Commissioner Calls for Downtown Property Investors to "Incentivize" New Business Tenants

City Commissioner Keith Thompson issued a strident call for building owners to join the city's efforts to incentivize new businesses in downtown lake wales.

News file photo

Lake Wales City Commissioner Keith Thompson called for downtown real estate investors to "step up" to help develop start-up businesses to address the 22 commercial vacancies within the historic district. Citing the significant investment being made b y the City and the Community Redevelopment Agency, Thompson said that building owners need to "get creative."

"We've got 22 vacancies in downtown Lake Wales," Thompson pointed out. "There's no reason we can't fill those up, if we will get creative together. It's also going to have to be on the building owner's part" through lease deals, he said. "I don't see that kind of thing happening right now, and that's what I'm asking our building owners in downtown to consider."

Thompson's call came during Community Redevelopment Agency discussion of a restaurant incentive grant for The Pink Flamingo, a new 50's style diner planned for East Park Avenue.

Restaurant operator Gene Hofferber described his planned investment of "up to a quarter-million dollars" in the expansion of his Pink Flamingo which currently operates as an ice cream and confectionary parlor in the interior of the Arcade. Hofferber's plans to relocate to two street-front spaces in the same building.

In requesting the matching incentive Hofferber acknowledged that his investment would be a long-term improvement to a building he does not own, prompting Thompson's call for building owners to "step up" and help incentivize new businesses in the historic district.

Courtesy The Pink Flamingo

The colorful storefront of The Pink Flamingo with Park Avenue's Rhodesbilt Arcade will be shifter to a new street-front location when construction is completed on a major expansion of the business, which will include a 1950's-style diner.

"There are ways on the back end of this that a building owner can help the business owner," Thompson said. "This is the part that has to get said on the record. The CRA has stepped up, in a huge way," adding that "public investment does help funnel private investment."

"I think we can have a thriving, vibrant downtown, and I believe we can get there really quickly, if we can have all three parts of this working together," Thompson said. "I'm asking

The CRA incentive program has seen several successes, helping bring new services to the once-declining area. CRA Chairman Robin Gibson pointed out that investments made in the buildings raises their taxable values, eventually repaying the CRA through the capture of "tax increments."

Robert Connors

Lynette and Gene Hofferber chose Lake Wales as the site of their investments after assessing popular retail communities across central Florida. Originally focused on Winter Garden, they decided Lake Wales was "the next big thing," Hofferber said.

The CRA board voted unanimously to approve the incentive, a reimbursement grant which will match the costs of permanent improvements with a cap of $50,000. The match covers such items as plumbing, electrical, fire suppression equipment and ADA-Accessible restrooms. It excludes furnishings and other items which do not remain permanently affixed to real estate.