Construction on Park Avenue Will Begin this Month Starting on the North End
The estimated $8.5 million project will upgrade technology and aesthetics along the busy shopping and dining district
Jan. 6, 2026
By Beth Kassab
Construction will begin later this month on the first major overhaul in 25 years of Park Avenue’s aesthetics and technology — a project known as the Park Avenue Refresh that will include nearly $1 million worth of new streetlights and a total price tag estimated at $8.5 million over the next three years.
Workers began some tasks last year as the city prepared to launch Phase 1 construction this month. (Photo courtesy of the city of Winter Park)
The work on the first of the three project phases is slated to start Jan. 20 on the north end of the avenue and run from Webster Avenue, near the University Club of Winter Park and the city’s nine-hole golf course to Garfield Avenue along the northern border of Central Park.
The stretch includes the Morse Museum, which houses a large collection of glass windows, lamps, jewelry and other delicate work by Louis Comfort Tiffany, and museum leadership has expressed concerns about potential vibrations from construction, Clarissa Howard, the Refresh’s project manager, told the City Commission last month.
Howard said city staff is working with the museum and others along the stretch such as St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church, which also runs a school with busy drop-off and pick-up times, to minimize disruptions from the construction.
“Fortunately, our project will not be using jack hammers or equipment that would create that type of severe vibrations that could cause damage to the fragile glass,” Howard said in an email. “We are very sensitive to the fragility of the museum’s pieces so we are working closely with them on our construction schedule and activity. We were asked by the museum team to do our work around the museum during the day so they could have staff on standby to keep an eye out for their pieces during construction.”
The new streetlights, which the commission voted in April to purchase for nearly $1 million, include “dark sky” lamp fixtures that cast LED lights downward, wi-fi receivers, electric hook-ups for cameras and speakers and internal sprinklers for potted plants that will hang from the fixtures. The new cameras on the north end of Park Avenue are for security and will allow law enforcement to obtain footage of incidents for a period of time if needed.
In addition to the new light poles, the avenue will get some noticeable upgrades in the form of new oak trees, new sidewalks, repairs to raised planter beds, new potted plants, new trash and recycling bins and bollards or short posts designed to prevent cars from encroaching on the sidewalks. Other work will be done underground to wire the new lights and irrigation system, help contain tree roots and address stormwater runoff concerns.
A new sign arches above the north end of Park Avenue near where the Refresh project is slated to begin later this month.
Some work will be done overnight to minimize disruptions to shops and businesses, which rely on foot traffic along one of the region’s busiest shopping and dining hubs.
Last year downtown Winter Park logged more than 1.3 million visitors, according to a city count.
Construction on Phase 2 of the project will start in 2027 and run from Garfield to New England Avenue.
Alex Stringfellow, who serves as the urban planner for the project, said the next phase will be mindful of coordinatization around the considerable space occupied by cafe tables along the sidewalks as well as maintaining the health of the oak tree in front of Briarpatch, the largest along the avenue.
Phase 3 will begin in 2028 and run from New England to Fairbanks Avenue.
WinterParkVoiceEditor@gmail.com
Can any member of our city commission explain in writing how spending $8.5 million of our tax dollars on this section of Park Ave addresses a need of our residents?
An $8.5MM “Refresh” inclusive of “internal sprinklers for potted plants and state of the art “dark sky” LED streetlights? It seems the City bends over backwards for the merchants in Winter Park and concerns itself secondarily with the people who actually live here and pay the vast majority of taxes. It’s particularly ironic that there are areas of residential winter park without adequate or working street lights, let alone undergrounded electrical utilities promised decades ago.
Winter Park is first and foremost a place to live and while it’s great to have easy access to retail (you never know when you will need to pop out to pick up a Venetian-Style hand blown glass peacock, a an Ozempic-fighting sized container of chocolate covered fried Oreos, or perhaps some organic, sustainable dog soap), the City’s first concern (and first dollars spent) should be for the health, safety, and quality of life of its citizens.
P.S. The wrought iron signage at either end of the Park Avenue is ridiculous, it looks like the type of signs that Disney uses to let its customers know they are entering a another theme area of the park.
This is so lavishly wasteful and unnecessary. I’d like a refund on my taxes, please. Someone needs to audit the $8.5MM price tag. I’m sure there’s a grift going on somewhere with these expenditures and pork projects. At the same time, the city commissioners fear legislation about property tax reduction and what it will do to the budget.