Like a magician, Buddy Dyer coaxed office and condo towers from the concrete of a stagnant downtown. And he promised more, juggling plans for a renovated arena and a new Citrus Bowl and performing-arts center, with the potential to reshape a tourism-dominated town into a destination apart from theme parks.
Dyer's indictment and removal from office -- even if only temporary -- both recast his legacy as Orlando's mayor and call into question the city's power to push high-dollar projects, some of them the largest in city history.
Like it or not, the mayor's indictment is national news, because Orlando is a brand-name city, one that everyone knows, said Margot Knight, the president of United Arts of Central Florida, a booster group that raises money and awareness for the arts.
And this news isn't good, Knight said Friday. "Our community was making great progress toward its destination as an international city," Knight said. "Performing-arts center, arena, Citrus Bowl -- everything is on hold. Everything is a question mark, and it's a bad thing for there to be doubt."
Whatever ultimately happens to Dyer, there's no doubt that he will have left a visible mark from his two years in office. Downtown is enjoying an urban renaissance with a red-hot real estate market, condo high-rises dotting the sky and a downtown movie theater under construction.
But the momentum might be interrupted. With a cash-strapped city dipping into reserves, Dyer was hunting for other sources of money, which could now dry up without him, political observers say.
Most immediately derailed is Dyer's push on Tallahassee lawmakers to reroute tourist taxes to renovate the Orlando Magic's basketball home at the TD Waterhouse Centre.
While Dyer has championed big-ticket projects as part of a downtown revival, he was hoping Orange County would help finance the plan with some of its coveted hotel taxes.
With the Orlando mayor at least temporarily out of the picture, Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty said the already complicated planning becomes tougher.
"It has the potential to slow down the process somewhat," Crotty said.
Area lawmakers say all bets are off despite a fear that without a new or refurbished arena the Magic will move to another city.
"This really changes the politics up here. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out," said Rep. Frank Attkisson, R-Kissimmee. "You certainly won't have a powerful mayor walking the halls up here advocating for projects. That will hurt."
Rep. Randy Johnson, R-Celebration, agreed.
"This comes at the worst possible time for the city," Johnson said. "The mayor is the guy who is supposed to be leading the legislative charge for the city. But instead of being in charge -- he's gone."
PLANS COULD BE DELAYED
Another pitch for fast money to fuel Dyer's plush dreams will be in other political hands. Dyer recently had city staff quietly work up a plan to sell off the local water utility and use the cash as a piggy bank to shore up the city's troubled budget and have enough left over for Dyer's pet projects.
His report, which irked the quasi-independent Orlando Utilities Commission, predicted a $322 million windfall if the city sold its water operation. The report also had a detailed a wish list: $40 million for new public-safety complex; $166 million for a performing-arts center; $40 million to renovate the arena.
Dyer and the OUC board mended fences, and promised to work together on such a study, which left the door open for a cash windfall. But its outcome is by no means certain.
Tommy Boroughs, chairman of the OUC board, called the indictment a stain on the city.
"Tragic for the city, for his family and for all of us," said Boroughs, a partner at Holland & Knight law firm. "No matter what people's political differences are, you don't want this happening."
Boroughs said Dyer was building a great legacy and that his vision for the city "is great, but his execution, there was a problem in getting people to buy into it."
Not everything Dyer worked on is in question, say downtown business leaders. After all, the new skyline of condo and office towers will be visible for years to come, with Premier Trade Plaza and the separate 55 West project primed with a total of $35 million in incentives.
Businessman Cameron Kuhn, who currently is under way with the largest redevelopment in the city's history with the Plaza, said the indictments could set the city back five to 10 years on projects not as far along as his own.
"Every developer in Orlando is stopping and saying, `What does this mean to me?' " Kuhn said. "Everything is up in the air."
DISTRACTION FOR PARRAMORE
One goal Dyer himself pinned as the one he wanted to be judged on is far from being realized -- breathing fresh life and economic health into Parramore, the city's poorest and most troubled neighborhood.
Dyer, who read a statement Friday declaring his innocence, would not take questions from reporters. But back in 2004 he said: "I've asked people to judge our administration in five years by what we've been able to accomplish in Parramore."
In October Dyer declared there would not be any more up-front incentives to developers unless they come to talk to him about Parramore. Some improvements have been made in Parramore, including the new $59 million headquarters of Hughes Supply Inc., a distributor of building materials that benefited from $12.8 million in incentives. Florida A&M University is building a law school in Parramore, and a new courthouse is in the works.
But new and affordable housing for Parramore's current 1,700 residents has remained elusive.
Greg Clendenin, a member of the Mayor's Parramore Task Force and an Orlando businessman, said that "at the very least, this indictment is a distraction."
He wouldn't predict whether it would derail the mayor's revitalization efforts but added, "Everything rises and falls on leadership. If someone's not taking the lead in this, then I think it's difficult to have a positive view."