Downtown Orlando skyline to change in next 5 years

ORLANDO, Fla. (FOX 35 Orlando) - San Francisco, Chicago, New York are all cities recognizable by a quick glance at their majestic skylines. Downtown Orlando may soon join the ranks of the major cities with an iconic skyline of its own.

Nearly a dozen new high-rises are in the works for Downtown, according to city records. Zoi House is one of the major projects, which would be Orlando's tallest building by ten floors. The mixed-use building is planned for Orange Avenue adjacent to the Orange County Courthouse.

Also under construction, is the Church Street Plaza, along Interstate 4. The new building will be part offices, part AC Marriott Hotel.

"In the last ten years, we're seeing the most robust growth that we've experienced," said Thomas Chatmon, Executive Director of the Downtown Development Board.

Other projects will bring 300,000 square feet of office space and 2,100 residential units in the next five years and that is not all, the city reports more are likely on the way.

"There's another 4 to 500,000 square feet of office trying to come into the market, several hotels trying to come into the market." said Chatmon. "There's another 3, 4 maybe 500 units in the pipeline."

But why is a prominent skyline so important?

"Civic pride but also a sense of identity, uniqueness, every city has its own fingerprint and that skyline is that fingerprint or the face of the city," said Chatmon.

People we spoke to in Downtown say development is positive.

"Downtown growing means more opportunities downtown for business and people to move down here," said Rory Curren, a downtown worker.

"We haven't been down here in like five years and  it's just amazing, beautiful," said Rita Huaid, a downtown visitor.

More people, means more traffic and the need for more parking, the City tells me a transportation study in the works for all of downtown to asses what changes are needed to handle future growth.