The new planter pots on Park Avenue are reinforced. According to the city, they double as protective bollards between traffic and the sidewalk. Seasonal plantings started going into them the week of September 14. The raised brick beds now have new stone wall caps and are being planted with Liriope. If you walked from Swoope to Garfield this spring, those blocks were behind barricades. By the city's September 9 update, Phase 1 was in its final touches.
Most of Winter Park's big fall and holiday events don't happen on those finished blocks, though. They happen next to Central Park, on the stretch from Garfield to New England. That's Phase 2, and the city is targeting January 2027 to start construction there. This season's art festival, holiday concert, street party and parade all center on Central Park and that frontage. The festival closure and the parade route also extend north onto the refreshed Phase 1 blocks.
How The North End Got Finished
Park Avenue hasn't had a streetscape restoration since 1996 to 1999. Phase 1 covers Webster to Garfield, paid for with $2.5 million in CRA funding approved on August 27, 2025. Crews worked one or two blocks at a time. They started on the west side at Swoope, worked south toward Garfield, then crossed and worked north up the east side. Shops stayed open and a pedestrian route stayed in place throughout.
The city's updates through the summer show the order:
- June 5. Swoope to Cole reopened to traffic and parking. Planters on the west side between Cole and Canton were still being rebuilt.
- July 2. Most work between Canton and Garfield was done. The east side from Swoope to Canton started a closure expected to last about four weeks.
- August 10. The last block-by-block closure began on the east side from Canton to Garfield, which runs from Boca to Briarpatch. The city expected four to five weeks of work.
- August 25. Restoration started on the last raised planter, in front of The Spice & Tea Exchange.
- September 9. Wall caps were in, the pots had arrived, and plantings were scheduled.
The city hasn't announced an exact completion date. Clarissa Howard, the city's communications director, told The Community Paper on September 1 that this phase will "wrap up on time before the holiday shopping season gets underway." She added, "We are looking forward to even more improvements as we continue Phase 2 of the Refresh in the new year."
Where The Fall Calendar Actually Lands
Phase 2 runs from Garfield to New England. Central Park is on the west side and storefronts are on the east, with Morse Boulevard as the main intersection in between. Here is this season's calendar on and around that frontage:
| Date | Event | Where it happens |
|---|---|---|
| Oct. 13 | Revolt in the Parlor: Escaping Victorian Taste opens | Morse Museum |
| Nov. 5 and 7 | Cows 'n Cabs, with Tapas & Tinis and then the main event | Central Park's West Meadow on Nov. 7 |
| Nov. 14–15 | 53rd Winter Park Autumn Art Festival | Central Park, with Park Avenue closed from Lyman to Canton |
| Nov. 27–Dec. 18 | Free Friday-night admission and music | Morse Museum |
| Dec. 3 | 48th Christmas in the Park | Central Park |
| Dec. 4 | Winter on the Avenue, 5 to 9 p.m. | Central Park, with Park Avenue as a pedestrian plaza |
| Dec. 5 | Christmas Parade, 9 to 10:30 a.m. | Park Avenue from Cole Avenue south, turning at New England and ending at Pennsylvania |
The Autumn Art Festival closure says the most about where things happen. The Chamber says Park Avenue will close from Lyman to Canton for the two days. Canton sits on the finished Phase 1 side of Garfield, so the closure takes in refreshed blocks as well as the Phase 2 frontage beside Central Park. The juried show accepts Florida artists only. Cows 'n Cabs will bring more than 30 restaurants and 60 beverage vendors to the West Meadow. The Morse Museum and the city present Christmas in the Park, which features the Tiffany windows and a Bach Festival Society holiday concert.
The Christmas Parade runs the same way. It starts at Cole Avenue on the refreshed north end, heads south down Park Avenue, and turns at New England, which is the southern limit of Phase 2.
What Phase 2 Changes Beside Central Park
On February 25, the City Commission voted 5–0 to approve a $240,250 design contract for Phase 2. It's a design contract, not a construction contract. Bungalower reported that the full three-phase project is projected at $8.5 million, with Phase 1 accounting for $2.5 million of that.
The city presented Phase 2 design elements to the Commission on June 10. These are the ones you'll see on the Central Park blocks:
- About 70 planter pots and about 130 bollards
- 11 bulb-outs at intersections
- About 30 wall-capped planting beds and four trees
- 38 new light poles
- An entry feature at Central Park and Lincoln
- A bus-stop building
- Discussion of the Rose Garden
The pots, bollards and wall-capped beds are the same features now finished on the north end. The bulb-outs, the Lincoln entry feature and the bus-stop building are new to Phase 2. The draft timeline from June lists October 28 as the date for approving the construction budget, but the schedule is still labeled a draft.
Bungalower named the Sidewalk Art Festival as one of the events that will need coordinating around the work. On that point, Howard said, "We will work with event organizers on the type of construction that will be occurring during the event time and how best to accommodate any areas that are within a construction zone." So events are expected to go on alongside construction. The fall 2026 calendar is the last one scheduled before construction starts beside the park.
The Other Avenue That Kept Adding
Park Avenue spent the year behind barricades. Meanwhile, the city's biggest cultural reopening of the year happened on North Orange Avenue. The Winter Park Playhouse returned to 711 N. Orange Ave. after an expansion that took the theater from 123 seats to 172. It also added a larger stage, a new lobby and restrooms, a dedicated cabaret space and accessibility upgrades. An $8 million Orange County Tourist Development Tax grant paid for the city's purchase and expansion of the building. The city then gave the Playhouse a long-term lease. The ribbon-cutting was July 7.
The Playhouse's calendar overlaps with the Park Avenue season. The Rat Pack Lounge runs through October 18. The Men of Motown is a one-night show on October 22 at 7:30 p.m. A Christmas Survival Guide runs November 20 through December 20.
The corridor has also added places to eat. Viet-Nomz was confirmed open at 1330 N. Orange Ave. by September 16, serving pho, banh mi, bowls, tacos and bao. It joins several places already on the street:
- Croissant Gourmet at 900 N. Orange Ave.
- Foxtail Coffee's courtyard at 1282 N. Orange Ave.
- Reel Fish Coastal Kitchen + Bar at 1234 N. Orange Ave.
- The Porch at 643 N. Orange Ave.
- Black Coffee–Cafe Negro Bistro at 761 N. Orange Ave., in the former Winter Park Fish Company space
Seven Oaks Park, a 2.4-acre park at 1150 N. Orange Ave., sits in the middle of the strip. In June, the city moved the farmers' market there for four Saturdays while Central Park's West Meadow was being improved. More is on the way. On July 22, commissioners approved a conditional use for a 301-seat restaurant and a 50-seat café inside the existing office building at 1560 N. Orange Ave. The city packet calls the project "The Hub." No operator or opening date has been announced.
When Phase 2 starts, Orange Avenue's restaurants, park and renovated theater will still have no announced construction on that stretch. Before then, Central Park and its Park Avenue frontage host the Autumn Art Festival on November 14 and 15, Christmas in the Park on December 3, Winter on the Avenue on December 4 and the parade on the morning of December 5.
If you own a home near Park Avenue and are wondering how the refreshed north end and the planned Central Park work might show up in your home's value, Nick Amburgey follows these city projects block by block. Schedule your free consultation, and we'll go over what the Refresh timeline means for your street.
