A pair of residential construction projects are moving forward in the Rouse Road corridor, along with the widening of the highway that is intended to help relieve the daily congestion along Alafaya Trail. The road expansion project, which began at the start of this year and will continue through early 2010, will create another north-south alternative for East Orlando motorists.
Currently, Alafaya Trail is overburdened, as are other north-south roadways. The Rouse Road project, from south of State Road 50 up to Corporate Boulevard, which is just north of University Boulevard, is expected to improve the flow of traffic in East Orlando, said Joe Perez, chief engineer for the Orange County highway construction division.
When completed, Rouse Road will have four lanes with a raised, landscaped median; bike lanes; sidewalks; and curbs and gutters. Also as part of that project, work crews will be making major improvements to the University Boulevard intersection, including the addition of turn lanes. Similar improvements will not be made at this time at the intersection of East Colonial Drive and Rouse Road due to the future expansion set for State Road 50.
“We are not doing much with State Road 50 because the Florida Department of Transportation is planning an upcoming project,” Perez said. The first phase of FDOT’s widening project — already underway and set for completion by 2010 — will six-lane East Colonial Drive from Semoran Boulevard to the Central Florida GreeneWay Expressway (S.R. 417), including a bridge at state roads 50 and 436.
The second leg of construction will widen S.R. 50 from S.R. 417 to Lake Pickett Road by 2012. Rouse Run approved The widening of Rouse Road will come just in time to accommodate new construction that will bring more residents to the area. Last month the Board of County Commissioners gave the green light to Rouse Run, a combination of single-family and multifamily residences on 30 acres east of Rouse Road.
The single-family component is already completed with 115 homes, but developers sought, and received, permission to alter the multifamily plan, without increasing density. The Lane Company plans to build 344 multifamily units on the site. However, as a result of the changes, the three-story project will increase the number of onebedroom units from 91 to 125, raising the maximum percentage of single-bedroom units from 25 percent to 35 percent.
In addition, the gated community, which will include a clubhouse, received approval to exceed the 40-foot-height restriction by seven feet. In response to concerns from residents, Lane Company President Mike Mulhall explained that more one-bedroom apartments will not mean more off-campus housing for college students. “Our proposal is not to have any students out here,” he said. “Students don’t want a one-bedroom.
They want three- or four-bedroom apartments where they can share costs to keep them down. “We want a super, high-end development, targeting professionals out at the research facility. There’s a lot of professionals who work in the gaming and simulation industry at [Central Florida] Research Park who just want to live on their own.” Mulhall said extending the height requirement would also lend itself to creating a more upscale product.
He said the number of stories will remain at three, but the pitch of the tile roof will be steeper, making it more attractive architecturally. “People see the gates and the roof, and that money is well spent,” he said. “It’s really so we can do a better project.”
In addition, he explained that the changes not only will mean a better project but also one that will have less impact on the surrounding community. Citing recent traffic studies, Mulhall said the increase in single-bedroom units will create less traffic than the original proposal. He explained that while the project is allowed nearly 5,000 daily vehicle trips, it will create only 2,300.
“We want to build a project where people want to live,” he said. This is also why the developer chose not to sell off land fronting East Colonial Drive for commercial development, opting instead for a grand entrance to the community. He said a guiding theme for his company is to build quality projects that are best in the long run.
The Lane Company owns and manages 30,000 multifamily units across the country, including 18 multifamily developments and 7,000 units in Florida. Scott Henderson, a land planner who has consulted on the project since the late 1990s, said he too is proud of this development. “There have been a number of developers interested in this site over the years and, by far, this is the project I am most excited about.”
After the project was approved at the BCC Sept. 16 meeting, Orange County District 5 Commissioner Bill Segal added his own complimentary remarks. “We had a neighborhood meeting and I’m more convinced than ever that it’s going to be a great project,” he said. Senior housing planned Another project working its way toward fruition is the Shoppes of Union Park, also located east of Rouse Road and north of East Colonial Drive.
This project is seeking to rezone a 10- acre site from commercial use to a mixed-use planned development allowing 83 age-restricted residential units and 17,000 square feet of commercial space. If approved, the project would include two acres along East Colonial Drive for retail and commercial use, and eight acres in back for 83 townhome units in buildings of no more than two stories.
There would be one access point off State Road 50 and one internal connection. At a public meeting last month, however, residents complained that the project would generate more traffic in an area already besieged by congestion.
“Every morning, every night, it’s a nightmare,” said one resident of traffic on Alafaya Trail. Hector Bertran, an Orange County traffic engineer, said help is on the way with planned roadway improvements. He explained that Rouse Road, from Lake Underhill Road to S.R. 50, is scheduled to be expanded to four lanes by 2010; and S.R. 50 will be widened to six lanes, from to S.R. 417 to Dean Road, by 2011. Another resident, however, was not convinced.
“How can you say that this stretch of Highway 50 can support more development? This system is failing the citizens of the county,” he said. By a wave of hands, audience members at the community meeting were unanimous in opposing the project. The Shoppes of Union Park is scheduled to be reviewed by the county’s Planning and Zoning Commission at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 16.
