Lakeland: Two decades after the road diets

In recent years, the concepts of complete streets, right-sizing streets and traffic calming have taken the transportation planning industries and cities across the country by storm. If you live in a municipality that still questions the economic impact these concepts can have on your community, look no further than the implementation of Lakeland, Florida's 1990 Downtown Redevelopment Plan.

Kentucky Avenue/Tennessee Avenue

Once anchored by JCPenney and Burdines, Kentucky and Tennessee Avenue’s retailers were hit hard when the department stores abandoned downtown for Lakeland Square Mall in 1990 and 1994. The owners of these buildings then gave them to the LDDA in exchange for tax breaks. The LDDA then immediately looked for businesses in need of large blocks of affordable space relatively quickly.

Watkins Motor Lines, then one of the nation’s largest trucking companies, agreed to lease the 140,000-square-foot former Burdine’s store for $1 a year for 20 years. Burdines officially closed their store in November 1994. Watkins moved 420 corporate employees into the space in 1995. A similiar deal was created for Publix, which moved some of its corporate functions into the former 120,000-square-foot JCPenney space.

While downtown lost its major retailers, the economic blow was eliminated with quick, affordable deals bringing in 1,000 corporate workers. For those who believe the city gave up too much financially in these deals, by 1997 Watkins alone was already paying $66,500 in property taxes alone. Today, nearly all of Kentucky and Tennesee Avenue’s historic storefronts are occupied with retailers, restaurants and bars.

Article by Ennis Davis, AICP. Davis is a certified senior planner and graduate of Florida A&M University. He is the author of the award winning books “Reclaiming Jacksonville,” “Cohen Brothers: The Big Store” and “Images of Modern America: Jacksonville.” Davis has served with various organizations committed to improving urban communities, including the American Planning Association and the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation. A 2013 Next City Vanguard, Davis is the co-founder of Metro Jacksonville.com and ModernCities.com — two websites dedicated to promoting fiscally sustainable communities — and Transform Jax, a tactical urbanist group. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com