Baldwin Park, FL

Baldwin Park is the redevelopment of a Navy Base near downtown Orlando within the city limits. 

Designers including:

• Skidmore Owings Merrill (SOM)
• Torti Gallas & Partners/CHK
• Looney Ricks Kiss (LRK)
• (team including Tony Nelson)

Developers:

• Baldwin Park Development Co (David Pace)

Baldwin Park includes an extensive retail program including national and local chains and local vendors. As of 2008 the retail program included Subway restaurant, a local pizza and italian chain, Coldstone Creamery, mexican restaurant, panasian restaurant, Allstate Insurance, 2 dentists, several local clothing stores, Barnie's coffee, Publix supermarket, Winestyles, Regions Bank, Weight Watchers, Planet Smoothie et al.  The main retail street is located near the center of the development next to Lake Baldwin Lane. There is some question among practitioners about whether the retail would have been more successful were it located closer to the main traffic pattern. Some of the office and service (e.g. doctors) are located at other commercial centers within the development). 

The grocery store, which is now masked by townhouses on the parking side and by liner buildings at the rear, required that the frontage on Lake Baldwin Lane masking the parking lot be unbuilt for a period of time to establish the location.   

The residential program includes rental apartments, townhouses, condominium apartments, live/works and single family homes as well as accessory units on some single and multi-family dwellings. The project as a Community Development District, a Homeowner's Association, a commercial association and an umbrella Property Owners Association.

As of 2008 at least two churches were meeting in Baldwin park, both in the schools. One of the churches has a site for a planned building. A middle school (Glenridge) and an elementary school (Audubon Park) reside within the project as well as a city park (Blue Jacket).  Audubon Park Elementary School was relocated from the nearby Audubon Park neighborhood leaving behind a mid-20th century building which is still vacant as of 2011 but may eventually be reopened as a school under a different name as the (previously decreasing) student population in the downtown area increases. The waterfront areas around the lake are also owned by the City of Orlando.

Entitlements: 
2,200 attached dwellings (townhomes and flats) 
1,000 detached homes 
350,000 square feet of retail 
1.5 million square feet of office

Acreage 
Total: 1,100-acres 
400 acres of developable real estate. 
250 acres of lakes 
200 acres of parks

Source: March 2002 issue of New Urban News

The apartment grouping in the northeast section of the project, the Village at Baldwin Park, contains 528 units (source: property manager).