Lakeland - Winter Haven Development News

[HeartofFlorida]

Originally Posted by Lakelander

I'm not crazy about the plan but it could be worse. It seems like they could have squeezed a lot more density out of this.

Where is the Lakeland HSR station planned? Will it be here or somewhere off Kathleen Road or US 98 North?

Originally Posted by HeartofFlorida

If I remember correctly, the original HSR Station was supposed to be located I-4/Polk Parkway (West). Personally, I think it should be at I-4/Polk Parkway (East) near the new campus and the new planned exits in that area.

Also remember we are talking about Lakeland where building out instead of up is the rationale. I'm still pissed at the lack of density downtown but there's only so much you can do if you're not in office or apart of some association. At least the density Lakeland has planned is better than Auburndale has planned for just east of the Parkway.

Also, imagine one day in the near future traveling from Orlando to Lakeland via the Polk Parkway. On I-4 approaching exit 48, you enter the City of Auburndale. Then about a quarter mile from exit 41 (Polk Pkwy), you enter the city of Lakeland. Then about a half mile before the first toll, you're back in Auburndale.

According to the article below, Kathleen Rd and USF Poly locations are now being considered for stations. To be continued....
High-Speed Rail Wants County's Backing

BARTOW | Local officials are poised to consider a resolution to support the Florida Department of Transportation's application for money to build the first leg of the Florida High Speed Rail Program, the Polk County Commission was told Friday.

The action will be a resolution that is scheduled to be adopted at the Aug. 13 meeting of the Transportation Planning Organization, a panel composed of local elected officials that reviews transportation projects.

Jennifer Stults, the county's long-term planning director, said the action is being taken at DOT's request to support the agency's application for $2.5 billion to construct the link between Tampa and Orlando. The application is due by Oct. 2, she said.

The application is part of $8 billion in federal stimulus money that is available nationwide.

If DOT receives the money it seeks, construction could begin by 2011 and could be completed by 2013, Stults said.

The project includes a station in Polk County, but the exact location has not been determined.

Stults said two possible locations are at Kathleen Road and at USF Polytechnic.

Commissioner Ed Smith asked whether U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, is supporting this project or the SunRail project, the Orlando commuter rail.

Stults said Mica is supporting both projects, explaining the federal money for the projects comes from different programs.

Smith asked about the next phase from Orlando to Miami and whether it would connect to the Tri-Rail commuter system there.

The planning details for that portion of the project are still under development, Stults said.

[Lakelander]

That's nice to know. Both of those sites are better locations for a HSR station.

[HeartofFlorida]

Originally Posted by Lakelander

That's nice to know. Both of those sites are better locations for a HSR station.

I agree.

[HeartofFlorida]

I'm not making this one up people. In addition to the garage (which is solar-powered), intermodal transit center and retail center in downtown Bartow.

County To Seek Stimulus Funds for Parking Garage

BARTOW | County commissioners are poised to hire a consultant to seek $130 million in federal stimulus funds to construct a facility that would include a solar-powered parking garage, intermodal transit center and retail center in downtown Bartow adjacent to the county government complex.

If Polk County obtains the grant, which will involve competing with other applicants all over the United States for $1.3 billion in federal money, it could solve the long-standing parking problems in downtown Bartow and create what county and Bartow officials say is an innovative center that could attract economic development and high-tech educational programs.

“It’s aggressive, but it’s

doable,’’ said Jennifer Stults, Polk’s director of long-range planning and head transportation planner at the Transportation Planning Organization.

Formal action is planned at Tuesday’s County Commission meeting.

The action will involve agreeing to apply for the grant and to approve a $49,500 contract with Lunz Prebor Fowler Architects for conceptual design of the parking garage.

The cost of the architectural contract will be split equally among the County Commission, the city of Bartow and the Bartow Community Redevelopment Agency.

Local officials will learn in January whether the project will receive the grant funds.

If Polk County receives the grant, construction will begin in October 2010 and be completed by the end of 2011.

“This will be really good for Bartow,” said Jim Duane, executive director of the Bartow CRA, who envisioned it as a stimulus for redevelopment in Bartow to make the city more attractive as a destination to live and work.

