By Jim Carchidi
July 7, 2026
Enhancements to downtown Orlando’s Church Street kicked off Tuesday with a groundbreaking event in front of the historic 1886 Bumby Hardware Building. A three-phased construction project will create a festival street, aimed at attracting outdoor dining spaces, community events, and supporting multimodal travel.
Curbless designs
An illustration shows what the Church Street upgrades will look like. The festival street concept was part of the Winter Park Village redesign (below) completed in 2023.
Festival streets offer enhanced accessibility by eliminating curbs and placing the sidewalk even with the roadway. The continuous surface widens pedestrian walkways and incorporates traffic calming features like textured pavers, removable bollards, and linear planters. The spaces are especially suited for farmers’ markets, food truck events, and live music.
Phased construction
Mayor Buddy Dyer joined city officials on Tuesday, July 7, for a ceremonial dirt toss to start Phase 1 of the Church Street redesign. Construction began after the event.
The project will be completed in three phases. The first began after the groundbreaking and will cost about $4 million. Two 11-foot-wide lanes will run between Garland Avenue and the railroad tracks with a semi-pervious street surface, designated loading and unloading areas, and upgrades to drainage and landscaping. The street will be closed throughout construction and sidewalk access will be maintained for pedestrians.
The redesign is in line with the DTO Action Plan goal of creating engaging lifestyle centers, and is among city efforts to boost private investor interest and create new business opportunities. Some ideas, such as the three-year moratorium on historic building protections, have proven controversial with several residents favoring historic preservation standards while developers believe they prohibit flexibility in commercial reuse.
Before the ceremonial dirt toss, Mayor Buddy Dyer noted that Church Street was once the fourth most visited tourist attraction in Florida.
"A revitalized Church Street means creating the kind of walkable urban experience that residents and visitors desire," he said. "We want families to gather for community events. We want entrepreneurs to see Church Street as a place where their small business dreams become a reality."
"As our city continues to grow, it's important that we create public spaces that are welcoming, accessible, and designed to bring people together," said District 5 Commissioner Shan Rose.
Completion of Phase 1 is expected by the end of the year with the second phase beginning soon after at a cost of $8 million. Phase 2 will extend the festival street designs from the train tracks to Orange Avenue with planters and moveable benches. Completion is expected in the fourth quarter of 2027.
A third phase will extend from Orange Avenue to Magnolia Avenue, converting the corridor from one-way eastbound to two-way traffic. LYMMO bus service will be integrated into the regular travel lanes. Phase 3 will be complete in early summer 2028.
Magnolia Avenue construction
Two-way street construction is currently active at Magnolia Avenue south by the Central Avenue intersection. Completed sections show newly added parking spaces and two-way traffic lanes. Photos by Jim Carchidi
The Church Street project broke ground nearly six months after the start of a two-way reconfiguration of Magnolia Avenue. The former one-way thoroughfare is receiving a second lane between South Street and Livingston Street, and 92 additional parking spaces for a total of 103. LYMMO bus operations will be integrated into the normal traffic flow.
A city representative told The Orlando Real the project is currently more than 60% complete. The original completion date of July 20 is now closer to August 21 and project costs currently total $190,678. A contingency for added scope and unforeseen conditions brings the overall cost to $2.8 million.
Construction is progressing over two blocks at a time and pedestrian access is maintained on both sides of the road. Once the street redesign phase is complete, landscaping and pedestrian access upgrades will begin.
Downtown Development Board & Community Redevelopment Agency Executive Director David Barilla previously told The Orlando Real the city parking division has been working with affected businesses to support freight loading and delivery solutions during and after construction.
What's next
The Canopy public space is among the downtown projects scheduled to break ground this year.
During his comments, Mayor Dyer said construction will soon begin on the $30 million Canopy project, located beneath the nearby I4 overpass, and at the Westcourt Orlando mixed use development across from Kia Center. Barilla confirmed the timeframe for summer groundbreakings is still in place, but both remain fluid pending additional scheduling confirmations.
Sponsor: The Orlando Real is sponsored by the Pozek Group — the #1 real estate team in Orlando and the Official Real Estate Team of the Orlando Magic.
About the Author
Jim Carchidi is an Orlando journalist and photographer with previous work at the Orlando Sentinel and Orlando Business Journal. He covers development, arts, culture, and local stories for The Orlando Real.
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