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Lakeland leaders want to revitalize Memorial Boulevard. | Cindy Glover, LkldNow
Get our briefing — Once a week, local news focused on decisions that affect Lakeland.
3-minute read
In its heyday, Memorial Boulevard was more than just the road that bisects Lakeland into north and south. It had a bustling shopping mall, a vibrant shopping center known as Searstown and motels that primarily served tourists.
Today, Memorial is better known for traffic accidents, fast food and a significant population of people who are down on their luck. But city planners are hoping to change that.
Public input
The city unveiled a project website on Tuesday with a link to a 12-question survey that asks residents what they would like to see on Memorial.
There will also be a public meeting from 6-8 p.m. on Feb. 20 at the Coleman-Bush Building, 1104 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave.
A tall order: The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency entered a five-month, $86,000 contract with Tampa-based Ayres Associates to craft an economic development strategy for the 6-mile corridor from Interstate 4 to East Lake Parker Drive. The goal is to:
attract new investments
support surrounding residential communities
improve pedestrian safety
boost the local economy
create more job opportunities
Most of the cost is covered by a $75,000 grant from the Florida Department of Commerce. The remaining $11,000 is from the Midtown CRA’s budget.
The city wants to spur economic development on a 6-mile stretch of Memorial Boulevard. |City of Lakeland
‘Significant’ infrastructure investments: The study comes at a time when the Florida Department of Transportation is preparing to redesign a smaller 0.7-mile section of Memorial between Walker and Massachusetts Avenues. The first phase of that project is a $1.25 million design study that will focus on traffic operations and safety improvements for pedestrians and bicyclists, potentially including wider sidewalks, bike lanes, landscaped medians and better lighting.
The Florida Department of Transportation is redesigning a 0.7-mile area of Memorial Boulevard.
Former glory
For several decades, Memorial Boulevard was a prime shopping destination. The Lake Parker Mall opened next to Montgomery Ward in 1971, with a Woolco and S.H. Kress 5 & 10. The Jerry Lewis Twin Cinema was added in 1972. New owners renamed it the Lakeland Mall in 1974. It closed in 1994. After standing vacant for five years, it was reconfigured as a worship center for the First Baptist Church.
Across the street, the Searstown shopping center was a bustling plaza in the 1960s, with a Sears store, Publix, Woolworth’s, Harrell’s Garden Center, cafeteria, barbershop, toy store and more. Today, it’s called Lakeland Town Center and is anchored by a Save-A-Lot, Family Dollar, Rent-a-Center and a discount furniture outlet.
Insight Polk examines community conditions and solutions in six target areas from UCIndicators.org: economic & employment opportunity, education, housing, food security, transportation & infrastructure, and quality of life.
LkldNow’s Insight Polk independent reporting is made possible by the United Community Indicators Project with funding by GiveWell Community Foundation & United Way of Central Florida. All editorial decisions are made by LkldNow.
Cindy's reporting for LkldNow focuses on Lakeland city government. Previously, she was a crime reporter, City Hall reporter and chief political writer for newspapers including the Albuquerque Journal and South Florida Sun-Sentinel. She spent a year as a community engagement coordinator for the City of Lakeland before joining LkldNow in 2023. Reach her at cindy@lkldnow.com or 561-212-3429.
Deshayla clinton well I think some of these buildings they have in Sears town that’s empty they can use for the homeless that be sleeping outside and so much can volunteer the help them and let them sleep in that building and provide them with meals and some of these buildings if they can look into it if they have showers they can provide them with hot meals showers a place to sleep and we can volunteer and buy monitor them and give them a hot meal letting them shower just know what I’m saying hanging out with them asking a mentor and I’m you know I’m saying just hanging out with him and stuff and these hotels they need to really go down on these prices of these hotels like some of us can use a hotel to stay at they need to really lower these prices I mean go all the way down on Sony’s hotel prices this is ridiculous people can’t afford none these hotel prices like they need to really cut it out on somebody’s hotel prices like literally give these people a chance to like live in these hotels for free like they deserve it we deserve to live in a place for free like this is a world they got to look at it y’all can leave some of these hotels can be like hey okay we can least let him stay here for free some of them might say no so I might say yes don’t understand until y’all can we can do something about it they can least let some of the homeless stay in the hotel for free start finding some programs or vouchers or something that can say hey we can talk to some of these hotels and like hey look we’re going to part to a partner what somebody’s hotels and ask him hey look we’re going to see if we can partner for somebody’s hotel baby I wanted to and just take them in for them to stay here at this hotel showroom free meals don’t think they can stay here if they have to provide their own food long as they have a roof over their head they have to buy their own food they got a hot shower they got free TV free cable a microwave and everything but some of these empty buildings we can use those for something no I’m saying like a daycare building or other things we can do activities with it’s other things we can use these other vacant buildings for it’s a lot of things we can use these vacant buildings for and we have to just look into it for volunteering or anything else it’s a lot of vacant buildings people are just boarding up or not using
I think this is wonderful news and I would like to be involved and participate any way possible
Deshayla clinton well I think some of these buildings they have in Sears town that’s empty they can use for the homeless that be sleeping outside and so much can volunteer the help them and let them sleep in that building and provide them with meals and some of these buildings if they can look into it if they have showers they can provide them with hot meals showers a place to sleep and we can volunteer and buy monitor them and give them a hot meal letting them shower just know what I’m saying hanging out with them asking a mentor and I’m you know I’m saying just hanging out with him and stuff and these hotels they need to really go down on these prices of these hotels like some of us can use a hotel to stay at they need to really lower these prices I mean go all the way down on Sony’s hotel prices this is ridiculous people can’t afford none these hotel prices like they need to really cut it out on somebody’s hotel prices like literally give these people a chance to like live in these hotels for free like they deserve it we deserve to live in a place for free like this is a world they got to look at it y’all can leave some of these hotels can be like hey okay we can least let him stay here for free some of them might say no so I might say yes don’t understand until y’all can we can do something about it they can least let some of the homeless stay in the hotel for free start finding some programs or vouchers or something that can say hey we can talk to some of these hotels and like hey look we’re going to part to a partner what somebody’s hotels and ask him hey look we’re going to see if we can partner for somebody’s hotel baby I wanted to and just take them in for them to stay here at this hotel showroom free meals don’t think they can stay here if they have to provide their own food long as they have a roof over their head they have to buy their own food they got a hot shower they got free TV free cable a microwave and everything but some of these empty buildings we can use those for something no I’m saying like a daycare building or other things we can do activities with it’s other things we can use these other vacant buildings for it’s a lot of things we can use these vacant buildings for and we have to just look into it for volunteering or anything else it’s a lot of vacant buildings people are just boarding up or not using