Part of the proposal will include the purchase of zero-emission transit vehicles that will be available to shuttle people around Bartow to stores and restaurants.

Stults said the facility will link to existing transit corridors, particularly U.S. 98, adding this will be an attractive application because it builds on existing transit projects rather than starting something new.

She said the retail will “put a face on this” and will generate revenue that will help to pay operating costs.

Jeanna Cox, interim senior planner for Polk County Human Services, said the 250,000 square feet of solar arrays over the proposed parking garage and the existing jury parking lot will save $400,000 in utility costs because it will generate 1.4 megawatts of electricity.

Cox said the proposal would be the largest rooftop solar unit in Florida.

“It will add to the county’s Green Initiative,” she said.

[TampaMike]

Originally Posted by HeartofFlorida

I'm not making this one up people. In addition to the garage (which is solar-powered), intermodal transit center and retail center in downtown Bartow.

County To Seek Stimulus Funds for Parking Garage

I went through Bartow last month and I must say, I was surprised that Bartow was bigger than what I thought it was, but it is in no way that big to recieve a intermodal transit center. That is like saying my city of New Port Richey deserves that and a HSR rail station.

[HeartofFlorida]

Originally Posted by TampaMike

I went through Bartow last month and I must say, I was surprised that Bartow was bigger than what I thought it was, but it is in no way that big to recieve a intermodal transit center. That is like saying my city of New Port Richey deserves that and a HSR rail station.

LOL! I don't make the news.....

[HeartofFlorida]

Groups Argue for Location of Rail Stop in Polk

LAKELAND | As Florida competes for a slice of $8 billion from the federal government for high-speed rail, groups in Polk County are lining up for a shot at getting the one station that would be built here.

More than 200 people filed into the Sikes Conference Center in The Lakeland Center on Wednesday during the first hour of a three-hour informational session on the Tampa-to-Orlando phase of the high-speed rail.

That section of the "bullet train" will run from the Orlando International Airport to downtown Tampa with a stop in Polk County.

The Florida Department of Transportation sponsored the event, as it will similar events in Orlando and Tampa, to explain the plan to the public and to get residents' reactions.

Three of the proposed sites are in the Lakeland area, while one is north of Auburndale.

Polk County will definitely have a stop, but it is just not certain where, said Nazih Haddad, the Department of Transportation project manager.

Previously, the department was planning to choose between a stop at Kathleen Road north of Lakeland or at the western end of the Polk Parkway where it joins Interstate 4, about 1 mile east of Hillsborough County. Both have already passed environmental review.

But now, the city of Lakeland has requested that a stop be considered at Carpenters Way near the Wedgewood Golf and Country Club, and the University of South Florida Polytechnic wants the station to be at its campus in the northwest corner of the eastern end of the Polk Parkway.

The county can only have one stop. And that decision probably will be made by the Transportation Department, instead of a vote by the nine-member Florida High Speed Rail Authority. The authority apparently has been left to die by Gov. Charlie Crist, who after more than 2 1/2 years in office has made no reappointments to it nor replaced two members who have resigned.

"The department has taken the lead on the projects now and is not going to the authority to get approval," said Haddad, who served as the executive director of the authority when it was fully constituted and active in the decision making.

But the department is using the same consultants selected by the authority a number of years ago: HNTB as the general consultant and Parsons Transportation.

Part of the reason for the department's taking on the lead from the authority, whose future is questionable, is that time is short to move on obtaining $2.4 billion of the $8 billion in federal high-speed rail stimulus money being offered to states to get bullet trains up and running.

For almost 30 years, Florida officials have discussed creating a high-speed rail system across the state.

There have been at least two commissions created.

The movement stalled under Gov. Jeb Bush, who opposed efforts to create a bullet train and instead supported behind-the-scene talks for an Orlando commuter-rail system.

While the two are vastly different, they are not incompatible.

The High Speed Rail Authority gained new life with the federal government's making $8 billion available for bullet train projects across the nation and pushed Crist and the department earlier this year to get going on the grant applications.

The authority now appears to have been left at the station standing by an empty baggage cart.

The money will go to states that are furthest along in their projects.

With routes and engineering plans ready for the first phase, Florida is closest to being ready to begin construction, supporters have said.

