by Beth Kassab | May 19, 2026 | News, Police
Alan Chambers Facing Charges Related to Messages with a Detective Posing as a Teen
The executive with John Craig Clothier is also known for his work with the Park Avenue District and for his work two decades ago as a leader in the “ex-gay movement”
May 19, 2026
Alan Chambers, well-known for his work with the Park Avenue District and as an executive with John Craig Clothier, was arrested by Orange County Sheriff’s detectives on Tuesday morning and is facing charges related to conversations over Snapchat, text and other apps with a detective who he believed to be a 14-year-old boy, according to a report from the sheriff’s office.
Chambers, 54, began exchanging messages with an undercover Snapchat account operated by Orange County Det. Jeffrey Payne in February, according to the report. The detective portrayed himself as a 14-year-old living in Orlando “near Millenia.”
“This user expressed concern over our age difference,” according to the sheriff’s report and attempted to arrange several meetings, but the two never met.
The report detailed multiple messages with sexually-charged content.
The detective’s written narrative described a digital trail of communications linked to Chambers after the sheriff’s office subpoenaed records from AT&T, Charter, Snapchat and Google.
Chambers was arrested Tuesday about 8:30 a.m. after detectives pulled over his vehicle on Aloma Avenue near Strathy Lane.
“When I asked Alan if he communicated with any children, he told me that he communicates with one, who he identified as [redacted] who was fourteen years old and who he met on Snapchat,” the detective wrote. “When I asked him what they discussed, he told me that they discussed meeting but would not specify to do what. When I asked Alan further questions he told me that he would rather not say anymore.”
Chambers faces three third-degree felony charges: soliciting a minor via a computer; distributing harmful material to a minor and unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
As of Tuesday afternoon, no attorney was listed in his court file as representing Chambers.
A sheriff’s spokesperson said detectives are interested in knowing whether any minors communicated with him and asked for anyone with information to call the non-emergency line at 407-836-4357.
Chambers’ bio appeared to be removed from the Park Avenue District web site, where he was previously listed as co-president.
“The Park Avenue District and its leadership are committed to maintaining the trust of our community, businesses, residents, and visitors,” read a statement from the district. “While this matter is unrelated to the organization or its work, we take situations involving allegations of this nature extremely seriously. At this time, Mr. Chambers is no longer associated with the organization. Out of respect for the legal process, we will not comment further on the specifics of the case. Our focus remains on continuing to support the Park Avenue community and the many businesses, events, and initiatives that make this district such a special part of Winter Park.”
Chambers had recently been an outspoken advocate for fellow merchants, including about frustration related to city construction along Park Avenue and last year when the district went through a shake-up last year over a controversy stemming from a misinformation campaign about the city’s Christmas events.
Chambers made national headlines for his work with a Christian group known as Exodus International, which promoted a discredited therapy to “convert” gay people to straight, and for his previous opposition to gay marriage. He later apologized for that work, penned an op-ed in the Washington Post in 2015 supporting gay marriage and authored a book that same year with his wife called “My Exodus.”
Update: This story has been updated to include a statement from the Park Avenue District.
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by Beth Kassab | May 14, 2026 | City Commission, News
Rare Peacock, White as Snow, Turning Heads in Winter Park
City Commission also sets a discussion about the fate of Blue Bamboo for next month and green lights a new parking garage
May 14, 2026
By Beth Kassab
City Manager Randy Knight was at home one day about a week ago when spotted a strange sight out his window.
Perched on his neighbor’s fence was one of the city’s trademark peacocks, but not the vibrant blue and green variety enshrined on the city’s seal.
“It was all white,” Knight said. “I don’t know if I have ever heard of a white one.”
Neighbors have spotted a rare white peacock near the Winter Park Pines Golf Course. (Photos courtesy of Randy Knight)
It was such a rare sight, he immediately snapped some photos and let his neighbors know, too.
Now the snow white peacock is getting buzz like occasional sightings of celebrities on Park Avenue (think comedian Carrot Top or, a few years ago, Paul McCartney).
Commissioner Kris Cruzada, who also lives near the Winter Park Pines Golf Course, said he hasn’t seen the rare bird yet, but is on the lookout.
It looks “almost heavenly, like an angel practically,” in the photos, he said, after he brought up Knight’s sighting at Wednesday’s City Commission meeting.
