Mold Remediation in Lakeland, FL

Goodbye, 9-5. If you (or someone you know) recently retired, you might be looking for activities catering to older adults. Clock into our retirement guide, and find opportunities in Lakeland that work for you.

If you’re not planning on slowing down in your retirement, keep moving with fitness classes perfect for older Lakelanders.

There’s no wrong way to get fit. Your first step could be as easy as finding walking trails at a local park or exploring one of Lakeland’s easier hikes.

If you’re looking to spend time with the grandchildren, explore these 24 kid-friendly activities in Lakeland and pick one that’s your speed.

Give back to the community by volunteering at a local organization. Whether you’re interested in supporting the arts or want to put in work outdoors, check out our full list of opportunities.

Whether you choose to peruse one of the city’s museums, take in a performance at Lakeland Community Theatre, or try out one of the library’s crafting classes, there are numerous ways to get immersed in Lakeland’s arts and culture scene.

It’s never too late to learn new skills. Take classes in writing, computer education, Broadway history, and other topics at The Rath Senior ConNEXTions Center, or get hands-on knowledge by adventuring across the state with the Road Scholar Program.

If you have a fondness for things of the past, consider brushing up on your local history with this collection of articles, stopping by a meeting of the Lakeland Stamp Club, or taking a monthly architectural tour of the Polk County History Center.

Making friends has no age limit. Connect with others while trying something new at Senior Wellness Services, Beautiful Minds Social Center, or one of Lakeland’s five community centers.

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H​urricane Milton has made landfall just south of Tampa Bay, with a major threat to life and property as it hammers the state with destructive storm surge, devastating wind damage, potentially catastrophic flooding rainfall and several tornadoes.

"The track of Hurricane Milton continues to be a worst-case scenario for the Tampa Bay region southward to Charlotte", the National Weather Service in Tampa Bay said in a briefing Wednesday morning.

(​LIVE UPDATES: Milton's Impacts, Reports And More)

H​ere's the latest status: Milton has made landfall near Siesta Key, Florida, as a Category 3 hurricane packing winds up to 120 mph as of 8:30 p.m. EDT. It is tracking to the east-northeast at 15 mph.

Bands of heavy rain containing extreme wind gusts are spreading across parts of the state, as shown in the radar snapshot below.

A​n "extreme wind warning" is in effect for portions of Tampa Bay. Tornado-like conditions are expected over the next couple of hours in this area. Move to the interior-most dry room of the structure that you are in. Being outside could be fatal. Gusts in this area may exceed 100 mph.

A​ tornado watch is in effect for the southern half of the Florida Peninsula until 9 p.m. EDT, including Miami, Tampa Bay and Fort Myers. Multiple tornadoes have been confirmed in southern Florida since this morning.

Hurricane-force winds are sweeping through the west coast of Florida. Winds have gusted up to 100 mph in Egmont Channel, 97 mph in Venice, 96 mph in Sarasota, 90 mph in Venice, 89 mph in St. Petersburg have recently been reported. A sustained wind of 78 mph was recently recorded in Venice at an elevated station

Water levels have risen by about 8+ feet near Sarasota. A​ storm surge of 2-5 feet has been recorded from Naples to Charlotte Harbor, with more inundation likely occurring in Manatee and Sarasota counties.

(​MAPS TRACKER: Spaghetti Models And More)

H​ere's where hurricane and storm surge alerts are in effect: Hurricane warnings cover much of central Florida from the Gulf side to the Atlantic side, including the Tampa Bay area, Fort Myers, Orlando, Cape Canaveral and Daytona Beach. This means hurricane (sustained winds of 74 mph or higher) conditions are expected within the warning area by Wednesday evening into early Thursday.

V​arious tropical storm watches and warnings cover other parts of Florida, southeast Georgia, southeast South Carolina and southern North Carolina, as shown in the map below.

A storm surge warning stretches along Florida's Gulf Coast from Flamingo northward to Yankeetown, including Charlotte Harbor and Tampa Bay. Part of the Atlantic coastline is also in a storm surge warning, from Sebastian Inlet, Florida, northward to Altamaha Sound, Georgia, including the St. Johns River in northeast Florida.

This means a life-threatening water rise from storm surge is expected in these areas late Wednesday into Thursday.

H​ere's the latest timing and intensity forecast: Milton will continue weakening gradually as the storm moves over Florida because of increasing wind shear and land interaction.

