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The Rec Room, a bar and games “barcade” venue downtown at 202 N. Massachusetts Ave., has been looking to expand in its building at the corner of Cedar Street, across from the parking garage.
On Monday it got the go-ahead for that growth with a conditional use permit approved by the Lakeland City Commission with a unanimous 4-0 vote.
Commissioners Stephanie Madden and Bill Read and Mayor Bill Mutz were absent from the meeting.
What is Rec Room doing? Rec Room is expanding into the large open space on the west side of its building that was once the home of Lkld Live, a nonprofit arts and entertainment venue that didn’t survive the pandemic.
It would jump from room for 160 patrons to room for 322.
In response to concerns about noise, under-age drinking and other disruptions, Rec Room proprietor Conn O’Leary, seeking the conditional use permit, told the Lakeland Planning & Zoning Board that he would hire off-duty police officers to work at rec Room on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, from 9 p.m. until 2 a.m.
The Planning & Zoning Board gave its preliminary approval.
On Monday, the Commission amended those stipulations so that the Rec Room will be required to hire security from the Lakeland Police Department on Fridays and Saturdays from 10:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., when it’s busiest.
Read the city staff information packet on the Rec Room below.
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