Part of Parramore Avenue to close for soccer stadium

Orlando will prepare the way for a new soccer stadium in Parramore by closing off a part of the neighborhood's namesake avenue.

Without discussion, City Council voted unanimously Monday to permanently vacate Parramore Avenue between West Central Boulevard and West Church Street for the future home of the Orlando City Lions, a Major League Soccer expansion franchise.

The new 19,500-seat stadium, slated to open in time for the start of the MLS season in 2016, is part of a broader economic-development vision for the predominantly African-American neighborhood, which has been plagued for decades by crime, housing foreclosures and chronically high unemployment.

The city hopes the venue and other planned "catalyst projects" will help lure new entrepreneurs and investors to the depressed neighborhood, which has seen its population shrink from 18,000 residents in the 1960s to about 6,100 today.

But not everyone is sold on the stadium's hope-building potential and some say it comes at the cost of Parramore's rich history.

Closing Parramore Avenue and building the $110-million sporting venue "literally will destroy one of the most historical communities we have," said Lawanna Gelzer, a community activist who has been an outspoken critic of Mayor Buddy Dyer's administration and the city's efforts to land a professional soccer team.

Other critics recently complained that the stadium will bring only noise, traffic congestion and low-paying jobs.

The city decided to build the stadium on Parramore Avenue after year-long negotiations broke down for a Church Street site owned by Faith Deliverance Temple. Church leaders once demanded $35 million for the property, which was appraised at between $300,000 and $700,000. The city's top offer was $4 million.

Parramore Avenue will lead to the stadium and, Dyer said, the area that can become a "kind of city center."

"The neighborhood itself is a historic neighborhood, and certainly there's significance to the street named Parramore," said Dyer.

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Part of Parramore Avenue to close for soccer stadium