With that in mind, what would cause you to want to live in Downtown Lakeland.
- What type of housing do you want (Condo, loft, rental apt, townhome, etc)?
- What type of amenties do you want (parks, retail, restaurants, personal services. etc)?
- What type of architecture?
- Where in the downtown area, specifically, would you like to live (see plandowntownlakeland.com plan page for maps)?
I would love to see condos and townhomes on the outer limits of Downtown Lakeland (i.e. low-rise near Lake Morton, mid-rise near the Lakeland Center, Florida Tile property).
ReplyDeleteThe concept of getting people downtown is quite simple. To get people downtown, you put amenities in place that people are known to patronize. If you want people to work downtown, you create office space that companies with employees can move into. If you want people to shop downtown, you encourage (lure, entice) developers to create buildings with store fronts that retail can occupy. Like I've stated before, I appreciate Lakeside Village but that project could have easily provided urban infill development for Downtown Lakeland with a mix of retail, restaurants, personal services, office space, and residential in conjunction with the parks already in use. Look at the residential developments that have popped up around Lakeside already (i.e. http://www.alexanatlakesidevillage.com).
I don't have an architectural preference so I'll leave that up to the planners.
Downtown Lakeland has vast potential to be a major residential areas. The biggest asset to this, I think, is the number of older and historic buildings that line our streets. Sadly, the upper floors of most of these buildings remain empty and un-developed. Rather than building new, cheap (sorry, but most modern apartment architecture makes me want to puke) townhomes and condos around the limits of downtown, we should aim to develop the spaces we have currently available to us. After all, the charm of an old building renovated into affordable lofts is a major selling point.
ReplyDeleteThe construction that has gone up in the last few years disappoints me. I think of the relatively-new Lofts on the Park. The exterior is nice, but the colors are garish and un-coordinated. Furthermore, I haven't heard the best comments about the interior.
I have clients who would love to live downtown and be able to walk to little shops and restaurants and the like. They love Celebration over in Kissimmi but the cost is just too high over there. I have also spoken to people from south florida who would like to have buildings that resemble something that I saw when staying in europe. There would be 4 buildings that would share a common court yard in the middle.
ReplyDeleteI'm considering moving to Lakeland. I absolutely love that there are trees and more natural landscaping in the historic areas. Some of the artist renderings in the plans show palm trees and open sidewalks. That's not going to encourage downtown living since you can get that all over FL and on the coasts, where there is a breeze. My favorite part of my visit was that I could walk downtown from a really neat historic home without being discouraged by the beating sun. Too much concrete and sidewalks may fly in big commercialized cities....but there's a trend towards walkability going on in the US. Preserve the shade and trees and walkability and people/families will come.
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