Supporters such as a group formed by Ed Turancik of Tampa say the project can be under construction by 2011. Construction can actually begin before a Polk County site is chosen.

Two stations are certain: Orlando International Airport, which likely will use the old terminal as the intermodal station, and downtown Tampa, where an intermodal site has already been selected.

Likely to become sites as well are the Orange County Convention Center off of the Beach Line Expressway and a site on the Walt Disney Company property east of the U.S. 192 interchange with I-4.

The bullet train will mostly run in the median of I-4 to Tampa.

The only other stop will be somewhere in Polk County.

The addition of two more sites in the consideration for the county's single station surprised some.

But David Steele, director of marketing for USF Polytechnic, said putting the site at the university's new campus is the most equitable for everyone in the county.

"It is far and away the most accessible for those who live in East Polk," he said. "It is important to understand that this bullet train will run both ways, not just take people out of the county. People will want to come in to USF Poly and the high-tech companies that will locate around it."

Reaction was enthusiastic among the residents attending the session, many of whom live near the Interstate or have to use it daily.

Quentin and Martha Hamilton filled out comments for the department, which they said would be favorable.

"If they don't do something like this and soon, I-4 will collapse under it on traffic," Quentin Hamilton said.

Maurice Dionne said the high-speed rail is important for the future movement of traffic in the area.

"I live about a quarter of a mile from the interstate and I am a little interested in what the noise is going to be like, but I still support this. We have to have it," he said.

The Transportation Department has already filed two applications for high-speed rail stimulus money, one of which also includes a request for money to buy track from CSX Transportation to resurrect the defeated SunRail tracks with the argument that it will carry people into Orlando from the airport.

Another application, this time for the construction money to begin actual moving of earth and the laying of rails, will be filed before the end of the year.

[FlaNatv]

Kathleen Rd makes the most sense to me. If your heading to Lakeland from Tampa or Orlando Kathleen is the most centered. USF Poly would be too far east for the Tampa to Lakeland connection.

[HeartofFlorida]

Originally Posted by FlaNatv

Kathleen Rd makes the most sense to me. If your heading to Lakeland from Tampa or Orlando Kathleen is the most centered. USF Poly would be too far east for the Tampa to Lakeland connection.

That's the problem. If HSR wants to tap into the almost 600,000 residents in Polk County instead the 270K in Lakeland's immediate area, the stop needs to to be more centralized.

[HeartofFlorida]

Architect Unveils Vision for Polk's USF Campus

TAMPA | From the shimmering light and open spaces of a new train station to unfolding white wings above a museum, renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava took a seemingly spellbound audience on a visual architectural tour Tuesday.

The overview of his projects ended in a tree-covered property alongside Interstate 4 where the University of South Florida Polytechnic plans to build its new Lakeland campus. It's an undeveloped site whose first building Calatrava will design and whose master plan he's redone.

Because the tour was on an overhead screen at the main USF campus in Tampa, and because Calatrava sees the future campus as a mini-city, the USF Poly images he showed weren't the site as it is now.

What Calatrava showed was what he envisions - a narrow lake three-fourths of a mile long, with the first academic building at one end and a large plaza at the other. Dorms and other campus buildings, including an amphitheater, would surround the lake on either side.

"I'm speaking to you of a city and a future," he told the USF Board of Trustees members. "It's very important to have interaction between the students. We have to create a city."

Architectural students and others crowded into the room to hear his presentation, which came after the USF trustees unanimously approved an updated version of USF Poly's strategic plan.

The strategic plan includes developing and implementing new degree programs in five areas: applied health sciences, mathematics and science education, manufacturing engineering and technology, business and entrepreneurship, and information technology.

Classes would be taught in the framework of three colleges: a College of Technology and Innovation, a College of Human and Social Sciences, and a College of Applied Arts and New Media.

Students in a polytechnic work together in applying research to solve problems and implement solutions, USF Poly Chief Executive Officer Marshall Goodman said.

"The polytechnic model is multi-disciplinary," Goodman said.

"It is very inclusive. It's a fusion. It's a new blend."

Calatrava incorporates similar qualities into the master plan, which shows the layout and design of the site, including where buildings would be placed.

