{"id":57293,"date":"2025-08-15T18:43:24","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T22:43:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=57293"},"modified":"2025-08-15T18:43:30","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T22:43:30","slug":"island-breeze-tiki-bar-now-opening-set-for-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2025\/08\/15\/island-breeze-tiki-bar-now-opening-set-for-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Island Breeze Tiki Bar Now Opening Set for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

More than two years after the City Commission approved it, work has resumed to transform the former home of Dart World at 201 E. Main Street into the Lakeland Island Breeze Tiki Bar<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
A rendering of the Island Breeze Tiki Bar, approved by the City Commission on Monday, April 17, 2023.\u00a0|\u00a0City of Lakeland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Soloman Wassef, owner, aims for a spring 2026 opening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally to be completed in 2023, renovations were postponed due to a family emergency. Now, Wassef says the biggest challenge is finding reliable contractors to complete the work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have everything that we need,\u201d said Wassef. \u201cIt\u2019s a matter of timing and finding the right people to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An update to the plumbing began on Tuesday, August 12. Once that work passes inspection, they will begin building the bar and updating the exterior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe downtown buildings are ancient, and you open one thing, you\u2019ll find two things that need to be fixed,\u201d said Wassef. \u201cEverything \u2026 is going to be brand new from plumbing to electric to everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Front windows facing Main Street will be replaced with bifold doors that will open to the outside and give patrons a view of Munn Park. There will be TVs both inside and outside. Drinks and music will match the tropical theme. Island Breeze will not serve food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cThe environment inside is going to look different than any lounge we have here in Lakeland. The decor is going to be different \u2014 beachy,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to look really unique.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With its various bars and restaurants, downtown Lakeland has something for everyone, according to Wassef, who also owns Lakeland Loft<\/a> and Hookah Palace<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been in Lakeland for \u2026 almost 40 years. I like to invest in Lakeland.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More than two years after the City Commission approved it, work has resumed to transform the former home of Dart World at 201 E. Main Street into the Lakeland Island Breeze… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNVwvMDhcL0lzbGFuZEJyZWV6ZS0xLndlYnA_Zml0PTEwMjQlMkM1NjEmc3NsPTEiLCJ0eHQiOiJJc2xhbmQgQnJlZXplIFRpa2kgQmFyIE5vdyBPcGVuaW5nIFNldCBmb3IgMjAyNiIsInRlbXBsYXRlIjoiaGlnaHdheSIsImZvbnQiOiIiLCJibG9nX2lkIjoxNjMwNDA2NjF9.oBTj88kkP-hOO8nnnybU3lxlVwbo9sstf9IM1XBnQYIMQ"},"version":2,"attached_media":[{"id":57294,"url":"http:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/IslandBreeze-1.webp","type":"image\/webp"}]},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[11989],"class_list":["post-57293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","tag-island-breeze-tiki-bar-now-opening-set-for-2026"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57293"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57295,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57293\/revisions\/57295"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}