Elements of Urbanism: Lakeland

[Metro Jacksonville]

Elements of Urbanism: Lakeland



Fifteen years ago, Downtown Lakeland resembled a dead ghost town. Since then, the decision to stick with a revitalization plan has this old urban district teeming with energy.


Full Article
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-jul-elements-of-urbanism-lakeland

[vicupstate]

VERY IMPRESSIVE.  I had no clue about the Wright architecture.  I'll have to visit.   

[urbanlibertarian]

"Since then, the decision to stick with a revitalization plan has this old urban district teeming with energy."

Lake, can you give us some more specifics about the revitalization plan?

[Wacca Pilatka]

Lake, you might be interested in seeing a few vintage images of Lakeland in the book "Selling the Sunshine State" by Tim Hollis...there is one particularly nice brochure cover of the 60s with an aerial view of the area.

[thelakelander]

"Since then, the decision to stick with a revitalization plan has this old urban district teeming with energy."

Lake, can you give us some more specifics about the revitalization plan?

Sure.  Here is a timeline:

Downtown Redevelopment Timeline:

Mid 1980s - The city hires Cy Paumier, a noted planner from Columbia, MD, to help develop a vision to restore its dying downtown.  Paumier's plan focuses on improving public infrastructure to attract private development.


A scan from the downtown master plan, which focused on improving public infrastructure at the pedestrian scale, the preservation of historic structure and attracting compatible infill in the gaps.  Take note that the redevelopment plan works around existing buildings (white), focuses on improving the public realm (green - streetscapes and parks) and infill on existing surface parking lots (buildings with color) at the time.

1988 - The LDDA (Lakeland Downtown Development Authority) buys two full city blocks in an effort to build a downtown mall, linking downtown's last major department stores, Maas Brothers and JCPenney.

1989 - Maas Brothers (Burdines) and JCPenney close their downtown stores to relocate to a suburban mall, taking with them the workers who shopped and ate downtown.  Many of the mom-and-pop stores close.

1994 - Watkins, a local trucking company, buys and relocates its headquarters to the former Maas Brothers building, bringing 400 employees to downtown.


The former Mass Brothers/Burdines store, which the city sold to Watkins for pennies on a dollar.

1995 - Publix agrees to lease the old JCPenney building from the Community Redevelopment Agency for $1 a year for 20 years.  This move brings 500 more workers into the downtown core.

1997 - The historic downtown core is designated as the Munn Park Historic District.  This move preserves the remaining historic building stock and enables local businesses to get tax credits for restoring buildings to their original architecture and design.

1998 - Lemon Street is closed and converted into a waterfront public space called the Lake Mirror Promenade.


This recently created greenway used to be a four lane highway heading into downtown.  To accommodate the roadway diets and highway removals through the heart of downtown, the city worked with FDOT to reroute US 98 just north of DT.  That new highway is called the Intown Bypass.


A shot of this same location in the 1960s.

1999 - After being vacant for 13 years, a local developer purchases the Terrace Hotel for $150,000 and spends $7 million to reopen it as a luxury boutique hotel.

Late 1990s/early 2000s - The entire one-way street grid is converted back into two way streets to slow traffic down and improve the pedestrian environment.


With the removal of heavy traffic, Lemon Street was reduced in width to accommodate a linear greenway and sculpture park through downtown.

2002 - While a plan has been developed for Lake Mirror Park, the city does not have funding in place to carry out its development.  With this in mind, Mark (Vice Chairman of the Board for Publix) and Lynn Hollis donate $1.5 million for the construction of Hollis Gardens.  This 1.2 acre botanical garden anchors the southeast shore of Lake Mirror.  It is designed to represent the historical evolution of Florida from wilderness to agrarian society to modern urban development.


Lake Mirror Park implementation plan.  Despite not having the money to make changes overnight, incremental implementation continues to take place as funds for specific components become available.  We should be doing the same thing with the implementation of commuter rail and streetcars in Jacksonville.

In the past few years, Lakeland has continued to invest in enhancing downtown's public infrastructure with additional streetscaping, lighting, and park improvements.  Throughout this time, as predicted, private investment has followed.


When you can stick with a long term master plan and put your money where your mouth is, private donations begin to come in, which helps you achieve your long term goals more rapidly.