The master plan will undergo further review by the USF trustees.

In addition to images on the screen, Calatrava unveiled a series of architectural models, depicting steps he took in determining how the buildings and the lake would blend together harmoniously.

He said he envisioned putting the buildings "like jewels in the axis of the pool."

The artificial lake, in addition to being the campus's center, would be part of a "total wet land living machine," recycling water and having the ability to heat and cool buildings.

"Your vision is just remarkable," said Rhea Law, chairwoman of the USF board. "I think everyone in this room felt the emotions you were trying to impart to us."

Gene Engle, chair of the USF Poly board and a trustee on the main USF board, was equally enthusiastic.

"His vision is outstanding," Engle said. "What he's proposing to bring to the university is something that's going to be known for many, many years."

He said Calatrava is listening to what USF Poly officials want, and working with them as he designs the campus and the first building.

"I am very pleased and proud to be working on this project," Calatrava said after the meeting.

The USF Poly campus and its first building, projected to be 80,000 square feet, are scheduled to open in summer 2012.

The campus is at I-4 and the Polk Parkway near Auburndale.

The strategic plan shows a total cost of $62 million for the first facility, but Goodman said that includes the cost of preparing the land with infrastructure such as utilities. The budget for the building is $46 million.

Carole Philipson, a USF Poly board member, said the polytechnic's impact will extend far beyond the campus.

"I'm not sure people really grasp what an economic stimulus to the region this is going to be," she said.

The full extent of its economic impact hasn't been calculated, but officials with the Central Florida Development Council predict higher paying jobs, a more educated workforce and companies interested in new technologies.

Law told students who attended that they were fortunate to see Calatrava's presentation, which included quick sketches he drew to illustrate the earliest phases of his planning,

"You've seen history in many ways and gotten some insight into the thought processes of an architect," she said.

More renderings soon......

[FLAWDA-FELLA]

Splendid looking campus, sorta looks like a new attraction at Sea World.

[TampaMike]

Does look nice. What I don't understand though is why is it so spaced out with the lake? You spend a minute under the sun during the beginning of Fall Semester and you start sweating.

[HeartofFlorida]

Originally Posted by TampaMike

Does look nice. What I don't understand though is why is it so spaced out with the lake? You spend a minute under the sun during the beginning of Fall Semester and you start sweating.

LOL! I guess instead of having the "yard" you have the "lake". Different concept. It goes right along with Lakeland.

October 27, 2009: USF System Board of Trustees meeting

[Lakelander]

Cypress Gardens Sold to Legoland

WINTER HAVEN | After months of speculation, it appears Cypress Gardens has been sold to the owners of the Legoland theme parks.

Three documents posted on the Polk County Clerk of the Courts Web site detail apparent transactions between the park's owners, Land South Holdings of Mulberry, and Merlin Entertainments Group, the company that operates Legoland theme parks in California and Europe.

The documents include a property transfer of submerged lands, an assignment of development rights and the payment of delinquent taxes on the Cypress Gardens property in Winter Haven.

All of the documents are dated Tuesday.

Cypress Gardens, billed as Florida's oldest theme park, closed abruptly last fall, and the owners announced plans to find a buyer.

http://www.theledger.com/article/201...ld-to-Legoland

[HeartofFlorida]

Originally Posted by Lakelander

Cypress Gardens Sold to Legoland



http://www.theledger.com/article/201...ld-to-Legoland

I read the News Chief version today and was all set to post when I saw you yours. I must say I'm truly shocked but happy. I guess anyone willing to invest $150 million into a project must have serious intentions.

WINTER HAVEN - Shuttered since late September, Cypress Gardens will have new life under new ownership.

The historic theme park on Lake Eloise in Winter Haven has been purchased by Merlin Entertainments Group, the operator of Legoland of California and the second largest attractions company in the world.

Confirmation of the purchase by local officials came after NewsChief.com and other Web sites began reporting around midday Friday that public Polk County legal documents were showing a reassignment of rights to Cypress Gardens from Land South Adventures LLC to Merlin Entertainments Group Florida LLC.

A purchase price was not disclosed Friday.

