Downtown Orlando parking garages now closed for entry after 11 p.m. on weekends

As part of an ongoing effort to ensure safety and manage crowds, the City of Orlando is now limiting entry to downtown parking garages after 11 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. The city, along with the Orlando Police Department, quietly put the measure into effect May 10.

Under the new measure, parking garages within the downtown core will no longer allow entry or reentry after 11 p.m. on weekend nights. Garages with adjoining residential buildings will remain staffed and will require drivers to show proof of residency to be allowed entry after 11 p.m.

Downtown bar owners and nightlife workers have taken to social media to express dismay. Eric Fuller, an owner of Celine Orlando nightclub, told a Spectrum 13 reporter that the reductions in already scarce parking, on top of the permit the city now requires businesses to obtain to sell alcohol after midnight, are “making it harder to do business.”

The garage closures is just one of several initiatives taken by the city to further safety in downtown, said City of Orlando Public Information Officer Ashley Papagni.

“This includes the launch of our Orlando Connect and the Safety Awareness For Everyone (SAFE) program, as well as code changes to further enhance visitor safety that is aimed at securing private parking lots, making adjustments to our noise ordinance, extending the nightclub moratorium and requiring late-night businesses serving alcohol after midnight to obtain an After-Midnight Alcohol Sales permit,” Papagni told Orlando Weekly.

The move is the latest in a string of policies put into place to reshape downtown from its nightlife focus to a more family-friendly hub.

Earlier this year, the city extended its moratorium on downtown nightclubs and bars for another six months. Prompted by concerns such as a high concentration of nightclubs downtown and safety and security issues, the moratorium was initially enacted as an ordinance in March 2023, then extended for another six months in August.

City commissioners voted in March to extend the moratorium through Sept. 20, 2024.

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This article appears in May 15-21, 2024.