White peacocks occur in the wild at an estimated rate of just one in 30,000, according to a post published last year by the Environmental Literacy Council. They are found in Florida and California and descend when a genetic mutation occurs in the more common Indian Blue Peafowl.
The white peacock perched on a roof in Winter Park recently.
Winter Park is well known for the blue variety, which have lived for decades in the Windsong neighborhood, often spotted along Genius Drive.
The council’s post reported that most white peacocks are not albino, but have a condition known as leucism, which results in a reduction of pigment and can still have blue eyes.
Knight said he read that white peacocks can struggle to find mates because they lack the typical brightly colored plume and perhaps this one made its way from the Windsong area to his neighborhood.
“I’ve never even seen the colorful kind in our neighborhood,” Knight said. “I don’t know if this one was in Windsong and started looking for love in all the wrong places, but its been there for about a week and a half.”
Knight, who is set to retire early next year after 35 years with the city, joked that perhaps it’s a good sign for his next chapter.
“It does mean prosperity,” he said.
Blue Bamboo Discussion to be in June
The City Commission on Wednesday scheduled a work session about the Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts’ proposed sublease to a school for June 25.
The move came in response to a request from Blue Bamboo leaders, who pulled the sublease from this week’s City Commission agenda after questions mounted about whether the intended user known as Alpha School meets standards set out in the master lease for the old city library building that was envisioned as an arts and nonprofit hub.
While members of the public are typically not allowed to speak at work sessions, commissioners said they would make an exception and allow people to sign up to voice their opinions at the June meeting.
There was a brief debate among commissioners about whether the work session should take up only the proposed sublease or if there should also be a discussion about what to do with the building if Blue Bamboo is unable to continue operating after its lease payments are scheduled to increase in August.
The comments signaled a clear concern by multiple commissioners about the future of the operation if a sublease is not approved.
“To me, it feels strange to discuss, if they don’t stick around past August, to discuss future plans with them there,” said Commissioner Elizabeth Ingram.
“I would concur with you. I don’t want to talk about trying to sell it out from under them while they are still in there making lease payments,” Mayor Sheila DeCiccio said.
The Blue Bamboo, which opened last summer, has so far met its financial obligations to the city and President Jeff Flowers said the venue is mostly booked with shows through January. But Flowers has also acknowledged the importance of a sublease for the second and third floors to help the music venue cover its increasing rent payments.
A New Parking Garage Behind City Hall
Commissioners on Wednesday also decided to move forward with asking developers for concepts to build a parking garage behind City Hall to help alleviate concerns about enough parking spaces off Park Avenue.
The idea is that the city would provide the land — now a parking lot — and a developer would build the garage, potentially with retail or other commercial spaces, as a public-private partnership.
The city’s ask is for a minimum of 265 spaces or a minimum of 120 new parking spots in the area on top of what is needed for city employees and operations.
Whether the new public parking is free and how many spaces will be added will be part of the negotiations as the city reviews whatever ideas are submitted in the coming months.
Most commissioners appeared in favor of a new garage, but Ingram expressed reservations.
“I’m going to be a hard sell on parking garage but I might be out-voted anyways,” she said. “I just feel it is so permanent and so in your face … I can still find a parking spot anytime I come down here. Sometimes it’s a little farther away or I have to circle around, but even at Christmastime I can find a parking spot.”
Other commissioners agreed they can also typically find spots — and know where to look because they live there — but fear visitors are unfamiliar with the side streets and might experience more frustration at peak times. According to city data the Park Avenue area attracted some 3 million visitors last year.
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by Beth Kassab | May 14, 2026 | Arts and Culture, City Commission, Historic Preservation, News
Preservation Advocates Say Winter Park Must Do More to Save Historic Homes
With three John Gamble Rogers II homes under threat of demolition this year, advocate says dwindling assets should serve as ‘wake up call’
May 14, 2026
By Beth Kassab
With three homes designed by James Gamble Rogers II currently under threat of demolition, historic preservation advocates pleaded with the City Commission on Wednesday to make meaningful changes to the way Winter Park protects its historic assets.
Betsy Owens, executive director of Friends of Casa Feliz and granddaughter of Gamble Rogers, said she hopes the potential loss of three significant houses — all more than 85 years old — in a single year will serve as a “wake up call” for the city to strengthen its historic preservation ordinance. She said the city’s ordinance is among “the weakest in the state.”
“These are not anonymous old buildings,” Owens said. “They are irreplaceable works by the architect who more than any other helped define the visual character of Winter Park.”
