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The architects converting the Lakeland Cash Feed building into the Catapult 2.0 business incubator have updated their plans for the structure, incorporating suggestions made last month by the city Design Review Committee.

Among the changes: The three-story, glass-and-metal entryway being added to the building now has rounded edges that recall the Mission architecture of the original building, and stucco has been added to tie the entry with the 1924 structure.

Here are the new drawings:

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Here are the drawings reviewed last month:

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Remind me what happened

Last month, the Design Review Committee gave conceptual approval to the $10 million project overlooking Lake Mirror, but asked the architects for several refinements.

Typically, the applicant comes back a month later having made the suggested changes and the project gets final approval, which is one of the things needed before construction can start.

Steve Scuggs, president of the Lakeland Economic Development Council, Catapult’s sponsor, certainly hopes so. Last month, he told the committee that a delay of more than a month would jeopardize the project.

What does the city staff think?

Emily Foster, the city’s historic preservation expert, says the new design addresses the concerns expressed by committee members last month. She recommends approval with one very minor condition: that she gets to review the final glazing used on the windows.

Here’s Foster’s report:

So is everybody happy?

We’ll find out when the committee meets next Thursday along with the Historic Review Board at 7:30 a.m. at City Hall.

One critic of the design thinks it’s going to pass. “I’m afraid the same project that was presented last month will be approved with minor technical loophole details,” historic preservation activist Gregory Fancelli wrote in an email to Foster this week. “It’s unfortunate that we will be allowing one of the most important landscape views to be altered in a way that is not properly respectful to the design flow of the Lake Mirror Promenade.”

For the record, here are the yet-to-be-approved minutes from last month’s meeting.

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Barry Friedman founded Lkldnow.com in 2015 as the culmination of a career in print and digital journalism. Since 1982, he has used the tools of reporting, editing and content curation to help people in Lakeland understand their community better.

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