5-minute read
One of downtown Lakeland’s most stubborn eyesores could soon make a big comeback.
In April, investor Alejandro Millan purchased the century-old Hartsell-Lohr Building, vacant for decades and burdened by more than $216,000 in code enforcement fines.
He hopes to transform the landmark into a mix of retail space, a food hall, and possibly a boutique hotel upstairs — with some portions potentially ready for tenants by next summer.
Millan, a construction contractor who moved to Lakeland from Colombia 12 years ago, also owns the building that houses the Purple Onion deli and grill at 314 N. Kentucky Ave. He said restoring the Hartsell-Lohr Building is partly about investing in the community he now calls home.
“We love this place, and … we want to be part of the improvement,” he said. “The main purpose here is we want to keep the building, bring it back to life. Make it look old, right, but new.”
A significant milestone for downtown
Julie Townsend, executive director of the Lakeland Downtown Development Authority, called the sale of a building that has “sat vacant and in disrepair for more than 30 years” a significant milestone for downtown.
“Revitalization happens property by property,” Townsend said. “Bringing long-neglected buildings back into productive use strengthens our economic momentum, increases confidence in downtown investment, and creates new opportunities for businesses, residents, and visitors.”
Townsend said she hopes the project marks the beginning of “a new generation of investors” taking an interest in downtown properties.
She said Millan’s plans, along with a restaurant project across the street in the former Wells Fargo building, could help turn a quiet stretch of East Main Street into an active connection between downtown and South Florida Avenue.
More destinations mean more reasons for people to walk around that area, she said.
A building with many lives
For several decades, the Hartsell-Lohr Building housed a White Bus Line terminal, a Singer Sewing Machine store, and Liggett’s Drug Store. Upstairs, diners gathered at the Don Quixote Spanish Restaurant, which later expanded into the Rainbow Room, featuring a nightly orchestra.
Historical photographs from the Lakeland Public Library show elegantly dressed diners seated beneath white tablecloths.
Liggett’s Drugstore at 108 E. Main St., shown here in 1928. | Lakeland Public Library 
Liggett’s Drugstore, in 1925, was one of the original tenants of the Hartsell Building. | Lakeland Public Library 
The interior of the bus terminal inside the Hartsell Building, 1928. | Lakeland Public Library 
The Singer Sewing Machine store in the Hartsell Building, 1925. | Lakeland Public Library 
Interior view of the Don Quixote Spanish Restaurant in 1938. It was owned by Vincent Garcia and specialized in “fine foods and excellent service.” | Lakeland Public Library 
Interior view of the Don Quixote Spanish Restaurant in 1938. It was owned by Vincent Garcia and specialized in “fine foods and excellent service.” | Lakeland Public Library
Millan hopes the building’s next chapter will once again draw people downtown. He envisions one of the ground-floor storefronts becoming a food hall with multiple vendors, while the remaining spaces would be leased to retailers. Upstairs, he hopes to create a boutique hotel.
Townsend said additional retail is one of downtown’s greatest needs. “Retail is what we struggle most with downtown,” she said.
Millan sees the building’s layout as an advantage.
All three of the storefronts connect to the service alley behind the building, which abuts the city’s North Tennessee Avenue parking lot. The corner space Millan envisions as the food hall also sits beside a second alley between buildings.
He sees both spaces as opportunities to create a more active, pedestrian-friendly environment.
Those plans remain conceptual and will require discussions with city planners, engineers, and preservation officials.
Beneath the dust
The building’s ground-floor storefronts are largely empty today, making it easy to appreciate their scale. The U-shaped upstairs space tells a different story.
Millan said crews have spent nearly three weeks hauling away debris that accumulated during decades of vacancy and removing a later layer of flooring in parts of the second floor.
“This place was full of trash. Piles and piles and piles and piles,” he said.
Under it all, workers found the building’s wooden subfloor — worn, weathered and full of nail holes, but still remarkably solid after more than a century.
The second floor of the Hartsell-Lohr building. | Cindy Glover, LkldNow 
The second floor of the Hartsell-Lohr building. | Cindy Glover, LkldNow 
The second floor of the Hartsell-Lohr building. | Cindy Glover, LkldNow 
There is vintage tile upstairs and downstairs that Millan hopes to preserve. | Cindy Glover, LkldNow 
Millan hopes to save as much of the original woodwork as possible. | Cindy Glover, LkldNow 
Millan hopes to save as much of the original woodwork as possible. | Cindy Glover, LkldNow 
The upstairs forms a U shape around a rooftop that Millan envisions as a future courtyard. | Cindy Glover, LkldNow
Elsewhere, historic details survived in place.
Decorative white-and-blue tile remains in several upstairs walkways and entry areas; its geometric border still visible beneath years of dust and dirt. Millan hopes to preserve those sections, along with surviving woodwork on the staircase and portions of the original handrails.
The building’s history reveals itself in other ways. Several second-floor doors now open to empty air where exterior stairways or loading platforms once stood. An old advertisement for RCA radio tubes still clings to a dusty alley window.
Yet much of the building’s structure remains intact.
“That’s why this building doesn’t really scare me,” said Millan, who also owns Sunpower Contractors, a specialty contracting business that does custom millwork and general construction, among other things.
The service alley behind the Hartsell-Lohr building abuts the city’s North Tennessee Ave parking lot. A white second-story door opens to nothing but air. | Cindy Glover, LkldNow 
Some doors behind the Hartsell-Lohr building no longer have steps. | Cindy Glover, LkldNow 
Some doors behind the Hartsell-Lohr building no longer have steps. | Cindy Glover, LkldNow 
Millan’s crew has been repairing cracked bricks. | Cindy Glover, LkldNow 
Vintage fire equipment outside the Hartsell-Lohr building. | Cindy Glover, LkldNow
A path forward
Millan purchased the building for $1 million on April 30, 2026, from the estate of Joseph Frederick Lohr, who died in October 2025 at the age of 91.
Property records list the building’s construction date as 1915 and show roughly 10,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and another 8,240 square feet upstairs.
The building currently carries two active code enforcement cases with fines totaling $216,050:
- $132,950 resulting from a 2018 maintenance violation case
- $83,100 related to the building being unsecured and boarded beyond allowable time limits
Joie Brownlow, Lakeland’s code enforcement manager, said the city routinely reduces fines when a neglected property changes hands.
“If a new owner acquires a building in that condition and they bring it into compliance within a certain amount of time, we’ll work with them on a fine reduction,” Brownlow said.
Brownlow said Millan is actively correcting violations and hopes to have them resolved within two to three weeks.
The city had filed a lawsuit seeking to foreclose on the property in February 2025. After Millan purchased the building, the case was voluntarily dismissed.
Millan is careful not to promise timelines. Historic buildings have a way of revealing surprises once work begins. Still, he believes tenants could be moving by next summer if everything goes well.
“We’ll be celebrating,” he said.
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