In a state where the thermometer hovers around balmy for most of the year, it’s no surprise that visitors long to shed four walls for blue skies. Beaches and wilderness areas are a given for fresh air and vitamin D, but many cities and towns are touting another way to soak in the great outdoors—downtowns, city centers and alfresco convention districts where shopping, dining, attractions, accommodations and often the meeting venue are within strolling distance.
About 20 years ago, Miami made a serious push to turn its downtown streets—deserted after 5 p.m.—into a vibrant hive of business, sports, arts and entertainment, with huge convention projects on tap over the next few years.
Fort Lauderdale’s Las Olas Boulevard and Downtown Riverwalk District can make similar claims, while the recent opening of the Hilton West Palm Beach—adjacent to the Palm Beach County Convention Center—has turned that corner of the city into a haven for pedestrians, with the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts and the CityPlace complex of shopping and dining steps away.
Once an afterthought, downtown Pensacola’s Palafox Street has experienced a resurgence of interest as visitors and locals park their cars (for free!) and walk to new restaurants, bars and the nearby Historic Pensacola Village.
“It’s so alive and vibrant now,” says Leslie Mathews, convention sales manager for Visit Pensacola. “Palafox has just blossomed with restaurants and chefs returning home after being trained.”
Another area enjoying renewed popularity is downtown Tampa, where the recently completed Riverwalk fronts the Hillsborough River for two miles, winding past hotels, museums, attractions and the Tampa Convention Center.
“It’s paradise for meeting groups,” says Cristina Duschek, a spokesperson for Visit Tampa Bay. “We had Florida Huddle at the convention center recently, and attendees didn’t have to go anywhere, because dining and entertainment were right outside the door. It really makes us a great walking destination because you can start at the Florida Aquarium and go past the convention center, the History Center, the Tampa Museum of Art and lots of water activities.”
Looking to expand the concept of walkability is Orlando, and they’re looking at a portion of famed International Drive as the place to do it. Anchored by the Orange County Convention Center on one end and the recently debuted Mango’s Tropical Cafe at the other, this emerging convention district includes the Pointe Orlando shopping and entertainment center and the new Orlando Eye complex of giant observation wheel, Madame Tussauds Orlando wax museum and the Sea Life Orlando aquarium.
“If you look at the trends of the last 30 years, people are moving downtown, and I think that’s what’s happening here,” notes Fred Shea, senior vice president of convention sales and services for Visit Orlando. “I-Drive is developing as a new attraction, and it’s coming from the grassroots; these are all private developers who see an opportunity.”
Part of I-Drive’s transformation will include what is being called the world’s tallest roller coaster that will have a hotel and restaurant on top as well as indoor golfing.
“It will be a kind of vertical amusement park,” Shea says.
New hotels, entertainment venues and pedestrian walkways also are part of the master plan.
Meanwhile, strolling, dining, meeting and staying are all hallmarks of the downtown districts of Naples, Fort Myers, Punta Gorda and the charming seaside villages of South Walton.
