Corkcicle's owner is the buyer behind Merrywood
A Corkcicle owner behind Merrywood, a ballot guide, a tap-pour cafe and a Yelp honor
James Gamble Rogers II designed the house at Merrywood nearly 90 years ago. In August, the nearly 4 acres under it on Palmer Avenue sold for $15 million.
If commissioners approve the split on Wednesday, Oct. 14, a lakefront lot meant for one home could hold two, and the land would be worth more. On it stands an estate James Gamble Rogers II designed nearly 90 years ago, listed on the state's Florida Master Site File of historic and cultural assets. Last month the city extended the permit to tear the house down while the sale went through.
Steve Lockwood, who lives in east Orlando and bought Corkcicle last year, is behind Lake Osceola Holdings LLC, which paid $15 million for the Palmer Avenue lot in a sale that closed in August. State records also name him a manager of Loyal Source Government Services, a healthcare staffing firm that USAspending.gov, a federal database, credits with $1.9 billion in federal contracts since 2009.
Winter Park's comprehensive plan, the city's long-range rulebook for growth, generally bars dividing lakefront lots, so this split needs a plan amendment. The first vote, in June, went 3-2: Craig Russell, Kris Cruzada and Mayor Sheila DeCiccio in favor, Commissioners Elizabeth Ingram and Warren Lindsey against.
Ingram has since sat down with Lockwood and came away hopeful that he's open to learning about preservation and that the house could survive. Her price for a yes: "I don't feel we should approve the comp plan amendment without the city getting something back in return."
Lockwood says he bought Merrywood as a family home and may share the land with "a close family friend." He's listening, he says, and hopes for "a path forward that everyone can feel good about." Betsy Owens, who leads Friends of Casa Feliz, wants to help find "an elegant solution" that lets him build and still preserves Merrywood.
A voter guide for Winter Park's Nov. 3 general election ballot
News Collaborative of Central Florida members, a group of independent local newsrooms and partners, wrote the questions. Choose a race from the dropdown and the candidates' answers line up side by side, or tap a name to read that candidate's complete survey.
Not everyone replied. For candidates who didn't, the guide's producers filled in answers from their website, social posts or public remarks. So some entries are a candidate's own words, and some are reconstructions.
Saikō plans a tap-pour matcha and mocktail cafe on Miller Avenue
Josue Villacis, formerly head of mixology at Sorekara, is aiming for a spring opening at 1251 Miller Ave., a stand-alone building behind Krispy Kreme and across from the McLaren dealership. Renovations should wrap in about six months, and he'll run the place with his business partner, Thao Nguyen. The original Saikō sits inside Orlando Racket Sports on South Orange Blossom Trail.
The drinks come out of taps. Villacis is shipping in a proprietary system from Australia for mocktails, matcha, hojicha and coffee. Guests pay, then pour their own at the counter: think a raspberry hojicha "milk punch" or a carbonated guava chocolate. House syrups will be bottled on-site to take home.
This isn't meant to be a laptop cafe. Villacis says the room is "built around connection," and he doesn't want guests "clueless about their surroundings because their heads are buried in their laptops." There's no tipping; he wants staff to have "steady pay they can count on." He's still negotiating with the Orlando Racket Sports landlord. If that falls through, Miller Avenue becomes Saikō's only home.
Yelp names The Chapman one of the country's best new restaurants
Inside, the restaurant works in nods to the people who founded Winter Park, so dinner comes with a little local history.