Yesterday plans we’re unveiled for at least four distinct visions for Downtown Ocala with a variety of redevelopment projects planned by developers and non profit charitable groups who seek to revitalize the city center. The bold plans call for a number of new construction and demolition projects to offer a face lift to the ailing downtown Ocala area and redevelopment of the former Chamber of Commerce and Sprint building sites.
A local non profit group named Brick City Partners put up the most interesting ideas with a planned residential townhouse complex. Brick City Partners is a group of local business people, including Ken Kirkpatrick, the president of Heritage Management Corp.; attorney Randy Klein; Dirk Leeward of Leeward Properties LLC; Michael Warren, a co-founder of Ocala 4Sale.com; and Ted Strawbridge, the pastor of Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church. Their stated goals are to help the people of Ocala and Marion County and the bold design should help draw more visitors to the Brick City.
Four distinct visions for downtown Ocala
The Ocala City Council listened on Tuesday to four markedly different concepts for redeveloping the former Chamber of Commerce and Sprint sites.
The ideas ranged from a nonprofit venture to a master developer concept, and from a renovation of the former Sprint building into a 13-unit upscale condominium complex to a three-phase development of the Sprint site along with a separate mixed-use loft building on the chamber site.
September 15, 2010
Ocala News