$50,000 Facade Grant Awarded for Friedlander Department Store Renovation
by James Coulter
First, it was a department store. Then, a hardware store. Today, it sits vacant in downtown Lake Wales. Soon, however, the art déco-style building on East Park Avenue will begin a new chapter after receiving a $50,000 façade grant to help restore its historic exterior.
At their regular meeting on Wed. July 1, the Lake Wales Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) board members voted unanimously to approve awarding a façade grant of up to $50,000 to a local historic building, whose façade improvement project exceeds $100,000 in eligible expenditures.
Funding will be provided through the Historic Restoration Façade Grant Program, whose mission is “providing a financial incentive to owners located within the Downtown Historic Overlay District to restore, preserve, and encourage the reuse of downtown’s historic resources, all of which will stimulate investment and raise property values. “
Located at 101 East Park Avenue, the structure was originally built in 1926 as a one‑story commercial building and later expanded to two stories in 1936. It sits on three lots that were purchased by Harry Friedlander in 1924.
The building served as the location of The Friedlander Department Store for seventy years—making it one of the longest-running family-owned businesses in Lake Wales—until closing its doors in 1995. It later became home to the True Value Hardware store, which operated there until 2019. The building has remained vacant since then.
Now, the building will be renovated by its current owner, Michael Andoniades, a developer known for restoring several historic St. Petersburg landmarks, including the Hollander, the Avalon, and the Mary Jean hotels.
The proposed renovation calls for restoring the building’s historic façade with a fresh coat of paint, as well as replacing the awning, refinishing the wooden floors, updating the windows, and converting the upper door into a decorative feature.
Ronni Wood, Assistant Director of the Lake Wales CRA, praised the project as a model of economic development and historic preservation. She added that, as one of the city’s signature buildings, its restoration will complement the planned revival of the nearby Historic Walesbilt Hotel.
“This project truly is an economic development project within the context of historic preservation,” she said. “This is going to be a real first hook and opportunity to get [visitors] out of the hotel and into our downtown.”
City Manager James Slatton also praised the project for addressing a persistent challenge downtown: the shortage of turn‑key commercial space. He noted that many prospective business owners have passed on setting up shop in the area because they cannot afford to renovate buildings and launch a business at the same time.
“They don’t have the capital most of the time to buy the buildings and restore buildings that someone else owns,” he explained. “Their money goes into sustaining their businesses, their inventory, their employment. So we lose a lot of money because we don’t have buildings for them to move into, quite honestly.”
Commissioner Carol Gillespie questioned whether the renovation would attract a tenant, asking how officials could be confident the space would be occupied once the work is complete.
Jason Thoma, Managing Partner at Boros Ventures, said the city and his company will work together to attract prospective tenants by offering competitive rental rates, participating in community events to build interest, and assisting with tenant buildouts.
Commissioner Terri Miller voiced firm support for the project, noting that a recent visit to downtown St. Petersburg, where she saw several restored historic buildings firsthand, boosted her confidence in the renovation.
Commissioner Keith Thompson commended the project as an exemplar of the public-private partnerships he believes are necessary to advance downtown revitalization efforts, especially with the upcoming historic hotel restoration.
“What we have seen here has been a heavy lift on the operating side of things, where you have a potential business owner with a great business plan, but then they are asked to rebuild the building at their cost,” he said. “So you have to choose between saving capital for operating to open the doors, or fixing up a building. I don’t think it has been a viable plan for quite some time, and I love everything about this.”
