The Citrus Bowl Gets a Face Lift

Posted on by Thor

Driving on the East West Expressway to work, I’ve often glanced over to see the Citrus Bowl being stripped down to it’s cement skeleton. I finally decided I needed to get off at the next exit to sketch the work in progress. I know that Orlando plans to host another Bowl game this year, so I’m assuming the reconstruction needs to be done by then. About 90% of the stadium will be torn down and replaced, including
portions that have stood since its original construction in 1937. Only
the upper decks, which were added in 1990 and remain viable as part of a
modern facility, will remain.

The new Citrus Bowl will offer an enhanced fan experience at every
level, with wider, chair-back seating, new concessions areas and
restrooms, and new club and premium spaces throughout the building. 

When the stadium reopens in fall 2014, it will continue to host
signature events including the Capital One Bowl, Russell Athletic Bowl,
Florida Blue Florida Classic and Monster Jam. In addition, the new venue
will allow Orlando to pursue more high-profile sports tourism events
such as neutral-site college football games, NFL preseason games,
international soccer matches, big-name concerts and more.

November 2013

Pre-construction mobilization began.

January 2014

Demolition of lower seating levels began.

March 2014

New seating bowl construction began.

Late Spring 2014

Construction of new concessions, restrooms, team locker rooms and operation/support areas began.

November 2014

Substantial completion achieved (95%) in time to be operational for fall events.

April 2015

Target for 100% completion.

Full Sail Construction

Posted on by Thor

Construction at Full Sail is an on going process as the school takes over store after store in the strip mall where I work. Once the tenants leave, the whole facade is usually stripped of all its brick work and then a new facade is put in place with strips of aluminum and paneling. Birds nest in the stripped facade and they get angry, chirping loudly when their nests are confiscated by construction workers. Glass paneling is decorating the building that used to be an Albertson’s Supermarket. All the temporary fencing just means I have to walk further to get to the few remaining restaurants when I want to get some lunch. A new coat of stucco usually polishes off the job before students start filing in.

The Grove

Posted on by Thor

The week following Christmas, my event calender was empty. I had to get out of the house. I took my sketching supplies and just started walking north. I stopped when I saw a sign that said, “Sidewalk Closed”. A large piece of land, on the corner of Conroy and Apopka Vineland, once covered with trees and foliage had been stripped bare. Ironically the name of this development moonscape was, “The Grove”. When Terry and I moved into this neighborhood fifteen plus years ago, we used to bike on the rural side roads. There were orange groves everywhere. Today groves are rare.

I pulled my art supplies out of my bag to start sketching. My watercolor palette landed on a large ant hill causing a sudden surge of activity as hundreds of ants started moving grains of sand, changing the landscape. On the construction site there were a dozen or so bulldozers, escalators cranes, graders, and continuous tracked earth movers. An escalator’s claw scraped and grabbed at the sand. One truck was used to moisten the sand so it wouldn’t blow away causing sand storms. C&C Silt Fencing was tacked down all around the scared lot. The construction company was JR Davis Construction from Kissimmee Florida.

A sign of the corner at the stop lights announced the wonders that were to come. There would be retail stores, restaurants, and office space. Specifically there would be a Panera, an LA Fitness and Windermere Village Dentistry. Ironically there are several deserted store fronts in the strip mall adjacent to “The Groves.”

On the walk back home, palmetto leaves rustled in the wind sounding like rain striking a tent. The horizon was a dark steely blue. I heard the distant rumbling of thunder. A snow man made of white metal mesh had blown over, his head separated a few feet away. In an inflatable nativity, Mary’s veil had blown down over her face and all the wise men and animals vibrated in the wind. When I got home, Terry was in the driveway scrubbing rich green moss off of rocks I had used to build a waterfall in the garden. I rather liked the moss, it made the waterfall look overgrown and ancient. Oh well, it will all grow back in time. As I relaxed on the back patio it began to rain.

Crane Collapses

Posted on by Thor

As I was leaving work at 5PM yesterday, I got a call from Terry about a crane collapsing in downtown Orlando at the site of the Event Center construction. I had done a sketch at this construction site before. The crane had collapsed only about a half hour before, so I immediately headed downtown. As I approached the site I heard helicopters overhead from the news crews taking video of the location. On site were 2 news trucks and several anchors giving their reports to the cameras. I simply set up between two news crews and started to sketch. While sketching I eavesdropped on the anchors to get a sense of what happened. A cable snapped while lifting a load which led to the crane boom landing on the structure.
The operator was taken to the hospital in shock but there were no injuries. The Orlando Magic for whom the Center is being constructed reported that damage from the collapse was minor.
A former construction worker who was on disability stopped by to take photos on his cell phone. He explained to me that in order to up right the crane, workers would have to cut all the cranes cables which are tangled in the buildings exposed beams. Inside the construction area, the crane is surrounded by red warning tape. A reporter said work would continue as usual tomorrow.

Construction on Central

Posted on by Thor


Today is the final day in my 3 day oil change saga. I picked up my truck at Zembower’s Auto Repair and I find that it only cost $500 to do the repairs. That saved me $3000. The folks at Zembower’s now have a loyal costumer. Driving back from the shop I decided to go downtown and sketch on top of a parking garage that is overlooking a construction site. A photographer from channel 13 news also was taking in the view. He is composting a number of shots together to get a panoramic photo. For me this may be the start of a construction time lapse series of sketches.

Construction South Street

Posted on by Thor


Like any boy who has played with an Erector set as a child, I am fascinated by construction sites. This building is going up on South Street and North Hughey Avenue. I used this location as my second test of the Motion Computing Tablet PC in the field. I have not been using the Tablet since it has always died within an hour using the standard battery. That means I have always had my sketch interrupted before it is complete. I just got a second battery and I could have up to 5 yours of sketching time now. I managed to crash the program Sketchbook Pro since I raised the resolution on this sketch from 100 dpi to 300 dpi. The program became sluggish and crashed when I tried to paint the sky. Rather than try a second time, I decided to paint the sky in when I got back home using Photoshop. I am pleased with the rich colors I get painting using the Tablet as opposed to the subtle effects of watercolor on paper.
I am toying with the notion of doing a sort of time lapse series of sketches all done from the same site to show the buildings progress. I noticed a parking garage near another construction site and I may go to the roof of that garage to start the series.