Over the past few months, we have heard so many grand announcements on various developments – from office buildings and restaurants to residential dwellings – coming to the Lakeland area.
In case you’ve been busy and haven’t skimmed over some of this groundbreaking news, here’s a quick catch-up session.
- The 836-space Heritage Parking Garage will be completed in January 2020, offering 49 regular spaces + 10 ADA accessible spaces to the general public as pay-to-park spaces during normal business hours and free after business hours. With its completion, an additional 33-parallel parking spaces will be reinstated along the perimeter of the garage on Orange St., Kentucky Ave., and Tennessee Ave.
- Lakeland’s first food hall, The Joinery (640 E. Main St.), is set to open in the next few months and start serving up tasty goods from Gallito Taqueria, Sābu Ramen, King State, and more. The 12,000 sq. ft. space will feature rotating brewers, flower shop Bloom Shakalaka, seating 350 inside + 150 outside.
- SpringHill Suites – a five-story, 126-room hotel by Marriott – is expected to open mid-April 2020. Developed by Lakeland Hospitality Group + managed by Winter Haven developer Wesley Barnett, the hotel will feature 4,000 sq. ft. of meeting space, a full-service bar + lounge with tapas-style bites, an outdoor pool and patio with a fire pit, 24-hour fitness, furniture packages from West Elm + a 24/7 market with grab-and-go options.
- Catapult 3.0 (502 E. Main St.) will open its doors in February 2020 in the heart of downtown Lakeland, overlooking Lake Mirror. Thanks to a collaboration between the Lakeland Economic Development Council, the GiveWell Community Foundation, and the City of Lakeland, the 38,000 sq. ft. space is currently under development and will be the new home for Catapult coworking and incubator program members. As Catapult members, we are psyched about the new space, which is almost 4x bigger than the current. See pics + floorplans here.
- HomeGoods (4747 S. Florida Ave.) is lookin’ good with its 21,000 sq. ft. store right next to the new GreenWise Market at The Shoppes at Lake Miriam Crossing. An opening date has not yet been announced but we have our eyes peeled. 👀
- Summit Consulting, a workers’ compensation firm, received approval from City Commissioners on the largest downtown construction project in decades for a property on Lake Mirror. The plans on the former “Old Fire Station Lot” at the southeast corner of Massachusetts Ave. and Cedar St. include a nine-story, 135,000 sq. ft. office building, with 150 parking spaces available to the public on evenings and weekends. Summit now has two years to start construction.
- The construction of a new one-story behavioral health facility – comprised of nearly 80,000 sq. ft. of space – is being planned at Lakeland Regional Health on the former Adair Park site (1324 Lakeland Hills Blvd.) on nearly 10 acres south of Lakeland Regional Health’s campus. The facility will provide comprehensive care to patients + have natural light to create a therapeutic environment. See more renderings here.
- Broadway Real Estate Services, the same developer behind NoBay Village, is getting ready to build its fourth apartment complex, called Lake Lime. This time, it’s in downtown’s Garden District. The plans call for two three-story buildings with 90 one-bedroom apartments on 1.33 acres north of Lime St., at the intersection of Lake Ave. With plans now submitted, the developer hopes to break ground at the beginning of 2020.
- Unfiltered – part coffee house, bookstore + vintage marketplace – is planning to open in early January 2020 in a 120-year-old building in downtown Bartow (160 S. Broadway St.). The space will feature a smaller version of The Beatnik Exchange, The Unbound Bookery + will house artists whose works will be sold in-store. As for the menu, be prepared for cornmeal waffles topped with chili + sour cream and Ethos Roasters’ coffee featuring a Bohemian Blues blend.
- The Aerospace Center for Excellence (ACE) is breaking ground on Project SkyLab (4175 Medulla Rd.) on Jan. 15, 2020. The 8,000 sq. ft space will be multifunctional, capable of transforming from a classroom to an exhibit space with partition walls. It will be the new ACE headquarters, creating a new lobby for the museum, along with the addition of a state-of-the-art simulator training lab, holographic theatre/planetarium, and aerospace resource center. Project SkyLab will help grow the STEM program delivered to K-12 students.
Disclaimer: This is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all of the developments in the Lakeland region. If there is a development that has been announced in the last 30 days that you feel should be included, please let us know in the comments below.
With all of the development happening across Lakeland, it’s nearly impossible to keep up with what is opening when, where new businesses are being built, and what companies are coming to town.
If there is a construction project you would like to learn more about – let us know in the comments below + we’ll grab our hard hats. 👷
– LALtoday team (Jessica + Kaylee)