One of Orlando’s oldest venues, once host to performances by entertainment legends Elvis Presley and Andy Griffith, could showcase the city’s future.
City officials are planning to pursue converting the nearly 100-year-old Bob Carr Theater in Creative Village into a “town square” for what it says is a burgeoning technology industry. It could include meeting and exhibition space, a place for start-ups and companies to use as well as host events and display their work.
“We’ve also known for a really long time that there are major technology advances coming out of this community that a lot of people never see or don’t realize,” said Brooke Bonnett, Orlando’s economic development director. “They would not have any idea that Orlando is the modeling and simulation capital of the world; they wouldn’t know how much technology is coming out of our entertainment, amusement and theme park side of our house; [and] they wouldn’t know the military advancements that are coming out of our community.”
Mayor Buddy Dyer is expected to formally announce the plan as part of his annual State of Downtown speech Wednesday.
City projections show the conversion could cost about $30 million in construction to renovate the old building, which had fallen into disrepair after sitting vacant for a few years.
“Thirty million is a fair amount of money to invest in a building … but this is a building that we want to design in a way that changes over time as the needs of the city change over time,” Chief Financial Officer Chris McCullion said. “This is a $30-million investment for decades of use.”
Right now the theater isn’t up to city code, with roof repairs and HVAC upgrades among major issues facing any future use of the building, as well as converting what has served as an auditorium since 1927 into a place ripe for futuristic showcases.
In the short term, officials expected to issue a bid in the coming months for a firm to do architectural and design work, with hopes of construction wrapping up in 2026 or 2027 – about the time the theater turns 100 years old.
The conversion would be a public space that can introduce residents to the tech industry, and to companies the city has worked to recruit to the area, said Kathy DeVault, the city’s director of strategic partnerships. It could host classes, workshops, exhibits or other events.
“We really want this to be like the town hall for Creative Village,” she said.
The project would likely be funded using money from the Community Redevelopment Agency, a special taxing district encompassing downtown Orlando, McCullion said.
Bonnett said the city would retain ownership of the building, and hopes to have it in use day and night, seven days per week upon its completion.
The theater, built in 1927, was the city’s first municipal auditorium and was substantially remodeled in 1978 with the glass exterior constructed around the original brickwork. Bob Carr was Orlando’s mayor from 1956 until 1967. In 2016, it was named a historic landmark.
Until 2020, it served as a performing arts venue run by the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts while Steinmetz Hall was under construction and has sat vacant ever since.
Through the proposed transformation, city officials say they plan to work around the historic elements that still remain today, such as some of the original brickwork.
The reimagined Bob Carr Theater is part of what the city considers “Phase 2” of its Creative Village plan, which largely centers on the area surrounding the theater. Plans include 365 market-rate apartments, 106 apartments deemed affordable, 185,000 square feet of office space, a 180-room hotel and upgrades to the plaza surrounding the theater.
Phase 1 included what exists in the neighborhood today: University of Central Florida and Valencia College’s shared campus; Electronic Arts’ headquarters; Luminary Green; as well as market-rate and affordable apartments.
