I do not live in Brandon. I live in Carrollwood and do not get over there very often. However, I did work at the Hospital there in the late 90s for 4 years. I always thought that Brandon movers and shakers should try to develop the area near the historical crossroads of town into a "downtown". I'm referring to the area around Kings and SR-60. Where the old Clayton plaza is. They already have some vital institutions nearby like the hospital, the chamber of commerce(unless it moved) the library, Center Place, nearby rail lines and many established commercial and retail businesses. Oh yeah, and the original Beef's. I bring this up, a bit late probably, because I understand that the "main street" development is planned for the area just east of the mall off Lakewood.

Again, I do not live in Brandon and have not even visited in a bit so if "they" have already started constructing a new downtown away from the historic center then maybe this thread will be used to debate what could've been. Unless of course it gets locked.

No offense to anyone from Brandon but i dont see a downtown there anytime soon its like a typical florida suburb, no visible start or end, just endless repeat patterns.

I don't think Brandon is even incorporated yet...

Tampa needs to develop its downtown before Brandon gets one, In my opinion the whole bay area lacks true urbanism it's like a big ass suburb

Downtown Brandon... comedy gold.

What a complete wasteland. I dated a girl out there in highschool and hated driving over there. There was absolutely no planning involved and what you get is 2 parallel 8 lane roads interconnected with a bunch of 2 lane back streets.

And yet everyone out there thinks they live somewhere special. Anyone been to Regency 20 lately? I swear I feel safer in Ybor.

I hate Brandon so much. I live at 301 and Causeway and I loathe the traffic in this area. It is horrendous ALL DAY! Brandon is not organized at all it is sprawl, sprawl, and more sprawl.

Brandon is unincorporated and people there do seem to consider there part of the county as better than the rest. Whatever. Anyway, Brandon has a lot of history by Florida standards. Check it out, the town father settled in the area just after Fort Brooke was established in the mid 1800s. Also Brandon does have a sizable population. The point of this thread is that instead of a fake downtown near the mall there should be encouragement to create a downtown near the original historic crossroads. The notion that Brandon is all suburbs is pointless. All the urban planners I would think, would like to encourage a dense urban center in Brandon. It probably would be good for Brandon to incorporate to be able to control growth better.

I would actually be for incorporation.

OK this is one of the only few places I will admit this, but I was born and raised in Brandon, and the daughter of a Brandon native (like going to an AA meeting ... Hi my name is Amanda and I'm from Brandon). Needless to say I couldn't wait to get out and doubt I will ever go back. There has been several pushes for Brandon to incorporate over the past decades and it has been shot down several times. Why would they need to, most County planning dollars go there anyway.
FlaNatv is correct, there is a lot of history there. The historical main crossroads in Brandon was at Victoria and Moon, if you know where I am talking about then great, but it is basically around Brandon High School. Then as the area grew the area between Kings and Parsons along Brandon Blvd/60 became the heart of the area with the true business corridor along oakfield - it still is a thriving area, the true Brandon main street if you will. I think the growth in Riverview and along 301 along with the building of the mall has shifted traffic and new growth westward, but very few locally owned business have made the westward venture. Up until the late 60s early 70s when the subdivisions started popping up, Brandon was still a sleepy town of about 3,000 - 6,000. If you drive east on 60 past the mall it starts to look like Hillsborough Ave. - old strip malls and gas stations that have seen better days and it is pretty gritty and crime ridden. Yes the "Main Street" project is a joke.

I know Brandon, because I wrestled in High School, so I basically know that place like the back of my hand, and for those of you who don't know...
Brandon H.S is ranked in the top 20 for high schools in wrestling and has been for some time, Not to mention Brandon has several wrestlers in college, and has had several national champions, which has given Florida (more importantly H.C) a good name for wrestling. However, this place is a joke, and most of the wrestlers don't even live in Brandon because it is crap. The few who do, are the ones who end up holding up some place (true story) and then shooting themselves.
But Hey! The High School does not look like a prison, unlike Sickles and Alonso (there are way more but I can't remember which ones.)

