Unfotunately I've dealt with him on more than one occasion and he is certainly no Donald Trump. All things aside, yes DT orlando is under rapid development as they do not have the hurdles that the ARC and city council throw at developers here. I think that the developers are more willing to put their neck out in the Orlando market for that very reason and have come up with some very nice designs.
I really don't think the DT orlando crowd is young or gay. The segment they are building for are the empty nesters from lake mary and other areas away from the urban core that have big houses and money to blow, and middle manager jobs. The problem is that besides thornton park, the people that currently hang in DT orlando have more in common with the ybor city riff-raff we so often complain about here. I'm sure when the megaplex and all that other stuff is done the downtown scene will change. I lived in DT Orlando for the last five years or so. I got to see it change from a ghost town to a decent hangout!
Do you think its a coincidence that a building mysteriously burnt down right in the heart of all that development? The government there is EVIL!
On a side note, my job is just across the river of the trump site so I'll get to take some pretty good snapshots of that thing going up.