Communication Builds Our Community
Communication Builds Our Community
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Communications and information about City of Lake Wales activities and services should be easier to find, as a result of the hiring of Marketing and Communications Director Eric Marshall, who started his orientation in mid-December. Marshall, 48, is a graduate of the University of South Florida, where he studied mass communications, multimedia, and communications law. He comes to Lake Wales after a stint at Polk County Parks and Recreation. That was preceded by 13 years in...
The historic Friedlander Department Store building has been purchased by Lake Wales investor Tammy James and her husband Stephen James. The building at 101 East Park stands at the corner of Park Avenue and First Street. It was the location of True Value Hardware until 2019, but has been vacant since that time. "We're excited about the changes happening downtown," Tammy James said. "With (new restaurants) Wales Point, Melanie's, and now an ice cream parlor, and The Ranch, it's...
Lake Wales is slated to get its first-ever townhome project this year as the Lake Wales City Commission gave its approval to the preliminary plat for Hunt Club Grove North, a 600-unit subdivision to be built on 130 acres on the southeast side of the city. The entire project is expected to be developed in a single phase, according to City of Lake Wales Development Services staff. All the units will be within easy walking distance of three major shopping centers, a factor that...
A long-awaited proposal to redevelop the prominent former Walesbilt Hotel into a luxury full-service hotel and conference center is still viable, according to representatives of the development team, who pledged to keep working toward an agreement with the city that will assure the success of the project. Citing "progress" but large remaining differences between the parties, the Lake Wales City Commission Tuesday night authorized legal action against Dixie Walesbilt, LLC...
One historic downtown hotel has become city property even as city commissioners wrestle with a development proposal on another. City Attorney Chuck Galloway reported to the board at Tuesday night's meeting that the deed to the Seminole Hotel would be recorded today, Wednesday, and that he would soon prepare documents transferring the title again, this time to the Community Redevelopment Agency. The announcements was met with nods from commissioners. The hotel was acquired afte...
Symbols of Success and Failure Long recognized as the dominant symbol of downtown Lake Wales, the eleven-story Walesbilt Hotel is now among the dominant topics of conversation in the city. Opened with great fanfare in 1926, the hotel has seen good times and bad. It fell victim to the Great Depression in its infancy, hit its hey-day during World War II, and was last renovated in 1972. Vacant since 1995, it's been abused, stripped of its prestigious furnishings and trim, and...
The impending 54-hour closure of US 27 is expected to snarl traffic throughout the city for an entire weekend, but Florida Department of Transportation planners are taking steps to try to mitigate the resultant traffic snarls. Among them are extra police officers posted at key intersections and an extensive web of signage to guide drivers on nearly a dozen different routes. Described by some as "Traffic-geddon," the normally smooth flow of traffic around the Lake Wales area...
The year just completed saw a number of big stories that impacted the Lake Wales community, and we've taken a look back at them through the perspective of the new year. Here's how our staff ranked the biggest stories of 2021. 1) A development surge saw multiple projects brought forward for consideration by the Lake Wales Development Services and the City Commission, including the long-dormant Winter Haven Corporation project which is expected to include more than 6,000 new...
With growth in Lake Wales expected to accelerate in coming years, Lake Wales Airport is staying ahead of the curve, and plans are being laid for further improvements, according to Airport Manager Amanda Kirby. Working from her on-site office, which doubles as a conference room for contractors working on the several construction projects recently completed or ongoing, Kirby has overseen the greatest surge in improvements ever noted at the local airfield. Kirby has served as...
A large tract of vacant land fronting upon Twin Lakes is now primed for development, thanks to a street redesign as part of the SR 60 bridge project. Lake Wales City Commissioners are expected to take final action this Tuesday to close the right-of-way of a portion of Gibson Avenue that has long divided two small parcels belonging to Hunt Brothers' citrus operations. The former course of the avenue slashed through the two parcels as a 45-degree angle. That street has already b...
A proposed multi-million dollar rehabilitation and redevelopment of the eleven-story Walesbilt Hotel in downtown Lake wales crept closer to reality Tuesday as representatives of a development team met with city officials to negotiate an agreement on the project. A second meeting is planned for Thursday. The city issued a statement on Wednesday evening characterizing the initial meeting as "productive." Representatives of the developers offered no comment on the negotiations...
Whether working on large projects like the Park Avenue Connector Trail or coordinating the usage of the city's recreation facilities, Stephanie Edwards is the one the city can count on. Edwards has also been tasked with overseeing the city's acquisition and rehabilitation of the YMCA, including setting up free swim access for residents. Edwards serves as the busy Support Services and Recreation Manager for the City of Lake Wales Parks and Recreation Department, so she meets...
With a promise to hold a special meeting if needed, Lake Wales City Commissioners agreed Tuesday evening to enter negotiations with a development consortium hoping to rehabilitate the historic Walesbilt Hotel in downtown Lake Wales. The deal may depend on whether the two parties can reach a deal within weeks. "Our main goal is just partnering with the City," Daniel Greenberg of Blue Chip Commercial Capital, LLC. told commissioners, pointing out that they already have a...