It's important to note that this weakening won't reduce the impacts we see from Milton, including storm surge, destructive winds and flooding rainfall. As mentioned before, Milton will also grow larger as it passes over Florida, allowing its wind, storm surge and rainfall impacts to sprawl out across a bigger area both within and outside of its forecast cone.

S​torm Surge

The latest National Hurricane Center forecast calls for storm surge to be as much as 9 to 13 feet above ground level if the peak surge coincides with high tide along the west-central Florida Gulf Coast from Boca Grande northward to Anna Maria Island. Charlotte Harbor could see storm surge levels up to 8 to 12 feet.

See the graphic below for the latest forecast.

Storm surge will be most destructive near and to the south of where the storm’s center crosses the coast.

S​torm surge will continue building up today before likely peaking tonight into early Thursday.

S​ome storm surge could also inundate parts of Florida's east coast as well as coastal Georgia and South Carolina because of winds blowing onshore when Milton passes by Wednesday night through Thursday.

Please note that adjustments to the storm surge forecast shown below are possible based on Milton's exact track.

Wind Damage

The most devastating winds capable of structural damage, downing trees and knocking out power will occur near where the center of Milton crosses the coast in west-central Florida and then tracks inland through central Florida toward the Orlando and Cape Canaveral areas. Power outages could last for days in these areas.

The timing for those strongest winds begins late Wednesday along the western Gulf Coast, then spreads east across central Florida through the first part of Thursday.

Areas farther away from the landfall point in northern and southern Florida will see some strong wind gusts as well that could at least down trees and cause scattered power outages.

Rainfall Flooding

C​atastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding – and moderate to major river flooding – is expected from Milton in the central and northern Florida Peninsula.

T​otals across these areas could be 6 to 12 inches, with locally up to 18 inches through Thursday.

N​OAA's Weather Prediction Center has issued a rare "high risk" flood threat for parts of central Florida, including the Tampa Bay and Orlando areas (pink shading below), for Wednesday and Thursday because of this excessive rainfall.

(For even more granular weather data tracking in your area, view your 15-minute forecast in our Premium Pro experience.)

T​ropical Depression Fourteen formed on the morning of Oct. 5 in the southwest Gulf of Mexico and shortly thereafter was deemed Tropical Storm Milton.

T​he storm then rapidly intensified into Hurricane Milton about 24 hours later at 1 p.m. CDT on Oct. 6.

T​he next day, Milton underwent another incredible round of rapid intensification. Winds increased from 90 mph at 1 a.m. CDT on Oct. 7 to 180 mph just 15 hours later at 4 p.m. CDT.

Milton's 180 mph winds made it one of only nine other Atlantic hurricanes to hit that wind threshold or higher.

Its pressure dropped to 897 millibars, the lowest observed in any Atlantic hurricane since Wilma in 2005. That also ranks as the fifth-lowest pressure on record for any Atlantic hurricane.

7-minute read

A former CEO of the Shula Restaurant Group plans to convert the historic Florida National Bank building in downtown Lakeland into Prima 135, an upscale steakhouse. To help make the plan a reality, the building’s owner is seeking $195,000 in incentives from the Lakeland Community Redevelopment Agency.

The restaurant: Prima 135 is envisioned as an elegant establishment that “will fill a niche in the market for a higher-end steakhouse with an Italian flair,” according to Bill Freeman, the entrepreneur behind the project. He says he hopes Prima 135 can open by the end of next year.

The restaurateur: Freeman, a South Carolina resident, has been in the restaurant business for 45 years. In the last 15 years, he has been CEO of three restaurant organizations specializing in top-end eateries: Shula’s Restaurant Group in South Florida, Mina Group in San Franciso, and McCormick & Schmicks in Portland, Oregon. His current project is the not-yet-open Il Mercato & Crave Kitchen in Salem, S.C.

The building: The Florida National Bank Building was built in 1946 in an Art Deco style at 113 S. Tennessee Ave. Its massive lobby features extensive marble flooring and walls and a high wood coffered ceiling, all of which Freeman plans to preserve. The 15,860-square-foot, two-story building housed banks continuously until last February, when Wells Fargo ended its lease. The building has been owned by Baron Management LLC since 2014.

Cory Petcoff, president of Baron Management, applied for two incentive grants from the Lakeland Community Redevelopment Agency, which was set up to revitalize downtown, Midtown and Dixieland. The grants, if approved, would partially reimburse the developers after construction is complete. The two grants are:

The project addresses the CRA’s two main goals for downtown, CRA Director Valerie Vaught said: Activate unused second floors and convert unused first floors to retail and restaurant uses.

