando and suburbs like a growing pox, and there are far bigger commercial properties than these. There are also growing signs of the human cost, and I don't mean foreclosure signs in people's front yards.

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