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Creative Village

Opportunity is growing on the west side of Orlando’s downtown. Creative Village, the transformation of 68-acres of land into a mixed-use Innovation District, provides residents with new paths to education, careers, business, housing and community.

This $2 billion public-private partnership is a shared vision for our community to ensure that our city’s kids have access to quality education in their neighborhood, which can lead to a high-quality job in their neighborhood, which ultimately provides them with the opportunity to raise a family in their neighborhood.

Creative Village is:

a place where businesses can expand, with access to a quality workforce and thousands of potential customers right outside their window.
a place where quality housing for all income levels is a reality.
a path to ideas, to innovation, to access, to opportunity, and to a shared experience.
built upon the heritage of the historic Parramore neighborhood to bring residents new educational and job training opportunities, housing options across a wide-range of income levels and room for businesses to start and grow.

View the development map(PDF, 806KB)

Looking Ahead

Creative Village recently completed Phase I of a three-phase development plan with the Master Development Agreement running through 2031.

Phase II of vertical development is planned to begin soon and represents more than $365 million in development activity including office, multifamily and student housing and a hotel.

Future phases will be delivered in 2028 and beyond with 8-10 parcels remaining for future development.

The city and its partners will continue the spirit of collaboration to bring residents new pathways to education, careers, business, housing and community.

Phase Development Overview

Creative Village builds on the success of Orlando’s technology and innovation economy by transforming 68-acres of city-owned land into a mixed-use, transit-oriented, urban Innovation District anchored by the Orlando Studio for Electronic Arts, Inc. (EA) and UCF Downtown and Valencia College Downtown alongside other high-tech and creative companies and a diverse mix of students, employees and residents.

Creative Village is located in the historic Parramore heritage neighborhood and brings residents new educational and job training opportunities, housing options across a wide range of affordability levels and room for businesses to start and grow.

Adjacent to SunRail and LYNX Central Station, Creative Village is one of the largest transit-oriented developments in the southeast United States and is a five-minute walk to downtown Orlando’s Central Business District.

When complete, this high quality, sustainable neighborhood development will represent $2 billion in new development and a dynamic mix of uses including:

Up to 900,000 square feet of office/creative space
800,000 square feet of higher education space
2,000+ residential units, 1,500 student housing beds
100,000 square feet of retail/commercial space
225 hotel rooms

Creative Village Phase I Development

Creative Village Phase I was the start of transforming 68-acres of city-owned land into a mixed-use, urban Innovation District anchored by UCF Downtown and Valencia College Downtown.

Creative Village Phase II Development

Phase II of vertical development at Creative Village is planned to begin soon and represents more than $365 million in development activity.

Education and Job Training

Because education opens doors and eliminates barriers to opportunity, the city designated nearly 15 acres of Creative Village for UCF Downtown and Valencia College Downtown.

Creative Village provides residents with a cradle to career pipeline all within a five-minute walk of a resident’s home. This pipeline not only ensures those who need access to this opportunity can have it, but also that they stay in Orlando, growing our local professional talent pool.

UCF Downtown and Valencia College Downtown, which opened in August 2019, serves nearly 8,000 students in digital media, communication, public services and health-related programs along with Valencia College’s world-class culinary and hospitality program, a partnership with Walt Disney World.

UCF Downtown and Valencia College Downtown includes:

148,000 square foot academic building, Dr. Phillips Academic Commons
15-story UnionWest student housing development with 640 beds and 105,000 square feet of educational space
A new 580-space parking garage for UCF and Valencia students and faculty
Renovation of the 115,000 square foot UCF Communication and Media building
UCF is leasing a 600-space existing parking garage from the city.

For a full list of programs offered at the downtown campus, please visit ucf.edu/downtown or valenciacollege.edu/downtown.

In 2019, Valencia College also opened a facility in Parramore (400 West Pittman Street) to host its Accelerated Skills Training Programs which prepare residents for high-demand, higher wage careers in a short amount of time. For more information, please visit valenciacollege.edu/ast.

Industry

Creative Village builds on the success of Orlando’s technology and innovation economy by co-locating high-tech and creative companies with education and a diverse mix of students, employees and residents.

Electronic Arts, Inc. (EA) relocated its Orlando Studio to Creative Village in the fall of 2021 via a long-term lease for a nearly $60 million, privately developed, 175,940 square foot office building. With its relocation, EA brings nearly 1,000 high-wage jobs to downtown Orlando and represents the largest corporate relocation in downtown Orlando in decades.

Housing

A key component of Creative Village is to bring a new mix of affordable, attainable and market-rate housing to the community.

The first phase of Creative Village includes 957 new multifamily units:

Amelia Court - 256-unit mixed-income apartments which opened in July 2019.
The Julian apartments – 409-unit market rate apartment project which opened in summer 2020.
Modera Creative Village – 292-unit market rate apartment community opened in the first half of 2022.

The second phase will include The Beacon at Creative Village, a 106-unit mixed-income multi-family housing development. Developed by Banc of America Community Development Corporation in partnership with Atlantic Housing Partners, The Beacon is expected to begin construction in 2023 and be complete in 2024.

Retail and Amenities

Creative Village brings additional retail and amenities to Parramore giving residents access to a variety of new opportunities for shopping, dining and gathering. Current retail tenants in Phase I include Qdoba Mexican Eats, Vera Asian, Subway, Dunkin', Addition Financial and The Monroe, the newest restaurant concept from Good Salt Restaurant Group.

The retail and other amenities located at Creative Village create a more walkable neighborhood, bringing more restaurants, retail options and cultural activities, as well as open green space for play and recreation.

Creative Village is home to a 2.3-acre city park, Luminary Green, which opened in the second half of 2022 offering residents a place to gather, play, relax and build community. Standout features of the park include the iconic trellis and ORLANDO sign and 12 luminaries dedicated to those who lived lives exemplified with service to the Parramore-Holden Community. Most recently, the park welcomed a dog-run for residents to take their canine companions of all shapes and sizes to enjoy outdoor play time or basking in the sun.

Transit-oriented Development

Bus Service: GoLYNX.com
Commuter Train: SunRail.com

Public Private Partnership

Creative Village is a public-private partnership between the City of Orlando and the Master Developer, Creative Village Development, LLC (CVD) which is a joint venture between Bank of America Community Development Corporation and a local team led by Ustler Development, Inc. CVD controls the land via a long-term Master Development Agreement and Purchase Option Agreement that runs through 2031.

Current Partners at Creative Village: