Six months after the community rallied to save Constitution Green Orlando announced a deal to save the park and its roughly 150-year-old oak tree. The city gets the nearly two-acre parcel in exchange for cash and land.
The $5.85 million deal includes $3.3 million in cash and a parcel of city-owned property in downtown Orlando. City Commissioner Patty Sheehan says it’s a good deal. “You always want to get land at the best deal that you can, of course,” said Sheehan, “but in this situation I think that the combination of both, I think it makes sense.”
The city’s been leasing Constitution Green for 25 years, and the park was slated for development when the community rallied around it back in March. “We had a very, very good apartment builder who wanted to come here, and the city recognized the significance of the property and the tree,” said Jim Caruso who owns the land. “So this will be a continued good use of the property and we couldn’t be happier.”
City Commissioners now need to approve the deal. If they do, the closing must happen by February 1st.
