‘Dynamic projects’ will change the course for City of Lakeland
It’s a quiet city of about 12,500 residents, plenty of trees, a Cracker Barrel right off Interstate 40, a winery. “Bedroom community” is the term that comes to mind for many. Most of the properties in town are single-family homes.
If all goes as planned, Lakeland won’t just be a bedroom community several years down the road.
One massive development — and smaller developments scheduled around the same time — are currently in motion that could transform the city.
“Take a step back and look at a map of Lakeland,” said Shane Horn, the city manager who moved to Lakeland from Michigan in 2018. “I see a blank canvas of opportunity. … And when you step back and cut the ribbon and look at what these developments are going to do and opportunities they are going to provide the city of Lakeland and our residents and Shelby County, that’s exactly what I signed up for. This is outstanding development.”
On a rainy morning in early June, Lake District developer Yehuda Netanel arrived at the site of his development on the first day of grading for phase 1.
“It’s going to be like nothing else Shelby County has seen before 400 to 500 miles away from here,” Netanel said.
Phase 1 for the Lake District — which is ultimately intended to become a 160plus acre mixed-use “urban village” — will include a hotel, 146,000 square feet of inline retail and eight commercial outparcels. The phase is 90% leased, and developers say they’ll deliver space to retail tenants by the fall of 2020, allowing them to open by the holidays.
Phase 2, which Netanel said will likely take another two years to complete, will include 160,000 square feet of Main Street retail — including 25,000 square feet of restaurant space and 390 apartments above the retail. There also will be 170 living units for residents 55 years and older as well as a hotel by the lake, 75,000 square feet of corporate office space and 240 single family homes.
“It puts Lakeland on the map for people, not just in the immediate area, but in the region,” said Commissioner Wesley Wright. “It’s very much a game changer, not just economically, but it
will bring a lot of other things.”
Committed tenants include Phillip Ashley Chocolates, Frida’s Mexican Restaurante, Memphis BBQ Co., Malco Theatres, Hollywood Feed and more.
The Lake District project is valued at more than $300 million — and it’s expected to bring in around $1 million in sales taxes annually for Lakeland, essentially doubling the city’s sales tax revenues.
Lakeland Commons also in the works
On a smaller scale — but sometimes competing with the Lake District for attention — is Lakeland Commons, meant to be an integrated town center. Starting site work this month, Lakeland Commons is valued at $48 million.
Lakeland Commons’ first phase will have 150 residential units, 16,600 square feet of retail and office space, and five retail or service lots along U.S. Highway 70. The first phase should be completed in 18 months, with final buildout likely taking an additional 18 to 24 months, according to Cory Brady of Integrated Land Solutions.
“There is some great planning work underway in Lakeland and we are happy to be a part of it,” Brady said. “Lakeland Commons is but one piece of a greater plan that will undoubtedly establish a formal City Center and Lakeland's general identity along the US Highway 70 corridor.”
Brittney Buchanan, executive director of the Lakeland Area Chamber of Commerce, said that’s not all coming to Lakeland: Interest builds as the two projects unfold with other developers considering land around the area.
Bringing the two developments to Lakeland hasn’t always been a smooth journey. For years, the Lakeland Commons development was held up in court. And Lakeland residents were shocked in 2017 when lenders on land planned for the Lake District issued a foreclosure notice (Netanel later paid back the lender).
The plans have also been met with changes. Both have included discussions about including a City Hall, discussions that have been set aside for the moment. Lakeland Commons once included a proposal for a fire station, now set aside after the Lakeland Board of Commissioners decided not to create the city’s own fire department. Brady said the Lakeland Commons developers would still love to see a City Hall incorporated into future phases of the development.
Spending money at home
While the developments, particularly the Lake District, will have significant tax revenue implications for the city, they’ll have other implications as well.
If all of the apartments, town homes and detached single-family homes in the two developments are filled by about 2.5 people per unit, Horn, the city manager, estimates that Lakeland’s population will grow by about 25 percent.
The Lake District alone is expected to bring the city at least 500 new full-time jobs.
The projects — and the land available in Lakeland that attracts developers — are some of the reasons Horn was attracted to the role of Lakeland's city manager, he said.
“To have a small role in what Lakeland could look like in the next 30-50 years and beyond was really attractive to me,” he said. “These are very dynamic projects.”
Residents already in Lakeland will see other changes. Currently, they largely travel to Bartlett, Germantown, Arlington and Memphis for shopping and dining, according to a retail gap study done by the city.
Commissioner Michele Dial said she used to shop at the former Belz Factory Outlet Mall, demolished in 2017 to make way for the Lake District.
Now, she’s looking forward to coming back to that space to shop and eat, keeping her tax dollars in the city.
“I know all the citizens of Lakeland are going to enjoy having this to visit and gather,” she said.
Buchanan said people in Lakeland are excited about the “walkable community” of the Lake District - how they’ll be able to walk to dinner, to entertainment, to a movie.
At the same time, the plan isn’t to turn all of Lakeland into a bustling city. Residents have expressed a desire to keep the rural feel of their homes, to keep their trees and to keep the peace and quiet of the countryside.
Buchanan said these developments will be largely contained to specific areas, allowing the people who want to live in a walkable community to go there, while allowing the people who want to live in quieter, solely residential areas with more land to also have that (but maybe to visit the Lake District for ice cream or a movie after picking the kids up from school).
“I hope (Lakeland) stays the way it is now, with just more opportunities,” Buchanan said. “Not too big, not too dense as far as buildings everywhere, where you can still drive around town but do things with your family and not have to leave the city.”
Katherine Burgess covers county government, religion and the suburbs. She can be reached at katherine.burgess@commercialappeal.com, 901-5292799 or followed on Twitter @kathsburgess.