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Lakeland commissioners voted Monday to pull the plug on a downtown redevelopment deal with Tampa-based Onicx Group.
Under the 2022 agreement, Onicx was going to buy the 150-space public parking lot north of Oak Street and west of Kentucky Avenue from the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency for $1.83 million.
Onicx planned to spend around $70 million to build a donut-like, seven-story mixed-use project with apartments, townhomes, commercial space, a retail arcade facing Oak Street, and an embedded, three-story parking garage topped with a courtyard.
Three years on, none of that has happened.
“It’s staff’s opinion that we need to cut the tie here,” City Attorney Palmer Davis told commissioners.
Missed deadlines, unpaid extensions
Under the agreement, Onicx had one year — until May 2023 — to close on the 1.49-acre property, and it had to complete the project within three years of breaking ground.
The contract allowed two free 30-day extensions, followed by paid extensions at $10,000 per month.
Onicx used the free extensions and then paid for 18 more, Davis said. The last payment was in December 2024. There are currently $180,000 in extension fees in an escrow account, plus the initial $25,000 deposit.
That $205,000 will now be transferred to the CRA, Davis said.
‘Not viable’ without $10 million more
Arjun Choudhary, vice president of Onicx, said a “massive macroeconomic adjustment” over the past three years “rendered the project not viable.”
But he asked the Commission to amend the agreement rather than terminating it, saying Onicx invested $2 million in preparation and design work.
Choudhary said the CRA could make the project financially feasible if it decreased the project’s scope, increase its incentives by about $10 million to $14 million, or did a hybrid of the two.
Community and Economic Development Director Brian Rewis said the CRA already offered about $9 million worth of incentives, including waiving up to $736,000 in impact or permit fees and abating 80% of property taxes over the first five years, then 60% for years six through 10.
Parking was the sticking point
Choudhary said the project would be much less costly if Onicx did not have to provide public parking.
In the original agreement, Onicx promised to replace 134 public spaces within the new 420-space garage — which the CRA would contribute $1.1 million to construct. The remaining 16 public spaces would be provided along surrounding streets.
Rewis said public parking was essential. Half of Oak Street’s 150 spaces are leased, many to McKeel Academy Central, which relies on it.
Commissioner Stephanie Madden said she was frustrated that after three years, Onicx was saying the project isn’t viable.
“We got a lot of criticism for going with Onicx because some of the more local builders thought it was ridiculous to ask for affordable housing and parking,” Madden said. “They said the dollars would never work out.”
Rewis said if the CRA were to double its investment or eliminate critical components, other builders would “protest at best, litigate at worst.”
Mayor: ‘disappointed and surprised’
Mayor Bill Mutz said the city was generous with incentives and lenient when Onicx representatives met with city staff in May 2025.
“We wanted this to work,” he said. “This is a non-performance that we have been very disappointed by and surprised by.”
City will try again
Although commissioners weren’t eager to issue a new request for proposals, they said it was the only legal way to proceed.
Commissioner Chad McLeod was the lone dissenter in the 5-1 vote to terminate the deal with Onicx, saying he was willing to give the company 30 days to propose specific changes. Mayor-elect Sara Roberts McCarley was absent.
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