Local developer Timothy Green is planning to renovate a 68-year-old building in Parramore across from Orlando City Soccer Stadium to house a new soccer-themed bar, the second retail project he has backed on W. Church Street in the past six months.
Located at 642 W. Church St., the 0.21-acre parcel includes a 3,200-square-foot building dating to 1949, now partially leased by a record shop and barber shop that will remain as tenants.
Maitland-based accountant Richard Faulkner owns the property through a family trust, and said roughly 1,600 square feet that’s now vacant is being negotiated with Green to lease for the new bar.
With a working name of “The Lions Den,” the venue would be multi-faceted, serving as a “pop-up bar” for soccer games at the stadium, a site to host networking events, and have daily operating hours as a coffee/internet lounge, Green told GrowthSpotter on Wednesday.
“We have the same vision as the city of Orlando in terms of their revitalization plan for that part of downtown,” he said. “Church Street is becoming the new entertainment district, and we’re working on having different venues to complement that.”
The project will have no relation to the soccer-themed bar Lion’s Pride further east at 123 W. Church St., which opened earlier this year.
Partnering on the new bar with Green is architect Randy Bumbalough of Arc Design Lab in Lake Mary. The bar entrances would be on the hard corner of W. Church Street and S. Parramore Avenue. An enclosed pergola area on the rear is being considered for chess tables, rocking chairs and more.
Green’s plans should go before the city’s Appearance Review Board later this month. He hopes to start interior buildout this month, earn City Council approval in September, and open the bar by late October.
Early estimates of total investment in the project is near $250,000, Green said. His group will be spending not just on the bar’s buildout, but on beautification of the entire building’s exterior and rear parking lot, in anticipation of an optional purchase of the property in a few years.
The project is the second initiative this year by Green to revitalize a retail property on W. Church Street near the soccer stadium.
He and another investment partner own a half-vacant retail building two blocks to the east at 532 W. Church St., where they’re planning a historic renovation for a new bar and restaurant, reported here on July 19. The duo earned approval on July 20 from the ARB to move forward with that project.
A potential lack of foot traffic along W. Church Street on non-game days is not a concern, Green said. “We’re confident there are a lot of people migrating downtown, and with the UCF (downtown campus) coming, we’re getting prepared for the future.”
Green has developed affordable housing, single-family developments in Windermere and Mount Dora, and is currently developing 30,000 square feet of commercial space in Ocoee through affiliate his firm Green Tree Development Group.
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