It is a project poised to transform the west side of College Park, adding retail, homes, businesses and a 100-acre public park.

• Dr. Phillips Charities, Orlando partner on College Park development
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• Charities hopes to transform industrial area to shops, restaurants

And for Ken Robinson, it is an opportunity to preserve a piece of Central Florida's history.

"We think it can be so much more than what it is right now," said Robinson, the president and CEO of Dr. Phillips Charities. "The history we have here, we have to protect."

Recently, the city of Orlando and Dr. Phillips Charities began talks to reshape a longtime industrial zone located between North John Young Parkway and North Orange Blossom Trail.

In the 1930s, citrus reigned and Dr. Phillip Phillips was king, packing fruits into boxes made in a warehouse within the district. The blue building still stands, its arched wooden ceiling intact.

"It's got great bones. You had a train that came right up to the building itself," Robinson explained.

But Robinson said that he envisions the empty warehouse getting a new lease on life, one day as the heart of "The Packing District."

"It could serve as a food hall, it could serve as a microbrewery. We have a vision it will tie into UCF and Valencia (College)'s culinary school downtown," he said.

Dr. Phillips Charities hopes to repurpose five or six buildings on its 84-acre property, transforming the light-industrial zone into shops and homes. They will then purchase more acreage, agreeing to donate a 100-acre park to the city in exchange for more than $20 million in infrastructure improvements.

"We'll be connecting into their property with trails and wonderful open spaces," Orlando District 3 Commissioner Robert Stuart said. "Dr. Phillips already has those rights. But by working together, we can help them plan that for the future."

Last week, the Orlando City Council unanimously approved agreements for the land donation and infrastructure work, with Mayor Buddy Dyer calling it perhaps "one of the most important things" the council had tackled in the calendar year.

"It's a big vision process, kind of like Creative Village or Lake Nona. It's on that type of scale. So it's not something that will be done overnight," Dyer said.

Robinson said that he sees the area west of College Park becoming the next destination, and "The Packing District" paying homage to its citrus-packing roots.

"It'll be known for restaurants. It'll be known for retail locations," he said.

Dr. Phillips Charities will be investing $480 million into “The Packing District” project, which will create more than 800 permanent jobs. Construction is expected to start in 2018 and last for the next 10 to 15 years.