None of the three homes are listed on the city’s historic register, meaning there is no protection from demolition. The register is voluntary and many owners deliberately opt to keep homes off the register under the theory that the home will be worth more without demolition restrictions.
Owens, and other advocates who spoke at the meeting, including Jack Rogers, said it’s time for Winter Park to get serious about preservation.
They are recommending the commission consider adding incentives such as property tax breaks or rehabilitation help for people who list their homes on the register. They are also calling for new ideas such as an investment fund to help with purchasing and then reselling historic homes to people who are willing to invest in and preserve them.
Mayor Sheila DeCiccio recommended a discussion about potential changes be added to the next City Commission meeting on May 27 and the other commissioners agreed. The commission would likely send the matter to the Historic Preservation Board for further evaluation before making a final decision on changes.
The homes currently under threat are:
- 1020 Palmer Avenue, also known as Merrywood, which is under active demolition permit and could be demolished by the end of May. The home is one of the largest and most ornate in the dwindling collection of Gamble Rogers homes. Tara Tedrow, the prospective buyer who has the property under contract, facilitated the demolition permit in March and is also asking the city to amend its comprehensive plan to allow the lakefront property to be split into two lots. Under that scenario, she said, she would attempt to find a buyer interested in restoring Merrywood while her family could build a new home on the other portion of the property. A Planning & Zoning Board hearing on the request was delayed at Tedrow’s request until June. “Despite enormous public interest and dozens of interested investors touring the property, no buyer has yet emerged able to reconcile the nearly $10 million (estimated) asking price with the substantial restoration needs of the house, conservatively estimated at more than $3 million,” Owens said in an email to supporters.
- 250 Virginia Drive sits on a large lot overlooking Lake Virginia. The home was sold last year for $2.6 million and a demolition permit was filed by the new owner last month. The home is considered an example of the Colonial Revival style with strong New England influences, including shaker shingles.
- 617 Interlachen Avenue is possibly “the most eclectic and artistically ambitious of Rogers’ Spanish Eclectic residences. There is no demolition permit filed yet, but Rogers said the home is expected to go up for sale soon and in one of the city’s most expensive neighborhoods. “History has shown that when the dirt beneath a home becomes worth many multiples of the structure itself, it is time for that home to get its affairs in order,” she said.
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by Beth Kassab | May 12, 2026 | Arts and Culture, City Commission, News, Zoning and Development
Blue Bamboo Pulls AI School Sublease from City Commission Agenda
The president of the arts group that rents the old library from the city of Winter Park said it will “take a pause” on the idea of renting out the second floor to a private school
May 12, 2026
By Beth Kassab
The leader of the Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts said on Tuesday morning that he would pull a request from this week’s City Commission agenda a request to rent out the second story of the group’s venue to an artificial intelligence-driven private school.
The sublease request, first reported by the Voice on Friday, prompted a number of community questions about whether the for-profit school to be run through a Winter Park couple’s disaster relief foundation met the original intent of creating an arts hub in the old city library building.
“The Blue Bamboo Board of Directors has decided to take a pause on the agenda item at this time,” read a message from President Jeff Flowers to the group’s supporters. “We feel that the issues the sublease raises will be better addressed by requesting a city work session where the best use of the facility can be addressed.”
Todd Weaver, a former city commissioner who was instrumental in securing the lease for Blue Bamboo during his tenure, is now the group’s vice president.
The Commission, including Weaver, voted 4-1 in July of 2024 to lease the building to the small nonprofit arts venue. Mayor Sheila DeCiccio was the only no vote after she questioned the group’s financial sustainability. Before the Blue Bamboo won the lease, Rollins College was aiming to repurpose the building into a new art museum.
The venue opened in the summer of 2025 and just months later Blue Bamboo founder and musician Chris Cortez died from brain cancer.
But questions about the future use of the building were already mounting. Just months before Cortez died Central Florida Vocal Arts, which had partnered with Blue Bamboo to secure the city lease as well as a nearly $1 million Orange County grant for the venue and was planning to occupy the second floor, walked away from the deal when the two groups couldn’t come to terms.
That left Blue Bamboo without a sublease to help meet a higher rent obligation to the city that is set to begin in August.
Blue Bamboo’s lease payment is scheduled to increase from $132,000 a year to $276,000 a year in three months.