The CRA staff would have the authority to grant up to $50,000 combined for the project, Vaught said. But because of “the extensive renovation and change of use of this strategic location,” Vaught and her staff instead are asking the CRA Advisory Board to approve incentives totaling $195,000.

The board will consider the request when it meets Thursday at 3 p.m. at City Hall. (View the grant request here or at the end of this article.)

The incentive amount not to exceed $195,000 is based on 10% of estimated costs, which are $1,275,000 for interior improvements and $675,000 for utility improvements.

Petcoff, a former chair of the CRA Advisory Board, estimated total construction costs — not including equipping the restaurant — at $3 million. Around $800,000 of that would come from expected grants and the restaurant developers, he said, and the rest would be funded by Baron Management, Petcoff said.

Restaurateur Freeman said he has secured commitments for private funding, but declined to name the investors.

Freeman says this is the second time he has been involved in converting an older bank building into a steakhouse. The first one was in San Francisco when he headed the Mina Group. “It’s a big challenge to convert a bank, but the classic ones have a lot of charm and history,” he said.

He said he approached Petcoff after hearing about the vacant bank in downtown Lakeland from a friend and he subsequently visited several times: “Lakeland is a beautiful city with a great sense of history. There are some great restaurants already there. We can fill a niche in the market.”

That niche is a high-end steakhouse, the kind that some Polk County diners seek out in Tampa or Orlando, he said, and he hopes to keep them from having to drive that far.

A “concept overview” attached to the grant application describes some of the dishes that are anticipated: “a combination of authentic Italian dishes with a variety of homemade pasta made daily, Charcuterie selections, Lobster Scampi Toast, Black Truffle Cacio E Pepe, Chicken Parm, Veal Milanese, Potato & Robiola Gnocchi and a variety of Bone-In and Aged Prime Steak cuts.”

Chef Marcos Fernandez, who owns Nineteen61, located a block away on Main Street, said he always likes seeing new restaurants open in the downtown area: “A rising tide lifts all ships.”

Fernandez noted that he did not benefit from CRA funding. However, the owner of the previous restaurant in the building at 215 E. Main Street, Posto 9, received CRA approval for tax increment financing when he was about to spend several million dollars to purchase the building and convert it to a Brazilian restaurant. But Posto 9 failed before its owner was able to take advantage of the CRA assistance, Vaught said.

The restaurant will take up the entire first floor of the Tennessee Avenue building, with the kitchen located at the rear, visible through large glass windows. It will seat 131, including two 12-seat private rooms and U-shaped bar in the center with 24 chairs, according to a floor plan prepared by Straughn Trout Architects of Lakeland.

A bank vault in the northwest corner will be preserved and used as a wine cellar with three wine-tasting tables nearby. New lighting will soften the ambience, Petcoff said.

In order to avoid marring the look of the classic wooden-paneled ceiling with a sprinkler system, the developers were able to get approval for a system that recesses the metal pipe into the woodwork with heads that will spray water sideways and down, Petcoff said.

Planned changes to the exterior of the building are minimal. They include new fire escapes on the south side and rear of the building, a canopy over the front entrance, an awning over a side entrance and signage on the northeast corner.

Those changes have been conditionally approved by the Lakeland Historic Preservation Board with the architects requested to provide updated information on canopies and awnings.

3-minute read

Lakeland and Polk County escaped relatively unscathed when winds and rains from Hurricane Helene swirled through on Thursday night.

The worst local damage was to two houses that were hit by fallen trees, according to Paul Womble, Polk County’s emergency services director. One is on Deeson Road in north Lakeland, and the other is in Mulberry.

Cleanup: Many Lakeland residents woke up to yards full of fallen branches and tree debris. Similar debris littered many neighborhood roads.

City of Lakeland crews circulated in trucks to clear some of the larger piles of fallen tree limbs.

Landfall: The Category 4 storm slammed into the Big Bend area at the sleepy town of Dekle Beach, with winds up to 140 mph. Catastrophic and historic storm surges were seen from Apalchee Bay to Venice Beach.

All of Taylor County, population 22,000, was without power within an hour of the massive storm coming ashore.

Statewide more than 1.24 million lost power during the storm, but 1.16 million of them were restored by crews that were standing by, Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a news conference.

