Publix Supermarkets Inc. has proposed plans to build its technology campus in downtown Lakeland, bringing hundreds of new jobs to the area. To do so, it wants permission to level a building and pave a parking lot.
The Lakeland-based grocery chain has come back to Lakeland commissioners seeking to demolish the former Florida Citrus Mutual building at 411 E. Orange St. and asking for a conditional-use permit to use it as a surface parking lot. Publix has said the lot would be used by “hundreds of new employees” coming downtown as it plans to invest upward of $50 million into creating the company’s new technology hub.
“Surface parking is not the highest and best use in downtown. We know that. We have gone through a lot of steps, we have a Catalyst plan and we are looking at that,” said Jason Willey, the city’s assistant director of economic development and manager of strategic projects, to commissioners at Friday’s agenda study. “But really this is a remarkable opportunity.”
Publix first approached the city with a request to pave the 2.42-acre site, transforming an entire city block into a parking lot in April 2022. It didn’t receive resounding approval.
Commissioners and the Lakeland Downtown Development Authority’s board had concerns about demolishing the 80-year-old building in favor of surface parking.
City staff recommended Publix’s request to pave a parking lot be approved with a list of seven conditions. One was Publix would have to submit plans to the city within five years explaining how it planned to further develop the site, or in the alternative, offer its own analysis of why it needed the parking spaces.
City commissioners were expected to vote on the issues in August 2022, when Publix suddenly requested it be postponed.
The city will hold the first reading of a proposed conditional-use permit for Publix at Monday’s commission meeting. It still contains a provision that a minimum 4,000-square-foot pedestrian plaza must be built at the northwest corner of the site, improved landscaping, and stormwater drainage on the East Orange Street site.
“It’s exciting when you envision what downtown can become,” Commissioner Chad McLeod said. “It’s a significant capital investment.”
A public hearing will be held tentatively at the Aug. 21 commission meeting where anyone can comment on Publix’s proposed plans before the commissioner’s vote.
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