The proposed sublease to Matthew and Paige Wideman’s Love & Life Foundation was the first concept for the second floor to be brought to the commission since Central Florida Vocal Arts opted against moving forward with Blue Bamboo.
The draft lease calls for the foundation, which says it specializes in helicoptering in aid after hurricanes and other disasters, to pay an annual rent of $198,000 for the second floor, or about $18 per square foot for 11,000 square feet.
The lease between Blue Bamboo and the city calls for the second and third floors of the building to be renovated within two years for “arts education, recording studio and local non-profit use.”
Matthew Wideman told the Voice he planned to use the space to start a location of Alpha School, a for-profit model of private school founded in Austin, Texas that has been lauded by the Trump administration and where tuition is expected to be about $45,000 a year.
The Alpha model calls for students to spend about two hours a day on core subjects such as math using AI-led instruction. Human staff members — known as “guides” rather than teachers — spend the rest of the day helping students develop business, public speaking and other project-based skills.
“The school shall not have more than 50 students, and will not accept school vouchers funded by the State of Florida for those students’ tuition or expenses,” according to a copy of the lease posted with the City Commission agenda for Wednesday’s meeting.
The idea, Flowers told the Voice last week, was to use the music and arts expertise of Blue Bamboo to help instruct students at the school.
City spokeswoman Clarissa Howard said commissioners will now discuss on Wednesday whether to hold a potential work session about the lease at a later date.
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by Beth Kassab | May 11, 2026 | Arts and Culture, News, Zoning and Development
Big Changes Felt on Park Avenue with 'Disruptive' Construction Underway
George’s Cafe owner says the ‘Refresh’ project is hurting business while other sections of the avenue are undergoing a transformation with high-profile closures and new construction for the Rollins art museum and, potentially, a city garage
May 11, 2026
By Beth Kassab
On a recent afternoon, George Paul checked over receipts for the day’s business at George’s Cafe, known for piled-high sandwiches and from-scratch cookies bigger than a fist.
“I lost money today,” said Paul, who has operated the shop in the former Brandywine’s Delicatessen spot on North Park Avenue for six years and, before that, at a location on Lee Road. “And it’s not just today … the sidewalks are torn up. There’s barricades. For our older clientele, it looks hazardous. Our business is down by two-thirds.”
George’s sits in the middle of the first block — from Swoope to Canton avenues — of Park Avenue closed last month as part of the city’s three-year, estimated $8.5 million effort to refurbish underground wires and piping, contain tree roots, upgrade streetlights to a higher-tech model, smooth sidewalks and install other aesthetic changes such as new garbage cans and planters.
Paul said he’s adjusted his hours during the construction to account for fewer patrons.
While city officials see the project, known as the Park Avenue Refresh, as a much-needed antidote for aging infrastructure, merchants are bracing for a temporary dose of pain.
George’s Cafe during construction for the Park Avenue Refresh. (This photo and above photo courtesy of the city of Winter Park.)
“It’s going to impact every business, including ours, at some point, but it’s just one of those things,” said Alan Chambers, co-president of the Park Avenue District and vice president of operations for John Craig Clothier, which operates two stores on the avenue. “We all lived through the major refresh of 30 years ago and it brought tremendous benefits to Park Avenue. When it’s all said and done, it costs us all a little bit of frustration.”
A New Era for the Avenue
Brand Melville opened on Park Avenue in April.
Chambers was referring to the last major series of infrastructure projects on Park, including bricking over paved sections of the road, which started in the mid-1990s when phones didn’t yet have cameras, the O.J. Simpson trial dominated television and the old Winter Park Mall on U.S. Highway 17-92 still stood before it was demolished to make way for Winter Park Village.
Now, the latest refresh project is coinciding with a number of monumental changes that will usher in a new era for the oldest and most celebrated shopping and dining district not just in the city, but across Central Florida.
Park Avenue counted 3 million visitors last year, up from 2.1 million in 2020 and 2.7 million in 2019 before the pandemic. The data is based on consumer tracking software used by the city government that captures unique U.S.-based cellphone signals, meaning some international visitors may not be included in the totals.
Customers check out the newly opened Brandy Melville on Park Avenue on a recent afternoon.
Last month, the opening of Brandy Melville, a popular Gen Z brand known for its minimalist aesthetic and beachy vibe, brought lines of customers waiting to enter. Videos posted to TikTok showed a queue of mostly teen and college-age women wrapping around the corner at Morse Boulevard to check out the store, which has been criticized as discriminatory toward some body types for its policy of selling just one size per style (generally the equivalent of a small).