Local power outages: Lakeland Electric reported that 4,800 customers lost power at some point during the storm. At 1 p.m. today, Lakeland Electric’s outage map showed 30 outages affecting 443 customers remained. Lakeland Electric is on standby to send crews to North Florida.

During the storm, a tornado warning was issued at 6:48 p.m. when weather radar spotted a rotational motion near the Polk-Hillsborough line south of State Road 60. But officials said it quickly dissipated.

The top wind speed recorded in Polk County was 59 mph in Fort Meade, according to Jeff Foley, a spokesman for Polk County government.

Lending a hand: Forty-five employees of the Polk County Sheriff’s Office and Polk Fire Rescue left Bartow at 6:45 a.m. in a convoy headed to Perry, the county seat in Taylor County, to provide assistance.

The convoy included mobile command centers, mobile kitchen, showers, bunks, generators, water tanks, fuel trucks, a swamp buggy, boats, ATV’s, patrol cars, and ambulances.

They will provide law enforcement and assist with rescues and recovery, working in 12-hour shifts.

Hurricane Hunters: The Lakeland-based Hurricane Hunters – part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – had a bit of scare as they flew through the storm Thursday afternoon. The crew of the NOAA WP-3D, nicknamed “Kermit,” was momentarily stuck circling within the eye of the storm. NOAA’s hurricane hunters routinely fly through storms and into the eye, dropping probes that transmit data to the team.

“During their second of four eyewall passes in Hurricane Helene, the crew orbited within the eye to release a second uncrewed aircraft system for research purposes,” a statement on Facebook read. “The crew was also evaluating if landing conditions would allow a return to home base instead of point of origin. Thank you for your concern. ’Kermit’ and crew are fine.”

3-minute read

Light showers fell briefly over parts of Lakeland early this afternoon, marking the first sign of rain and winds from Hurricane Helene that are expected to intensify tonight and Thursday as the storm marches north in the Gulf of Mexico toward an anticipated landfall in the Panhandle Thursday evening.

More Polk County organizations announced they would be closed or altering operations because of the storm since LkldNow reported that Polk County public schools would be closed Thursday and Friday.

Helene remained a Category 1 storm when the National Weather Service reported at 2 p.m. that it was located just northeast of the tip of the Yucatan and traveling north-northwest at 10 mph with 80 mph sustained winds. Hurricane-force winds extended 25 miles from the center, and tropical-storm-force winds could be felt 275 miles away.

The size of the storm has led to increased warnings throughout Florida, with Polk County upgraded today from tropical storm watch to tropical storm warning.

Polk could get 3 to 6 inches of rain Thursday with wind gusts between 35 mph up to 74 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

Storm-related closings around Lakeland include:

Buses: Citrus Connection is suspending all service on Thursday.

Colleges/Universities: Florida Southern College has shifted all Thursday and Friday classes to virtual. Polk State College cancelled Thursday and Friday classes. Florida Polytechnic University’s campus will be closed Thursday. Southeastern University says it will post announcements here.

Courts in Florida’s 10th Judicial District and the Clerk of Court office will close Thursday and are scheduled to reopen Friday. Jurors summoned for Thursday should not report.

Bonnet Springs Park and the Florida Children’s Museum will be closed on Thursday.

Peace River Center will suspend in-person appointments at noon Thursday; telehealth appointments will continue and crisis services remain available 24 hours.

Polk Tax Collector offices will close Thursday. All Thursday appointments will be honored on a priority basis through Oct. 28, spokeswoman Ashleigh Mills said.

Watson Clinic plans to remain open.

Polk sandbag sites remain open until 5:30 p.m. today. Lakeland-area locations are Loyce E. Harpe Park, 500 W. Carter Road and 8970 N. Campbell Road.

City of Lakeland parks and public buildings are scheduled to remain open, according to city spokesman Kevin Cook. Solid-waste pickups are still scheduled since the Polk County landfill is staying open, he said. Polk County also plans to maintain its solid waste collections.

Publix Super Markets had no plans to close Polk County stores as of this afternoon, although some stores in coastal counties will be closing on Thursday.

Lakeland Linder Airport plans to remain open; Director Kris Hallstrand said that Amazon will cease cargo operations tonight until the storm passes. Avelo Airlines is monitoring the storm to decide whether to cancel its Thursday morning flight to New Haven.

• Hurricane Prep – United Way of Central Florida

• Polk County Emergency Management

• Lakeland Electric Storms & Outages