Orlando's SoDo Development
To Receive 1000 Friends' Bettter Community Award

Once the site of a former strip mall and industrial block, Orlando’s “SoDo” has been redeveloped following the principles of smart growth and sustainable urbanism.  1000 Friends of Florida President Charles Pattison, Vice Chairman Tim Jackson, and Board Member Sibille Hart Pritchard will present the 2009 Better Community Award to SoDo’s development team, Kimco Realty Corporation, at the Orlando City Council’s July 13 meeting at 2:00 p.m.  “SoDo provides an innovative and workable model for quality mixed use, infill development in a downtown area,” Pattison explains.

The 22-acre site now contains a central plaza, a pocket park, 330 residential units, 75,000 square feet of office space and nearly 400,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space within easy walking distance of an existing neighborhood.  SoDo features the only SuperTarget in the world with rooftop parking, and includes accommodations for future BRT mass transit connection to the site, as well as bus stops and bike racks.  SoDo also provides much needed housing for the medical staff of three nearby hospitals at the Orlando Health campus. Extensive public and private input went into shaping SoDo to create a distinctive “sense of place” while respecting the needs of the existing neighborhood. 

The nomination was submitted by the City of Orlando Planning Division.  “I am thrilled that SoDo is being recognized as a first-of-its-kind development,” said Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.  “Model developments like this--that wrap residential, up-scale dining and marquee retail such as Target--are exactly the kind of smart and responsible growth that we want in Orlando.”

“We applaud Kimco Realty Corporation and the City of Orlando for their leading work on this distinctive mixed use, infill project,” says Pattison.  “It promises to help revitalize Orlando’s urban core, providing much needed services and amenities to residents and visitors alike.”

1000 Friends’ Better Community Award is presented annually for plans that have been implemented and projects that are completed that use the principles of smart growth to create livable, vital environments. 1000 Friends of Florida is also presenting three other awards over the course of 2009.  A statewide nonprofit organization, 1000 Friends was founded in 1986 to serve as Florida’s growth management watchdog. It has been presenting awards for innovative growth management efforts since 1990.

Kimco Realty Corporation, a real estate investment trust (REIT), owns and operates North America’s largest portfolio of neighborhood and community shopping centers. As of March 31, 2009, the company owned interests in 1,476 retail properties comprising 155 million square feet of leasable space across 45 states, Puerto Rico, Canada, Mexico and South America. Publicly traded on the NYSE under the symbol KIM and included in the S&P 500 Index, the company has specialized in shopping center acquisitions, development and management for 50 years. For further information, visit the company's web site at www.kimcorealty.com.