On a recent weekday, 23-year-old Valentina Orive said she drove 45 minutes to shop there — a short distance compared with the three hours she once drove to visit other locations in South Florida.
“I like the quality of the clothes a lot,” she said, noting the Winter Park store, which replaced the Lily Pulitzer, is larger than the others she has visited, except for one in New York City. “They just have really good basics.”
Love Brandy or hate it, some other merchants took advantage of the foot traffic, Chambers said, with at least one nearby boutique, Through the Looking Glass, offering discounts to customers who showed a Brandy Melville receipt.
Longtime Institutions Face Change
Meanwhile, other institutions along the avenue are calling it quits.
Miller’s Hardware, the longest continuously operating family-owned business there, will shut its doors for good sometime during the second quarter of this year after more than 80 years, setting the stage for redevelopment of the block fronting Fairbanks Avenue.
Stephen Miller, owner and grandson of the founder, said he made the decision for multiple reasons that “took the wind out of my sails.” His son, Clay — whom he anticipated would take over the business — died unexpectedly in 2019 at age 29 and, he said, the business simply doesn’t generate enough revenue compared with what the property is worth.
As for what he will do with the prime piece of real estate, Miller isn’t yet saying.
Miller’s Hardware has been run by the same family for more than 80 years. It plans to close in the coming months.
“The future of the property is to be determined,” he said. “I’m weighing options.”
Miller said he would like to see the current batch of city commissioners consider allowing “more density” as aging buildings are redeveloped.
“The plumbing on Park Avenue kept me in business … that stuff is old,” he said. “The City Commission just needs to let there be more density so they can support rebuilding a lot of places people love.”
Behind the Scaffolding
One spot now undergoing an interior demolition and rebuild is 310 Park Ave. S., where the longtime eatery of the same name closed at the end of 2024.
Dyar McComb of Great American Land Management Inc. declined to be interviewed about the work underway at the building owned by the Holler family through a company called PA Partners LLLP, which owns multiple buildings along the avenue.
Signs beneath the construction scaffolding out front display the logo for Oak & Stone, a concept by Artistry Restaurants, the Winter Park-based group that also operates Boca and The Chapman on Park.
Chambers said some people were surprised by the work on the block between New England and Lyman avenues, but the exterior of the 100-year-old building will remain the same.
Construction scaffolding covers the front of 310 Park Avenue South, a sign of more changes to come on the avenue.
“There wasn’t anything inside that looked historic, and I’m not sure if anything had ever been replaced, so it’s going to be a wonderful change for that building,” he said. “The Hollers are going to do a good job on that. They are tremendous partners in the city and in the district.”
People forget, he noted, that “at one point that entire space was an Olive Garden and then Fat Tuesday.”
That was before the first refresh project three decades ago, when part of the street was still paved rather than brick and no one had even heard of Y2K much less streaming in 4K.
More Changes on the Horizon
With the latest refresh project well underway, even larger changes are afoot beyond shifting storefronts.
City officials are considering building a three-story garage behind City Hall to ease parking frustrations with 120 new public parking spaces on top of the 145 required for city employees and operations.
An architectural rendering shows the exterior of a new Rollins Art Museum.
And Rollins College is constructing a new 30,000-square-foot art museum across from The Alfond Inn, just blocks from Park Avenue, that will also alter the equation for foot traffic and parking.
The museum is set to open in 2028, the same year the third and final phase of the Park Avenue Refresh — from New England to Fairbanks avenues — is scheduled to take place.
George’s Block to Reopen
As for George’s, Paul said he is grateful his catering business is doing well but wishes the city would do more construction work at night or on weekends, when it would be less disruptive to his breakfast-and-lunch cafe.
Clarissa Howard, who is leading the refresh project, said some work related to the stormwater system will be done at night, particularly when workers must close the entire street.
Each block closure, which includes shutting down one lane of traffic with detours, will last about four weeks, she said.
“There’s always going to be disruption with any kind of construction, but we’re not there for months and months at a time,” Howard said. “It’s four weeks and the infrastructure we’re putting in will last four decades.”
She said the stretch in front of George’s is set to reopen this week and the project will continue moving block by block south toward Fairbanks Avenue.
“We’re definitely hurt,” Paul said. “I don’t know … I wish there was a solution to this. I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like when they go down the street.”
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