5 Stars for a building with a crazy history, a heck of a design, and an surprisingly innovative new identity. Oh yeah, and it's also a 90s Mouseketeer.
I'm about to make a bold claim. The Church Street Exchange is Orlando's Christina Aguilera. Bear with me here for a minute as I make my case.
Remember simpler times when Christina was a teen princess, wearing pastel pants, crop tops, and a shy smile? That was the Exchange building as a mall and arcade. It was built in the 80s as a destination for tourists who wanted to eat and shop after days spent at Disney. It was young but had great bones- perhaps the decor was a bit over the top, but this set the building apart from the other teen pop stars of the day. But much like the growing competition of the teen starlet scene, Disney and Universal decided they would create their own "downtowns" and shopping districts and the Exchange building was bound for its first transformation.
Enter XTina. I liken the Lou Pearlman office era of the Exchange Building to the wrestling/brothel setting of that timeless and eloquent hit, Dirrrry (three Rs). The fact that the Exchange was scene to an FBI raid of Pearlman's offices is just the cherry on top for the purposes of this comparison.
And now we have a transformed Christina. Mother. Judge on the Voice. Surprise collaborator to little-known bands like A Great Big World (catapulting them into stardom). Much like this new and improved Christina, the current iteration of the Exchange building is one that holds a lot of promise, and whose role is to support innovators. With the intentional addition of multiple tech companies, a women's leadership center, and a tech startup co-working space, the Exchange has reinvented itself and is attracting the young, vibrant, creative class of Orlando.
Will this be the permanent new identity for both Christina and the Exchange building? Maybe. Will we still look back on their history with somewhat evil glee? Obvs. read more