Much as I love some of the condos downtown, I’ve always thought it was a rather odd place to live. It’s the only downtown I’ve ever known where there are no supermarkets, no malls and no movie theaters. Having lived in San Francisco, London and New York it’s hard for me to even call it a ”downtown”. I mean what’s the point of living in a city if you have to drive to the suburbs to shop and go to the movies? No wonder there are so many beggars – there’s nowhere to actually buy any food.

Well, I now have one less reason to not buy downtown Orlando. The long-awaited downtown Orlando Publix is opening its doors to the public at 8 a.m. on Sept. 6.

The new 30,000-square-foot grocery store on the ground floor of The Paramount condos on Lake Eola (East Lake Ave) also has an employees-and-families gathering planned for the evening prior to opening.

The $101 million mixed use condo project, being developed by Orlando-based Zom Inc., includes 313 condo units, 45,000 square feet of retail space and about 10,000 square feet of office space – which it seems nobody wants. Perhaps they’d consider turning it into a movie theatre?

For more info on the Paramount condos, see our dedicated Paramount condo page.