By Steve Coleman
This past Saturday, my wife and I were driving through town to go to KeKe’s for breakfast when we passed by the proposed Apopka City Center, and, to my surprise, we didn’t see anything different than we’d always seen. The only thing different was the sign of coming soon businesses were gone and the barrier.
I was completely shocked because I thought the last thing I saw regarding the city center was Miller’s Ale House had a sign, and prior to that was the State of the City address that they would be breaking ground soon.
So, of course, when I sat down at the restaurant, I googled the Apopka City Center and came across an article by The Apopka Voice in May, addressing what I was becoming even more frustrated about.
This December will mark our 10th anniversary as Apopkans by way of Newark, Delaware. We love the town, the people, and how it’s within reach of every major area via I-4 or the 429. When we decided on Apopka, coming from Delaware and living within a 5-mile radius of a mall and multiple retail and restaurants, we first noticed the lack of what we were accustomed to.
We didn’t expect a mall, but when we searched the surrounding area, we noticed Winter Gardens Plant Street; we noticed Mount Dora, Winter Park, Orlando, and Oviedo had similar walkable areas with retail and restaurants in one location. But we saw hope on the City of Apopka’s website about the new town center under former Mayor John Land.
‘Great, I said; ‘they don’t have one now, but one is coming soon,’ according to the website.
Mayor Land lost the election to the new Mayor, Joe Kilsheimer, and the plan of what was on the website was put on hold. ‘How long does this take?’ I asked someone who had lived here way longer than me, and I was told things in Apopka move at a snail’s pace, and the snail may be faster than Apopka.
So under new mayor Kilsheimer, we had the town halls to get the people’s input. I didn’t think that was necessary based on the comments you saw on the original Apopka Rants & Raves pages managed by Annie Cunningham. We already knew what the people wanted. Little did I know this had been something the people of Apopka already had been waiting for. The town halls were done, and the consensus was what I expected and what we already knew. The people wanted a walkable downtown, unlike Orlando, Mount Dora, Plant Street, or Winter Park but one that reflected Apopka.
At this point, I thought, finally, here we go. Let’s break ground. But nothing happened. The city sold the land to Taurus, who had ten years to build something.
Are you kidding me?
At this point, my wife and I had started doing date night every Friday, and we discovered Plant Street, Mount Dora, Winter Park, Downtown Orlando, and even Clermont. It wasn’t just about a place to eat because we have the Backroom Steakhouse, which, in my opinion, makes the best steaks in Central Florida. It’s not just about eating, leaving, getting in the car, and going home. At those other places with walkable downtown areas, we ate, enjoyed the ambiance, and got up and walked around; if they had musical entertainment, we listened, and if there was an ice crèam or sweets spot, we had dessert, and we sat some more and enjoyed each other’s company and met new people in the process.
This is what I want in Apopka!
Finally, the next news about the city center was we were building a hotel. I didn’t understand or agree with the rationale behind it. In my opinion, I felt a movie theater would be better, and you surround it with restaurants and retail to where you will always have some type of foot traffic to that area as they do in Altamonte Springs.
Mayor Joe loses the next election and enters the new Mayor, Bryan Nelson. There was talk about the new City Center, Station Street, the Floridian Town Center by the Apopka Airport, and Kelly Park Crossing. Surely, one out of four has a chance to start and deliver.
I want to hope; I want to believe. I was optimistic about each possible project finally delivering for Apopka. But alas, it has not panned out. Is it possible to bat a negative in baseball?
- The City Center is a hotel and a supermarket, and that’s it, with the possibility of the Ale House, Brewery, AT&T, and a massage parlor minus the Italian restaurant.
- The train never pulled into the Station Street due to politics. • The Floridian Town Center is expected to feature: 450-600 multifamily units, a 150-180 unit assisted living facility, 120 room hotel, and 200,000-290,000 square feet of retail space with an anchor grocery site and a fitness center. But it is currently looking like more homes the businesses.
- Honestly, I don’t know what happened to Kelly Park Crossing, but we got a Publix supermarket.
Sound familiar?
What’s so frustrating as a 10-year citizen of Apopka is we keep cutting off our noses to spite our faces, and we keep waking up, and it’s still groundhog day. I go back to the day when Apopka could have made a statement to commercial businesses everywhere that Apopka was ready for growth and ready to turn the page on the past by slowing down the fast food restaurants over saturating our city. Because of politics, it failed, and like everything else it was forgotten.
See Station Street, South Apopka, and the Welcome to Apopka sign.
As you can tell, I am frustrated, and I noticed nothing happening at the City Center after all these years, promises, and expectations that have me in a state of ‘enough is enough’.
I may lose friends or have people angry with me, but in any decision concerning Apopka, we and those in city hall should put any personal animosity aside and put the city’s needs first.
If I were the Mayor of Apopka, I would bother, hound, and bug Taurus every day until construction equipment is moving dirt. If I were mayor, left-hand turns and balconies would be the least of my worries. If I were mayor, my concern would be cleaning up the corridor from Domino’s Pizza to Burger King and reaching out to those businesses to see how we can partner with them to make the area look better and stand firm when it comes to code enforcement when they are not.
If I were mayor, I would talk to Ed Conlan about moving the Backroom Steakhouse to the City Center to be one of the anchor spots. If I were mayor, I would make sure there is a stage where I could have local or outside bands play for anyone who wants to walk around and enjoy the ambiance of Apopka.
As you can tell, I spend money in Apopka, but I spend a lot more outside of Apopka because I am looking for more to do in one location, and I would rather spend more in Apopka first than anywhere else.
Within the ten years, my wife and I have had date nights over in Maitland, Clermont, and Ocoee and have completed or are redoing their downtown areas to attract new businesses to their city. The walkable downtown formula works, and the proof of it surrounds Apopka as evidence.
If we don’t put the desires of the people and the town first, it will be another ten years of the proposed city center, and for some people, it has already been another ten years and for some longer than that.
Yes, I am frustrated, but it shouldn’t have taken me to write a letter to express that or show up at city hall to express that. It’s not a secret like the next Disney ride or land. All you have to do is drive up and down OBT to find out what we are doing for an upgrade.
We bought our home ten years ago and have repainted the entire exterior once, a few times for maintenance for the original color. We repainted the interior three times and have made multiple repairs and maintenance upkeep. This is a requirement if you want to maintain or increase the value of your home. This should also apply to the city of Apopka. We, the people, are still waiting for something that was promised well over ten years ago because of the lack of maintenance and neglect.
I think I’m done ranting, and it’s out of my system for now until I see some update and date of completion.
Steve Coleman is a 10-year resident of Apopka and has worked at Walt Disney for nine and half years as a Telecom Mobility associate. Steve has been married to Yvette Coleman for 27 years, where they share four children. Steven, ElyJah, Elysha and Sarai. Steven also has an online ministry FaithWorks Church which ministers the gospel of Jesus Christ online and feeds the homeless in Apopka and the Orlando area. Steven is also known as Sunset Steve or the Sunset King for his love of shooting sunsets at Magnolia Park, Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive, and various locations around Central Florida. His work can be seen on IG and Facebook at Sunsetsbystevenj.
