Work begins at Towne Square

It's been a long, drawn-out process, but work finally began recently on a complete makeover to the façade of the Towne Square Shopping Center at the intersection of Kenilworth Boulevard and Lakeview Drive.

Construction Manager Bruce Johnson, with Bruin Contracting, went to the Sebring Building Department on Nov. 18 and pulled a permit for a "façade remodel," according to building department staff.

Workers with Frasier Contracting Inc., a general contractor from Winter Haven, were working Monday on the deserted Winn-Dixie building, removing sheets of plywood from the old façade.

Terry Milam is the field supervisor for Frasier. He said the work will take about five months and added they were going to give the shopping center a whole new look.

"We're doing a major facelift on the whole plaza," said Milam. "We'll get it looking modern again. It's quite the derelict. It's going to shine when it's finished."

Subcontractor Jimmy Blackwell Framing LLC had workers doing layout for foundations for columns that will rise up at the front of the former location of the Florida Department of Children and Families.

Local trucking company Woody's Trucking Inc. was on the job removing some concrete sidewalks last week in front of the former Winn-Dixie, according to receptionist Cindy Howard with Woody's.

She was glad to see anything that sparked some more work.

Milam said he hoped to attract some more local contractors to the job site, for example, to do some fire sprinkler work.

It was late January when shopping center co-owner Cheryl Maymon of Cam Realty and Johnson first appeared before the council with a plan to revamp the shopping center.

City officials felt they only had one shot at remodeling the shopping center parking lot, which City Council President John Griffin once labeled as the ugliest parking lot in Florida, so they wanted to get it right.

Council members used an existing development agreement for a proposal to build townhomes on the property as leverage, holding the developer's feet to the fire to get the overall property to meet their vision before they would amend the agreement.

After numerous meetings with city agencies the council approved the landscape plan at its Nov. 3 meeting for an original landscape plan along with an amended landscape plan which included the council's desire for several additional landscape islands.

Johnson told the council that with the existing landscape plan the developers were very close to the funding limit they had allowed for landscaping.

"Council approved the basic landscape plan, but they also approved the plan with enhancements," said Pete Pollard, Community Redevelopment Agency executive director.

Johnson estimated the enhancements would come to about $30,000, but admitted his estimates were probably high.

Council asked Bruin to go before the CRA to see if it would be willing to kick in $30,000 or so for the council's extra islands.

After a lengthy discussion and several different defeated motions the CRA voted on Nov. 9 to approve up to $15,000 for the additional landscaping in the amended plan. Bruin must obtain three bids to complete these enhancements, said Pollard.

"They were all grappling with this, but they all wanted to assist," said Pollard. "They all agreed this is a gateway area and that it was important to make this as attractive as they could."

If the bids come out to more than $15,000, the board would accept fewer islands in the parking lot.

The CRA may, at some point in the construction, contribute antique street lighting on the Lakeview Drive side and possibly help with a sidewalk, said Pollard.

"We've had a very positive working relationship with the developer," said Pollard. "They have been very responsive to both the CRA and the city and we believe this project will have a very positive impact on the city of Sebring."

In a previous report Maymon said she was working on attracting some new tenants to the center, but attempts to reach her for an update were not successful by press time.