Lakeland ended its contract with Tampa-based developer Onicx Investments LLC to build multi-family housing on the city’s Oak Street parking lot, raising questions of what development is financially feasible on that site.
The commission voted 5-1 on Dec. 15 to terminate its May 2022 development agreement with Onicx.
Under the 2022 agreement, Onicx was going to buy the 150-space public parking lot north of Oak Street and west of Kentucky Avenue from the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency for $1.83 million.
Onicx planned to spend around $70 million to build a donut-like, seven-story mixed-use project with apartments, townhomes, commercial space, a retail arcade facing Oak Street, and an embedded, three-story parking garage topped with a courtyard…