The city of Kissimmee hopes to turn the Beaumont site between downtown and Osceola Regional Medical Center into a core of residential, retail and office space.
That was the vision planners showed the City Commission at a Tuesday workshop for the area is bordered by Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on the north, Clyde Avenue on the west, Sumner Street on the south and Beaumont and Aultman Street on the east.
With a clear vision, which includes walk-able parcels with wide sidewalks, bike lanes and an extension of Rose Avenue through the development, city officials now seek the Commission’s feedback and assistance in getting a master developer to lead the redevelopment of the site.
The city purchased the parcel from Osceola County in 2017, and is currently leasing the office space on site back to the county. That lease has about 18 months left on it, and the city hopes to do as much of the preliminary work as possible before that county lease ends, so redevelopment can start quickly once existing buildings on site can be vacated and torn down.
The city has started planning for its development, including environmental, geotechnical and asbestos surveys on the property and what currently sits on it.
In a prior interview with Positively Osceola, Kissimmee Director of Development Services Craig Holland said the Beaumont site could be the home of a grocery store or other retail that could serve the Mosaic project of potential apartments and townhomes planned for build on the Toho Square site about a block from the lakefront.
This new development will make use of new Form-Based Codes, a new system of building and development standards the city hopes to begin using, which was another topic of Monday’s city workshop. These new codes would be an alternative to conventional zoning and create regulations, instead of guidelines, for new development based on a parcel’s use (rural or wetland, some urban, full commercial, etc.)
The standards created by these Form-Based codes are presented in both words and diagrams and other visuals. City officials hope to start using these new codes by February 2020.