"The deal is done," said Mark Jackson, the director of Polk County Tourism and Sports Marketing. "I have been working, along with other Polk County agencies, with the previous owners (of Cypress Gardens) and the Merlin Entertainments Group for seven months. A lot of work has gone into this."

Jackson declined to be specific about the plans for Cypress Gardens, but he said they would be revealed during a press conference next week.

"The press conference will be next Thursday and all the details and plans will be revealed at that time," Jackson said. "I think everyone will be somewhat surprised with their plans."

According to two legal documents posted Tuesday to the public records section of the Polk County Clerk of Courts Web site, the land lease and development rights to Cypress Gardens were assigned to Merlin Entertainments Group from Land South Adventures the first week of January.

Land South Adventures is owned by Rob Harper and Brian Philpot, the Lakeland real estate investors who purchased Cypress Gardens for $16.9 million in a September 2007 bankruptcy auction. Harper and Philpot assumed ownership of the park the next month.

Cypress Gardens and its Splash Island Waterpark were abruptly closed by Harper and Philpot on Sept. 23, 2009. Since then, speculation had centered on Merlin Entertainments Group as a possible buyer for the theme park.

Merlin owns theme parks scattered around the world, including Legoland in California. Merlin is partly owned by The Blackstone Company, a private equity group that purchased the Busch Gardens and SeaWorld theme parks last fall and also owns a sizable percentage of Universal, which operates Universal Resorts Orlando.

"One of Merlin's owners is The Blackstone Company, which is part of Universal. So, there are obvious marketing opportunities and benefits that can accrue from that," Jackson said. "When a company like Merlin puts their footprint in our county, we will be blessed."

City and county officials were contacted Friday afternoon about the sale of Cypress Gardens and asked about the economic impact a revived park will have on Winter Haven and Polk County.

"This is good news, and it's just the start of it," Winter Haven Mayor Jeff Potter said. "Yes, it's finalized. The plan is a two-year development, $150 million to turn it into Legoland."

A representative from Merlin Entertainments Group confirmed in September the company's interest in Florida as one of several potential expansion sites.

"Cross your fingers and hope it works," Potter said. "Between that and when we put a shovel in the ground for CSX (the planned railroad-trucking terminal in Winter Haven), watch out! It's going to be fantastic."

Some officials were tightlipped about plans for Cypress Gardens but expressed excitement that the park, which was founded by Richard and Julie Pope 74 years ago, had been sold.

"Could you imagine better news at the beginning of the year? This is a ray of sunshine after a cold snap," Winter Haven City Commissioner Jamie Beckett said. "I honestly don't know Merlin's specific marketing plans - they have a variety of brands. But I do believe they are purchasing it with the intent of using it as an amusement park. The rumored level of investment is going to be hugely positive for Winter Haven."

Bob Gernert Jr., the executive director of the Greater Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce called the news "a magnificent opportunity for this community and county."

"It will give us a serious destination that will benefit all the destinations nearby - Bok Tower, Fantasy of Flight," Gernert said. "This type of opportunity has a niche market that would be significant for us.

"The people who love Cypress Gardens, like me, don't want to see it struggle," he said. "We want it to have a sense of dignity and this is a new opportunity and focus for it. If they could find a different business model and be successful, Dick Pope would be ecstatic."

In addition to the tourism revenue, the city of Winter Haven stands to benefit from the utilities used by the Gardens, City Commissioner Nat Birdsong said.

"Not only will the visitors help our town, we provide the utilities for it, so, of course, we want that property to be used," Birdsong said.

County Commissioner Ed Smith of Lake Alfred said, "The No. 1 thing is that this would provide jobs. All of the changes - reworking, remodeling and everything that would need to be done to reopen - would provide jobs, plus the jobs that would be available once they open.

"In addition, the money that the tourism would bring in would be tremendous to the community," Smith said. "They eat in our restaurants, buy gas at our gas stations and stay in our hotels."

In addition to the two legal documents assigning rights to Cypress Gardens to Merlin Entertainments Group, a third public document on the Polk Clerk of Courts Web site shows that a Florida "warrant for collection of delinquent sales and use tax" related to Land South Adventures has been satisfied. That document was dated Jan. 4, 2010.

