By Matt Wright
Maggie Gallagher, The Director of Development for The Lake District, provided a 30 minute update today at the monthly Lakeland Chamber of Commerce luncheon. The event was held at Stonebridge Golf Course with roughly 40 people in attendance. While no new stores or restaurants were announced, there was plenty of information to digest about the massive mixed-use project.
Ms. Gallagher said the project, located at I-40 and Canada Rd in Lakeland, is coming along well and the addition of all the mature trees have given the development a whole new look. “It’s looking lush and we’re not even open yet,” she said. She informed the crowd some retail tenants in phase one have already pulled permits to work on their stores and they expect staggered opening dates starting in September going thru the holidays. She said leasing has remained strong during the pandemic and there are only two bays left to lease in Phase one of the project. However, two tenants that were originally announced early on, Malco Movie Theaters and Brickhouse Fitness, will no longer be part of the development. “Both of those tenants were impacted because of COVID,” Ms. Gallagher stated.
When discussing what new businesses might be headed to The Lake District, she emphasized local and regional business is what they are focused on. “National retailers are not expanding right now after the pandemic, local business is what’s important,” she added. She said businesses in Franklin, TN, and Oxford, MS, are areas they have looked for possible businesses to recruit for phase two. She also mentioned they are still pursuing a variety of other unique businesses, including hotels. “We are revisiting all the hotels right now as well as entertainment venues,” Ms. Gallagher said.
The crowd wanted to know what’s next for The Lake District now that Phase one for retail is coming to a completion. Ms. Gallagher stated the townhomes located on the back of the property will soon start coming out of the ground. “I expect slabs to start getting poured as soon as next month,” she said. “There is a lot of heavy engineering needed to make this come to light,” she emphasized.
Bob Browder, a local CPA, told Lakeland Currents he was excited to hear about the overall vision of The Lake District at today’s luncheon. “I like that almost everything you need will be in that one community and within walking distance. It’s like something you would see in bigger cities like New York or LA,” Mr. Browder said.
After the presentation, Ms. Gallagher stated very emphatically, “This is going to be a life center when done,” adding, “we want to bring in businesses that support the whole center, not just something that gets people to drive in and leave. This will be a whole new lifestyle.”
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