Orlando Sentinel28%
Board backs downtown Winter Park synagogue and townhome redevelopment 5%
By Sarah Kinbar
8/7/2026, 3:00:40 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 6 faulty reasoning types, including Framing Effect, Negativity Bias, and Appeal to Authority, with Anchoring Bias as the most egregious example at 8.8% saturation with 55 hits. Analysis detected 212 faulty-reasoning hits from 625 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 13.1% and a BS Rank of 5% (28,348 of 29,795 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 95.10% of the article peer group.
A plan is moving to replace the El Cortez apartment complex in Winter Park with five townhomes fronting Morse Boulevard and a three-story synagogue along Knowles Avenue.
The city’s planing and zoning board voted 5-0 Tuesday to advance the proposal at 210 E.
Morse Blvd. to the City Commission, according to a report in GrowthSpotter.
The board also selected the more contemporary of two architectural designs presented for the synagogue.
GAI Consultants, representing property owner El Cortez Ltd. and Chabad of Greater Orlando, filed the application for the 0.61-acre property at the southwest corner of Morse Boulevard and Knowles Avenue near Park Avenue.
The site currently contains three buildings with 35 apartments and 18 surface parking spaces.
It would be replaced with the townhomes, an 80-seat worship space, a rooftop terrace and a daycare for up to 60 children.
Daycare traffic dominated the board’s discussion and public comment.
Residents questioned whether parents could park, unbuckle infants and young children and walk them inside without vehicles backing up onto Morse Boulevard.
The daycare would operate from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Monday through Friday, with drop-off between 8 and 9 a.m. and pickups at 12:30 and 3 p.m.
The synagogue and daycare would generally operate at different times, allowing them to share parking, according to GAI Consultants.
Plans show 22 spaces in the synagogue’s underground garage and 10 surface spaces.
Each townhome would have a two-car garage, with three additional spaces available for townhome guests.
A traffic analysis found the project would have minimal effects on surrounding intersections.
Project planner Andrew McCown of GAI Consultants said the standard methodology overstates typical synagogue traffic because it is based on attendance during a major Jewish holiday.
An analysis reflecting normal weekday operations projected 33 additional morning peak-hour trips and fewer evening peak-hour trips than the existing apartments, he said.
Board Chairman Jason Johnson said the central question was how vehicles would move through the property.
“My main concern with the traffic was not the number of trips, but rather the flow of traffic through the site for daycare drop-off and pickup,” he said.
At Johnson’s suggestion, the applicant agreed to conduct every daycare drop-off and pickup inside the underground garage, and the board made that commitment a condition of its recommendation.
Vehicles would enter from Morse Boulevard and exit onto Knowles Avenue.
Although the redevelopment would retain roughly the same amount of above-ground floor area, it would leave the property with a much smaller residential footprint: five townhomes instead of 35 apartments.
The townhomes and synagogue are separate projects but would share access, stormwater infrastructure and some parking, said Rebecca Wilson, a shareholder at Lowndes and attorney for the applicant.
Wilson said comparable new townhomes nearby are valued at approximately $5 million to $6 million each, but she did not estimate prices for the five planned at El Cortez.
It remains unclear how many people still live at the complex, when they would have to leave or whether the owner would offer relocation assistance.
Wilson said a review of lease records found that none of the current tenants attend Rollins College, contrary to earlier suggestions that the complex housed a significant number of students.
AGPM, which manages El Cortez, did not respond to a GrowthSpotter inquiry about occupancy.
The Historic Preservation Board previously approved demolition of the buildings, which contribute to the Interlachen Avenue Historic District.
The applicant has not announced a construction schedule, and demolition cannot begin until the city issues a building permit for the replacement project.
The proposal next heads to the Winter Park City Commission.
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Speakers
3speakers24%attributed speech474writer words
Selected voice
100%flagged-word coverageAndrew McCown
49 attributed words32% of attributed speech24% writer coverage
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