by James Coulter
The City of Lake Wales has narrowed its selection of potential developers for the Historic Walesbilt Hotel restoration to two applicants.
At their meeting on Tues. Aug 12, 2025, Lake Wales Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) board members voted unanimously to approve the pre-qualified shortlist of firms to two redevelopment firms.
The CRA had advertised a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for potential developers to assist with the restoration of the city’s Historic Walesbilt Hotel, located in Downtown Lake Wales.
Since then, the CRA has received four responses. Out of those four, “two firms exceeded the minimum threshold score of 80 to be eligible for inclusion on the pre-qualified shortlist of firms,” wrote City Manager James Slaton.
These two firms were Restoration St. Louis/REG architects, which led “with an average score of 96.8 out of 100”, and Blackmon & Andoniades Families, which ranked second “with an average score of 93.4 out of 100.”
Located at 5 W Park Avenue, the Dixie Walesbilt Hotel is a 10-story skyscraper built in 1926. The building operated as a hotel until its closure in 1995. The hotel was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on August 31, 1990.
The City of Lake Wales has since regained ownership of the hotel after winning a lawsuit against its former owner earlier this year. The City now plans to restore it to its original grandeur, and selecting a firm to assist with redevelopment is part of that process.
Deputy Mayor Robin Gibson suggested shortening the request for proposals by foregoing all other “formalities” except for the public presentations.
“I am not interested in putting them to all of that because it is time, effort, and money, [and] I would rather them see put time, effort, and money into the hotel,” Gibson said. “I think we are in an excellent position. I am just thrilled at the prospect of this. This [redevelopment] is imminent. This is [finally] going to happen.”
Furthermore, Gibson requested that city staff reexamine the CRA plan and double-check to ensure it authorizes the project’s full scope.
“Now that we know the scope of this project, I want the city attorney to take a very critical look at our CRA plan and make dadgum sure that these things are authorized by this plan,” he said. “We can amend the plan, but I do not want to be halfway through and have our lawyers come up [and say] we cannot do that.”
A motion was made and seconded to approve the selection of the two firms and to shorten the request for proposal to public presentations, and the motion passed with a unanimous vote.
