Community and Economic Development

LAKELAND, FL (February 8, 2021) | The Lakeland City Commission recently established a Targeted Economic Investment Opportunities fund, with an initial investment of $500,000. 

LAKELAND, FL (January 29, 2021) | The Lakeland Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) is launching a new program for façade improvement and it comes with an art component to help bring color and life to one of the City’s main corridors. 

LAKELAND, FL (November 9, 2020) |  Please join us for a Virtual Community Workshop to discuss Fair Housing in the City of Lakeland. 

LAKELAND, FL (September 1, 2020) | The Lakeland City Commission authorized a 10% reduction in building permit and inspection fees effective September 1, 2020 and a refund of $1 Million to Building Inspection Division customers who paid fees between October 1, 2019 -  August 31, 2020.   

LAKELAND, FL (May 29, 2020) | Site work continues on Summit Consulting’s new eight-story 135,000 square foot building located at 117 N. Massachusetts Avenue in downtown Lakeland. Summit purchased this 1.2-acre Lake Mirror property from the City of Lakeland in early March after completing an extended due diligence period.

LAKELAND, FL (April 23, 2020) | Site work has begun on Summit Consulting’s new eight-story, 135,000 square foot office building located at 117 N. Massachusetts Avenue in downtown Lakeland. Summit purchased this 1.2-acre Lake Mirror property from the City of Lakeland on March 3^rd of this year after completing an extended due diligence period.  

LAKELAND, FL (January 17, 2020) | The Heritage Parking Garage is now planning to be open in the first week of February. The garage located at 227 South Kentucky Avenue was originally slated to open the third week of January but the project has experienced typical construction delays that impacted the opening date. The contractor now estimates the garage will open during the first week of February as workers complete the final interior finishes of the project. Once completed, there will be 49 regular spaces and 10 ADA accessible spaces on the first floor of the garage available to the general public during normal business hours as pay to park spaces. These spaces are free after business hours and on weekends.

LAKELAND, FL (November 18, 2019) | This morning, the City of Lakeland Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) officially sold property in the Parker Street Neighborhood to Green Mills Group (Ft. Lauderdale, FL) for the construction of 80 affordable apartments. Green Mills Group intends to lease the apartments with rents affordable for those making between 40% and 80% of the area median income (AMI), currently $21,450 - $42,900 for a family of four. 

LAKELAND, FL (June 21, 2019) | In an effort to improve customer service and ensure customers are connected with subject-matter experts, the City's Community & Economic Development department will be instituting a new department-wide Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) system beginning Monday, June 24, 2019.

LAKELAND, FL (June 21, 2019) | As the City is preparing for its Comprehensive Plan Update, city staff is facilitating 8 public meetings throughout the City to engage citizens on the importance of our Comprehensive Plan and how it relates to Lakeland's quality of life. Lakeland residents are welcome to attend! *Light refreshments will be provided.