ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. — In Central Florida, there are a few certainties during hurricane season.
Long checkout lines at Publix, sweating away half your body weight while boarding up your house, and being constantly reminded to not turn on a generator indoors come to mind, but longtime residents of the Orlando area know they get to look forward to another: poor wishes to Orlando's most unsightly attraction, the "I-4 Eyesore."
Known officially as the Majesty Building, the "I-4 Eyesore" is an 18-story visibly-unfinished skyscraper standing alone off I-4 in the town of Altamonte Springs, about a 15 minute drive from downtown Orlando.
When the site broke ground in January 2001, Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me" topped the Billboard Top 40, Tom Brady was a little-known backup to Drew Bledsoe in New England, and Bill Clinton was President, awaiting the swearing-in of George W. Bush.
It was - and still is - billed to be the broadcasting headquarters of religious TV station WACX, and its initial $40 million cost was all raised through donations.
It took only a few years for the money to dry up, and since the mid-2000s has sat like a dormant volcano on I-4, with short periods of construction activity between years of stillness.
The "Eyesore" constantly draws the ire of those who drive by it, prompting some to call on hurricanes threatening the Orlando area to "do its job" by destroying the site. The lead-up to Hurricane Ian was no different.
As the storm tore through Southwest and Central Florida, eventually exiting the state near the Space Coast, residents emerged to survey the damage.
Drivers' tail lights' red glare and eyes craned towards the air, gave proof through the night that the Eyesore was still there - although some windows had been punched out by Ian.
The infamous construction site's own parody Facebook page even joined in on the fun, taunting those who wished destruction upon it.
It seems like the epic saga of hurricane vs. I-4 Eyesore may never end, but in what has been a harrowing week for many Floridians, jeering at Orlando's albatross, which lived to taunt drivers another day, may be a bright spot.