I have to say that, while it has much potential, Brandon is an abomination. It is the poster child for poor planning. I would be overjoyed if they would bulldoze some of that sprawl and build a "village" somewhere. THere are so many people in the area, that it would be almost guaranteed to thrive and, with a little foresight, grow

I have to say that, while it has much potential, Brandon is an abomination. It is the poster child for poor planning. I would be overjoyed if they would bulldoze some of that sprawl and build a "village" somewhere. THere are so many people in the area, that it would be almost guaranteed to thrive and, with a little foresight, grow

Well...I know this isn't exactly considered "Brandon", but on the corner of Bloomingdale and Providence (Riverview) they are building the Winthrop Town Center. (Our office is currently located there) Hopefully moving to Channelside as soon as more office condos/spaces come onto the market. Does anyone know if "Brandon Main Street" is actually in the works currently? (The Cow Pasture) across from the mall. The area is ridiculously boring. I've spent twenty-two years here, all my life (Born and raised). I Can't wait to move into SkyPoint on Monday. I'm constantly reminded how Hwy 60 use to be a two lane road (Cow Pastures in every direction). Before the mall, before Regency 20, before the vast endless expanse of suburbia. Brandon is indeed rooted in history... my great grandparents went to the old Brandon High School now McClane Middle School. There seems to be no end in sight with the now master planned communities of Fish Hawk spreading to the southeast. Sprawl continues. :ohno:

In fairness to Brandon...
I grew up in Jacksonville's Brandon, Orange Park (Clay County). If anything the area was even less well-planned, and the county is so anti-jobs it will never improve. A call center opened in 2001, about a hundred low-paid jobs, and the county hailed it as the next coming of Christ. There are two roads out of the county into Jacksonville, and since by the county's own admission everybody who lives there either works in retail or in Jax, both roads are clogged every morning and every afternoon. Brandon may be an abomination, but at least it has multiple transportation arteries and a handful of primary jobs in the area.
I personally avoid going to Brandon at all costs (except for Drinking Liberally on Thursday nights) because it feels too much like home... and I seem to get into traffic accidents out there. But I feel the same way about every other suburb of this city: I don't like Lutz, or Citrus Park, or Town 'n Country, and God Forbid I ever have to enter Pasco except by I-75. Ulmerton Rd. makes me want to gag. That's why I live in the city, so I don't have to go to those places.
So from my perspective, then, yeah, Brandon's not hot shit, but frankly I don't think it's the worst suburb around, not by a wide margin.

Back on topic, I have to say I actually think it would be good for Brandon to attempt to develop a "downtown" area. Two reasons:
1) Sprawl will be endless and any attempt to rationally plan for density in a holistic manner is inherently positive, so let's get started with it already
2) You don't want it to look like Jax Southside, either, where there are a bunch of soulless disconnected office parks and no urban feel but the local gentry think it's a great business district.
So if Brandon wants a downtown while Tampa's still struggling to fill its own, I say, let 'em do it. But they need to start their planning by admitting that real density is good; four-story office-condos are not real density; and there are going to plenty of NIMBY's no matter what they do so they should plan boldly.

The whole problem with this "downtown" idea is that it is a day late and a dollar short , so to say. This will be some kind of westchase type village plan. Just a few crappy restaurants and shop for a warm fuzzy feeling all around. Like I said Brandon already has a "downtown" so to speak. It may not be a road lined with quaint, new cookie-cutter buildings but it is real, and it is still there. This downtown that they are planning isn't going to be for the big call centers and headquarters that companies keep building and bringing to the brandon/i75 area.

See the plan here http://www.hccommunityplanning.com/hccbpp_BrandonMainStreet/projectInfo.asp

So JBrisco, did you go to Brandon? Or just wrestle against them? I went to Bloomingdale myself. High school is High school, unfortunately there will always be a few kids who end up killing themselves, happened in my class. Just be glad they didn't come in and try and take you with them.

liberal Republican.

^whoops... ignore that.

my bad... I saw the title "Downtown Brandon", and thought this thread was a game, where we're supposed to post an oxymoron...




lololol....j/k

yeah, maybe we should soften that language to fit the scale of a toan such as Brandon. Perhaps "main street" would be better name for the thread. Hell Brandon doesn't even feel like a town anymore.

while i feel a "main street" plan is ridiculous, i am a fan of brandon. i live in riverview and i go there all the time. yes its not perfect and its not a by-the-book-"true" urban area but it has its own identity and people.

i feel what others here have called the "crossroads" - closer to brandon high, parsons/60 etc is probably the best when considering a dense urban area.

but it certainly isn`t a bad place at all...

riverview on the other hand is just ridculous but thats another thread. lol

You mean a "Downtown Riverview" thread?

Downtown Riverview and Downtown Ruskin while were at it. Let's not forget about Downtown Thonotosassa. Really, unless these places get organized it will be more vast urban sprawl all over East Hillsborough. Do many out there think incorporation would help these communities? What criteria is there for creating a Municipality?

Why does Hillsborough have so few cities?