While the city's demographics have changed, the same master plan developed for downtown 20 years ago is still in place.  However, it is routinely updated to reflect new development.

[Doctor_K]

Urban infill obstacles:

Lakeland: Conservative city policies limit the potential of urban redevelopment opportunities.
Jacksonville: State & Union Streets cut off Downtown Jacksonville from Springfield.

While the State & Union almost-freeway do indeed cut off one historic neighborhood from the main core, I daresay we change the wording for all future "Learning From" or "Elements of Urbanism" articles - taking a hint from this particular article for Lakeland and applying it to Jax:

Jacksonville: Conservative Lack of any coherent city policies limit the potential of urban redevelopment opportunities.

[konstantconsumer]

geez.  that's embarrassing for Jax.  If Lakeland can do it, we have no excuse.

[vicupstate]

In a different recent thread, someone asked why Jacksonville needed to Change.  I stated that Jax, despite numerous geographical and political advantages was far behind many cities, including smaller ones.  This article proves my point very clearly,IMO.

Take note that the big titans of business INVESTED in DT Lakeland while in Jax they continue to leave DT in large numbers.  But Lake is right, until the businesses see that Jax is SERIOUS, and has a good PLAN in place, the private money will NOT follow. 

Disbanded the DDA and simply paying lip service will not convince anyone to invest in the core.    

[urbanlibertarian]

Looks like the tax dollars spent beyond infrastructure improvements were for the purchase of the 2 city blocks.  Did the city buy the department stores that closed?  How much tax revenue was lost to the tax credits in the new historic district?  What new restrictions have been placed on private property owners by the long term master plan (ie zoning changes and other hurdles to development)?

Thanks

[thelakelander]

Looks like the tax dollars spent beyond infrastructure improvements were for the purchase of the 2 city blocks.  Did the city buy the department stores that closed?

When Lakeland Square Mall opened north of the city in the late 1980s, the city purchased two blocks between the downtown JCPenney and Mass Brothers stores in an effort to develop a downtown mall to keep them from leaving the core.  Those two blocks were primarily surface parking but they did include a few non historic single story structures.  Soon after their purchase, both stores left downtown to become two of the six anchors at the new mall.  However, I believe they ended up giving their downtown buildings to the city and the city turned around and created attractive deals for Publix and Watkins to move portions of their headquarter operations into them.  Those two blocks have since been sold and developed into office buildings (pictured below) bringing more workers downtown in the process and fueling the redevelopment of retail and dining uses along Kentucky Avenue.

How much tax revenue was lost to the tax credits in the new historic district?

Not sure, but I doubt much if anything. Before it became a historic district the place was loaded with vacant decaying buildings and vagrants.  Now those same buildings have been restored and filled with income producing uses that in turn create an atmosphere that encourages additional income producing uses to locate to the city.

What new restrictions have been placed on private property owners by the long term master plan (ie zoning changes and other hurdles to development)?

I'm sure there may be more but one zoning related issue would be building height limits.  It's now a historic district and there was a desire to not be like Tampa and Orlando, so to protect the character of the area, highrises are not allowed.  

[JSquared]

Long-term vision and follow-through?  That's crazy talk.

That said, thanks for the information - I knew nothing of Lakeland prior to this essay, and now I'd love to visit.

[thelakelander]

Additional information....

Downtown Lakeland Master Plan:
http://www.lakelandgov.net/commdev/cra/files/368CA76B5ED442218391885EC7FC523B.pdf

Downtown Lakeland CRA revenues and expenses for FY 2006 and FY 2007 (Pages 14-16):
http://www.lakelandgov.net/commdev/cra/files/1339A7BDF92348E595694FCDAFB28264.pdf

[tufsu1]

geez.  that's embarrassing for Jax.  If Lakeland can do it, we have no excuse.

one major plus for Lakeland is a sens of civic and corporate pride....for example, Publix (and its founders) have spent quite a bit of money there.

what downtown Jax. needs most is a shot in the arm from the corporations with HQ here...that includes CSX, Fidelity, EverBank, Blue Cross, RS&H, etc.

[thelakelander]

^I believe it can get that shot in the arm from the private sector if the city (public sector) leads the way.

[urbanlibertarian]

I just skimmed back through the photos.  Where did Lakeland get those way cool stealth parking meters?