During most of the 20th century, from the era of
World War II until the mid-1990s, the area that currently is Baldwin Park, was utilized by the U.S. military. It was the location of Orlando Army Air Station and the Main Base for the
Naval Training Center (NTC). The vast area also encompassed what currently is the Audubon Park neighborhood of Orlando, the Orlando Fashion Square Mall, Orlando Executive Airport, and other adjacent areas. After World War II those areas were returned to the City of Orlando (to develop those areas), and in the early 1960s the Air Station closed its doors. The remainder of the property was utilized solely by the Navy, as the country's third largest Naval Training Center, which included a
Naval Hospital. NTC's three major commands that were headquartered at its base included the Recruit Training Command, the Service School Command, and the Nuclear Power School. Under the
1993 Base Realignment and Closure Commission, NTC, among a list of other military bases, was recommended to close by the
Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC). The Recruit Training Command and Naval Hospital closed in March 1995, the Service School Command closed in November 1996, and the Navy Nuclear Power Training Command closed in December 1998. All operations officially ceased at NTC on April 30, 1999. Following BRAC's decision to close NTC, former Orlando Mayor
Glenda Hood appointed a Base Reuse Commission, which composed of numerous local stakeholders. The commission's purpose was to identify proposals for economic development for the soon-to-be closed base. In 1997, several consultant teams were commissioned to propose detailed Urban Design sketches. The City of Orlando allowed input from the public on the various different proposals. The final draft of these proposals, known as "The Vision Plan", provided for approximately 3,000 residential units and over 2,700,000 square feet of commercial space. "The Vision Plan" incorporated
New Urban city-planning elements, that were en vogue in the 1990s. In the mid-1990s, the master-planned New Urban community of
Celebration, Florida, located in nearby
Osceola County, Florida, was recently developed by
The Walt Disney Company. Located near
Walt Disney World, the community took inspiration from
Walt Disney's
EPCOT (concept) for Walt Disney World (prior to his death). Similar to the New Urban design elements of Celebration, "The Vision Plan" for Baldwin Park, included a pedestrian friendly Village Center with high density residential units, while also balancing and preserving aspects of nature in its design. The city held an open-bid of prestigious developers to develop the project. In 1998, the City of Orlando chose the development company Orlando NTC Partners (aka Baldwin Park Development Co.) to develop "The Vision Plan". On October 27, 1999, the city council unanimously voted in support of the purchase of the officially ceased NTC. The Navy, moments later, agreed to sell the property to Orlando NTC Partners. By 2003, the first structures in the community were built. The entire master-planned community was completed by 2008. The community was named after
Robert H. B. Baldwin, who served as the
undersecretary of the
United States Navy in the 1960s. ==Community==