The original 30 acres of Cypress Gardens are owned by the Polk County government. Any company that comes in to operate the park would have to lease the land from the county. The other property associated with Cypress Gardens on the shore of Lake Eloise, such as the parking lot and the Southern plantation-like Magnolia Mansion, is owned by a private party and is not part of this sale, officials said.

The first public document dealing with Cypress Gardens is titled "Quitclaim Assignment of Submerged Lands Lease" and is dated Jan. 6, 2010. Philpot signed the nine-page document as the "assignor" for Land South Adventures. The document assigns four parcels of land along Lake Eloise to Merlin Entertainments Group Florida, which is listed as a Delaware limited liability company.

The second document, listed as being effective Jan. 7, 2010, is titled "Assignment of Development Rights." The 10-page document again lists Land South Adventures as the "assignor" and Merlin Entertainments Group as the "assignee."

With Merlin Entertainments Group in charge of Cypress Gardens, the Winter Haven theme park once again would be affiliated with Busch Gardens in Tampa and SeaWorld in Orlando. Those parks, plus the long-closed Boardwalk & Baseball park north of Davenport, were sister parks briefly in the late 1980s under the ownership of the Anheuser-Busch Co. Anheuser-Busch bought the SeaWorld parks, Cypress Gardens and Boardwalk & Baseball from publishing company Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

[HeartofFlorida]

POLK COUNTY (Bay News 9) -- A Bay area city is becoming a high-tech communication hub, and it's not one of the larger cities.

It's actually Winter Haven, where hundreds of jobs are opening up downtown.

Bud Strang, president of the 6/10 commercial real estate company says that they've located to the area to have an inland location away from coastal risk areas associated with hurricanes.

Strang says that the old phone company building houses companies wanting a safe place for their fiber optic and computer servers.

In fact, four blocks of Winter Haven is quite the popular spot for computer service businesses, including Elephant Outlook - which is a worldwide secure email provider.

Medical services that need large amounts of bandwidth to send files are also moving in, along with a USF Polytechnic program.

According to official Eddie Hill, the program's goal is to bring in existing high-tech businesses, so it can help them grow.

"By the time you land at the Winter Haven location, we're hoping to take everything you have and everything you are to the next level," said Hill.

Strang, with 6/10, says that there are hundreds of people working in its buildings, and they are about to run out of space.

So many companies are moving to its Winter Haven complex, that 6/10 is in need of building additional facilities.

That project will start with a 30,000 square foot medical complex this summer.

Bay area city turning into communication hub

[SkyDiveJunkee]

Originally Posted by HeartofFlorida

I read the News Chief version today and was all set to post when I saw you yours. I must say I'm truly shocked but happy. I guess anyone willing to invest $150 million into a project must have serious intentions.

Too bad this isn't linked up to the high speed rail plan -- nonetheless, saving Cypress Gardens in some form, even if it turns into something all together different, is a good thing. I wonder though, will they be able to successfully tap into the Orlando tourism base at that location? It proved difficult for Cypress Gardens.

[HeartofFlorida]

Originally Posted by SkyDiveJunkee

Too bad this isn't linked up to the high speed rail plan -- nonetheless, saving Cypress Gardens in some form, even if it turns into something all together different, is a good thing. I wonder though, will they be able to successfully tap into the Orlando tourism base at that location? It proved difficult for Cypress Gardens.

Legoland at Cypress Gardens () will need support from it's own back yard. That was sorely lacking with Cypress Gardens.

[Lakelander]

If designed right and for it's niche market, it can become its own destination. The problem with the recent concepts for Cypress Gardens is that they tried to be some of everything and did a pretty bad job at all of them, considering the competition in the region. The best thing about the Legoland guys taking over is that they have the capital needed to properly invest and upgrade the site, name recognition and a historical pattern of success.

[SkyDiveJunkee]

Confirmed, Legoland coming to Cypress Gardens:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/trave...,3263083.story

I went to Legoland in California a few years ago and let me say, they are really going to have to step up their game for the Florida market if they want to compete with the likes of Disney and Universal. Especially now, considering that both Magic Kingdom, with the Fantasyland redo, and Universal, with Harry Potter, are much more venerable.

This is an incredibly risky development. Should have been in Kissimmee.