Downtown Update: Church Street

Because it's Orlando's legacy downtown entertainment area, most people think of Church Street when to comes to thinking of a place to go outside the Attractions areas. And while fortunes along Church Street have risen and fallen these past dozen years, things are looking a bit brighter again. Beginning right at Orange Avenue, this famous corner saw the addition of a Wahlburgers several years ago and a Walgreens store earlier this year.

Schumann's Jager Haus, a German restaurant and bar, has been replaced by Danny & Pat's, a lounge. The sign promises live music so if that means live bands, it would be a welcome addition to the downtown scene which has relatively few venues with bands.

Up those stairs is home to new venue LVL II Lounge. I didn't hear any music so I don't know what was being played up there. This was home to Club 23 and briefly to Pink.

What used to be Native Social Bar and Mako's before that remains idle. It's a prime spot for another nightclub though and we have plenty of good memories from in there.

This spot has never been the same since they decided to close long-standing club Antigua for nothing better. Half of the space is now Irish Shannon's and there are live bands in here. The other half of the Antigua space remains empty.

This space in the 55 West building has stayed vacant for most of its life but it looks like a restaurant is coming next year. Upscale club Heat used to be in here when the building opened but it didn't last long because you can't pretend to be upscale when you're catering to those that aren't.

We previously reported on the demise of Ferg's Depot, a bar that was built into a historic railroad station building beside the CSX/SunRail tracks. This was another place that didn't know how to market itself that quickly fell to its doom. You can go to that website listed on the poster and vote on replacement ideas. I voted for the Chelsea Market concept as that might actually draw people to downtown Orlando.

Lastly, the Orlando Sentinel reported last week on updated plans filed with the city by the Orlando Magic for their "festival marketplace" to be built on Church Street across from Amway Arena. This could be the biggest boon ever for downtown Orlando. Article.