1922 Ledger Building Comes Down Downtown, Making Way for Townhomes and Prima 135 Steakhouse

A piece of downtown Lakeland's newspaper history is gone. Demolition began Sept. 16 on the 1922 building at South Florida Avenue, the original home of the Lakeland Evening Ledger and, in recent decades, a bank drive-thru. The teardown clears the site for a new townhome and condo project near Munn Park and supports utility work for a high-profile restaurant conversion a block away.

The city issued the demolition permit Aug. 24, months after Lakeland's Historic Preservation Board Design Review Committee signed off on the request in May. Demolition is expected to take about three weeks and cost roughly $70,000, according to permit records cited by local media outlets. Once the two-story masonry building is gone, the lot will be landscaped and get a decorative knee wall along the South Florida Avenue frontage rather than sit as bare dirt.

Developer Cory Petcoff, president of Baron Management LLC, is behind the housing project planned for the site. Petcoff's company also owns the Florida National Bank building at 113 S. Tennessee Ave., the Art Deco structure that is being converted into Prima 135, a modern Italian steakhouse. Clearing the Ledger site allows crews to relocate utilities that the restaurant project needs, tying the two projects together even though they sit on different blocks.

What's coming to the bank building

Prima 135 has been in the works since Petcoff's company began finalizing construction designs last year. The plan calls for a horseshoe-shaped central bar surrounded by tables seating at least 150 guests, with an open kitchen replacing the old teller cages. Petcoff has said the concept, backed by restaurateur Bill Freeman, should add about 100 jobs and bring life back to a stretch of Tennessee Avenue that has sat underused.

The Lakeland Community Redevelopment Agency board approved incentives of up to $250,000 for the restaurant project in October 2024, payable once construction is complete and eligible costs are documented. Petcoff has estimated the total build-out at around $3.5 million. He has said parking will be free for restaurant patrons with validation once Prima 135 opens, addressing a complaint some downtown visitors have had about the building's paid lot.

A newspaper's first home

The South Florida Avenue building dates to 1922, when it served as the original home of the Lakeland Evening Ledger. The newspaper long ago moved on, and the building's more recent use was as a bank drive-thru, a far cry from its original purpose. Its demolition removes one of downtown's older structures from the streetscape near Munn Park, though the Historic Preservation Board's review process means the change did not happen without scrutiny of what the building represented to the district.

Downtown Lakeland has seen a string of similar conversions in recent years, from apartment buildings going up for sale to other historic storefronts finding new commercial uses. The Ledger site adds housing density steps from Munn Park, while Prima 135 adds a sit-down dining option to a downtown that Petcoff has said has been "hungry for" more upscale fine dining.

Petcoff has previously said he expects Prima 135's build-out to take eight or nine months once construction begins, with an opening targeted for next year. No timeline has been released yet for when construction will start on the townhomes at the demolished Ledger site, or when either project will be finished.

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Header photo: Ebyabe / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5)