Christmas in Lake Wales is a time of giving, blessings, wonders and delights. Lake Wales High School Interact members exemplified the spirit as they stuffed stockings for all 65 residents of the Lake Wales Health Care nursing facility with essentials and personal care items and delivered them to many isolated people, bringing a dose of healing holiday cheer. The Lake Wales Care Center team repaired and refurbished dozens of bicycles and gave them to disadvantaged children,...
In a long-awaited development, Lake Wales is slated to begin receiving direct fiber-optics residential Internet service beginning in 2022. Fiber optics uses light rather than electrical impulses to transmit data, resulting in much faster speeds and higher data volumes. The new infrastructure is expected to provide an economic boost to the city as more people seek to work from home. A multi-million-dollar investment by Frontier Communications will employ "a small army of...
Population growth on the US 27 corridor has led transportation planners to plot the future course of an "alternate" route that will parallel the busy inter-regional highway. The proposed limited-access toll expressway will thread its way around the west side of Lake Wales before crossing US 27 near the north city limits to run along the Ridge east of Dundee and Haines City. Planning maps released by the Polk Transportation Planning Organization, a multi-agency body which...
Construction is expected to start in a matter of weeks on 55 new homes in the second phase of Scenic Bluffs. The City Commission approved the final plat of the subdivision at Tuesday's meeting. The development is being built on a site of approximately 17 acres just west of Lake Wales High School. It follows the completion of the completion of the adjacent Scenic Bluffs Phase One. The last homes are nearing completion there. The project, owned by Clayton Properties Group, Inc....
A Walesbilt Hotel redevelopment project is "within 90 days of having a firm loan commitment," according to Michael H. Frost, president of Buena Vista Hospitality Group, Inc. (BVHG). Frost spoke to LakeWalesNews.Net shortly after learning that the Lake Wales City Commission will consider approving initiation of a lawsuit to attempt to regain title to the property this week. Frost's Buena Vista Hospitality Group is the same organization that completed the refurbishment of the...
Details of the pending redevelopment of the Walesbilt Hotel continue to emerge as members of the development team prepare to share plans with the City Commission at Tuesday's meeting. The long-awaited hotel project is seen as the lynchpin of downtown project being sparked by the Community Redevelopment Agency. The CRA has authorized the issuance of bonds up to $18.5 million to fund extensive reconstruction of downtown streets as part of the Lake Wales Connected plan. That...
The long-delayed resolution of the contract between the City of Lake Wales, the Community Redevelopment Agency and Walesbilt Hotel owner Ray Brown may be heading to a concluding chapter. Brown had been granted title to the building more than a decade ago on an agreement to redevelop the structure. Tuesday's City Commission agenda will include consideration of whether the city should file a lawsuit or take other action to regain possession of the eleven-story structure after...
The challenge of managing the wave of new development proposed for Lake Wales was the topic of a two-hour workshop for city commissioners Friday afternoon, with the prospect for much more time to be spent on the topic in coming weeks and months. The nearly ten thousand housing units projected to fill a dozen developments in coming years are likely to attract an associated wave of new commercial development. Hearing presentations from city planners, experts, and citizens, the...
More than 20 acres of forest along the west side of Timberlane Road will become a single-family home subdivision over the objections of many neighbors after the Polk County Commission approved the plan this week. The Polk Planning Commission had unanimously approved the proposal last month. The 45-home plat will include 10-foot setbacks after many voiced opposition to the five-foot setbacks which Sloan Engineering Group had proposed. Minimum lot sizes in the development will...
A dazzling display of lights greeted local residents Saturday evening for a mile of Central Avenue as a column of colorful floats, bands, and more than a thousand participants marked the approach of Christmas holidays. Christmas music filled the air as scores of walkers passed out candy treats to the thousands of spectators who lined the length of the broad street between Lakeshore Boulevard and the City Administration building. The Lake Wales Marching Highlanders and the...
Juan Alexis Andujar of Lake Wales passed away Sunday, December 5, 2021 at AdventHealth Lake Wales. He was born October 2, 1935 in Manati, Puerto Rico to the late Julio and Flora Andujar; he moved to Lake Wales from New York 25 years ago. He was an Oiler for the City of New York and of the Catholic faith. Juan was preceded in death by his wife of 54 years, Miguelina Andujar. He is survived by his daughters; Nilsa Laquer of Sebring, Lourdes Oyola of New York, Solange Viloria of...
A mystery that may require a good memory to solve has emerged from the ongoing restoration work being performed on a downtown building. The two-story masonry structure located at 244 East Park Avenue was one of the earliest brick buildings constructed in Lake Wales, following close upon the heels of the ornate Lake Wales State Bank Building at the corner of Scenic Highway and Park Avenue. Both buildings were constructed by JT Rhodes, one of the city's early builders. Rhodes,...
