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CRA staff: hotel restoration advancing, Place Economics study due and thrift-store sale set for March
Summary
City staff told the CRA the historic hotel restoration project is progressing as a costly public–private partnership, Place Economics has been hired with a report expected soon, and a sale‑purchase agreement for the CARE Center thrift store will be ready for the March 10 CRA meeting with a prior work session planned the week of March 3.
City staff told the Lake Wales CRA on Feb. 10 that work on a planned restoration of the historic downtown hotel is advancing and that staff expects more definite information on the public–private partnership structure in the coming days.
The director said the project is complicated and expensive compared with new construction and that the city will be a contributing public partner. The CRA has hired Place Economics to produce an economic-impact study for the hotel restoration; staff said the report was expected by mid‑February. Staff also reported that boundary and topographical surveys for the hotel and surrounding block are complete and that a contractor will begin clearing rubble from interior floors to accelerate reconstruction once a partner is selected.
Separately, staff said a sale‑purchase agreement related to the CARE Center thrift store will be ready for the March 10 CRA meeting and that a work session to discuss the transaction is likely the week of March 3. Appraisals and surveys for both the current thrift-store location and the proposed relocation site are complete, staff said.
Staff reiterated that Restoration St. Louis is the city's preferred partner for the hotel negotiations but that the city has contingency plans if negotiations do not succeed. No final contract with Restoration St. Louis was recorded in the Feb. 10 transcript.
The director described the hotel project as moving forward and said more detail would be shared publicly when the structure of the partnership is finalized.
