How downtown Orlando is hoping to unite the day & night

ORLANDO, Fla. — Editor’s note: This story is available as a result of a content partnership between WFTV and the Orlando Business Journal.

Night and day. In one light lies a city’s core business district, its machinery of industry, its economic lifeblood. In the other, a city’s pulse, its beacon of growth.

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For downtown Orlando, the past several years have been a tale of two cities — the traditional rat race in the day marked by development, infrastructure, investment and at times a siren’s song at night, colored by pulsing nightclubs, throngs of visitors and, for some, fears of crime or excess.

Leading into the pandemic, the divide between night and day was growing more pronounced — but now in the wake of Covid-19 and its redefining of office space and the life and purpose of a city, a bridge is being built between the a.m. and p.m., led by a freshly invigorated mayor in his final term and a number of area business leaders bent on reimagining the City Beautiful.

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Click here to read the full story on the Orlando Business Journal’s website.

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Video: Community gathers to honor local heroes during Veterans Day Parade in downtown Orlando Residents joined local leaders on Saturday to honor local heroes during the annual Veterans Day Parade in downtown Orlando. (WFTV)

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