Repurposing hotels, pop-up markets: Lakeland reveals strategies to revitalize Memorial Boulevard

Lakeland shares plan to transform Memorial Boulevard

The City of Lakeland is sharing its vision for how to transform a long-time neglected corridor into a vibrant and thriving gateway. Carla Bayron reports.

LAKELAND, Fla. - The City of Lakeland is sharing its vision of how to transform a long-time-neglected corridor into a vibrant and thriving gateway.

Evonn Reaves, the owner of Mama's Southern Soul Food, opened his restaurant on Memorial Boulevard two years ago because of how many cars travel through the area. The city of Lakeland reports traffic volumes ranging from 20,000 to more than 40,000 vehicles daily.

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"Obviously we'd like to have more business and that will come as the revitalization of Memorial Boulevard takes place," said Reaves.

What we know:

The city's Community Redevelopment Agency is planning to revitalize six miles of Memorial Boulevard to attract new investment, to strengthen neighborhoods and to bring more jobs.

Some ideas include repurposing existing motels into live-work units, turning underused parking lots into pop-up markets, building mixed-use buildings and implementing high-visibility crosswalks and protected bike lanes to make the corridor more pedestrian-friendly.

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What they're saying:

"This isn't about building new and replacing old buildings," said Valerie Vaught, Lakeland's CRA manager. "This is about honoring the heritage and culture of what Memorial Boulevard once was and restoring that sense of place that everyone knows what Memorial Boulevard used to be."

Reaves said he'd like to see more minority-owned businesses in the area and the motels cleaned up, because crime is a big concern.

Overall, he's excited about the corridor's potential but hopes the changes happen sooner rather than later.

"As a business owner, I've put over $200,000 into the building alone out of my own pocket and so it's important to me that the city, whatever their intentions are, to do it speedily," said Reaves.

What's next:

The city is currently developing its urban design plan and collaborating with the Florida Department of Transportation to advocate for beautification and safety improvements ahead of their scheduled reconstruction of the entire corridor in 2030.