I was born and raised in Seffner (i know i know, worse than Brandon) but i have lived in Brandon for the past 8 years. When i was a kid, the only place for my mom to buy groceries was U-Save (now its the Home Shopping Network store). Brandon has just spread like a middle-aged librarian, it goes off in very direction with no clear definition of Riverview, Lithia or any other place. I was wondering myself of the downtown plan i heard about. I think it's a nice idea, but it either won't get built at all, or it will be so watered down that it's won't resemble what it should. Small pedestrian friendly streets, with multi-story shops, with commercial on the ground floor and residence upstairs. That would be neat.. but i am not holding my breath.

Armwood, class of 1991!!!

My question is, why is there one tower in Brandon for the Colonial Bank building? I don't understand how you have one building that must be between 10-15 stories and that's it. Why did they do that?

re: randommichael
I've always wondered that about the Colonial Bank Building as well. But it really isn't in "Brandon". "Brandon" starts at I-75 where SR 60 stops being "Adamo" and becomes "Brandon Blvd.".

Anywho, as a native of Valrico who just moved to UCF east of Orlando, I can say for a fact that the anti-Brandon tone of this thread is completely unwarranted.

Yes, Brandon is an almost-shapeless mass of suburbia with no clear planning and the idea of a "downtown Brandon" is quite funny. However, Brandon's supposed crapiness expressed by some here in this thread is NOTHING compared to the god awful mess that is Eastern Orange County.

In Brandon, if you live in Valrico and want to get to the mall, you could take several routes. SR 60, Lumsden, and several back routes along roads like Parson, Kings, Oakfield, Victoria, Windhorst, Lakewood, etc.

Now in east Orlando, imagine two to three main roads that intersect and head off in different directions and no matter where you went, you HAD to use those two or three roads unless you wanted to pay and get on a toll road that'll just deposit you back at one of those three roads. And no matter what time of the day, these roads are always clogged. That's the situation out here with SR 50 (Colonial Drive), SR 434 (Alafaya Trl), University Blvd and the two fairly useless toll roads that go through here. And identity? This area doesn't even have a real name. Its 15 miles from DT Orlando, way outside the city limits and everyone still calls it Orlando. Its so bad, National Geographic did an article on the sprawl around here a few months ago.

I never thought it possible, but I MISS Brandon's never-ending sprawl if only for the fact that the Brandon area grew slowly and had time to build plenty of arteries for traffic and maintain its own identity.

Besides, Brandon is still a better place to live than Apollo Beach or Thonotosassa.

Evidently there already is a downtown Brandon somewhere--just a moment ago Bay News 9's weather anchor noted that thunderstorms were flaring up "over downtown Brandon." He didn't even laugh when he said it.

^yes, it would help...

However, I would rather see the county, tampa and temple terrace merge into one governmental entitity. Oh, and merge Pinellas back into Hillsborough while we're at it... Pasco can stay on its own though. :D

Yeah, we don't want Pasco. I'm not sure we want Pinellas either...they are on the other side of the bay you know.

The boundaries are definitely blurred for Brandon and the surrounding towns, I believe most of it goes by zip code now.

Yeah, we don't want Pasco. I'm not sure we want Pinellas either...they are on the other side of the bay you know.

Yah, but there are a lot of cool cities on that side!!!!
I think Hillsborough should take up arms and storm on the Pinellas county building!

Pasco adds a half million to our MSA population.....I'd say keep. A decade ago though.....

Downtown Brandon boundaries Parsons on the east, Victoria on the North, Kings on the West and Oakfield on the South???

Well if we were to say that Brandon has a downtown, or mainstreet, it would have to include Oakfield starting at paul's, but definitely oakfield and robertson between kingsway and parsons, and then down robertson to lithia. When I was little oakfield was where it was at. The Brandon twin theater, the library, campbell's dairy isle, Scogin's, the post office and publix... o.k. that is enough nostalgia for now.

I think Clayton Plaza should be razed and a town center be built and then see what happens to the surrounding area along Robertson, Moon, and Kings.

Does anyone know if there are plans to extend the Selmon/Brandon Parkway south and east towards Bloomingdale/Bell Shoals area?

Where would they put the road (Selmon)?

Looking at aerials of where it hits lumsden therre seems to be a path between house at least down to Kings just before Bloomingdale. It's my understanding that traffic is horrid on Bloomingdale and Boyette so a limited access road getting into that area would seem like a relief.

Bloomingdale, Causeway, Lumsden, and Boyette roads are horrid. They need a complete overhaul. Bloomingdale can not (realistically) expand anymore.

^???

Please read the forum rules... One, only moderators can moderate. What you were telling people to do wasn't even correct.

Two, rants and trolling is not permitted. Not sure what was with yours here, but it was uncalled for.

Hahaha. Yikes. You're the most rabid fan of Brandon I have ever heard. Glad you like it! Hopefully I won't be gunned down tonight in the city.

Sorry Jason.

^Not you, the guy whose post was deleted.