Officials concerned about derelict hotels
LAKE WALES – U.S. 27, touted as the backbone of Florida tourism in the 1960s, has a chance to be revitalized.
Lake Wales city commissioners have said they want to make their city a gateway for Legoland visitors coming from South Florida.
The problem, they discussed at the July 17 meeting, is that not all of the local hotels are in good shape.
Economic Development Director Harold Gallup said several of the hotels along the historic tourism corridor are listed in Lake Wales housing directories as places to live, not just stay overnight.
Many are up for sale, he said, and not necessarily as hotels or motels.
“The owners are being reticent — would be the word — to make improvements or to sink capital into the facility while they are trying to market (it), because they are trying to exit,” Gallup said.
Any money they put in, they don’t think they would recover, he said.
Gallup suggested that code enforcement may be the best way to encourage improvements or repairs, and perhaps attract buyers.
Building Official Clifton Smith said the city’s new property maintenance code would give hotel owners with any code violations 120 days — six months — to comply.
“It’s time we start utilizing that,” Smith said.
It won’t work for all of the properties, Smith said, because many of the hotels along U.S. 27 are not in the city.
Still, visitors won’t know that, he said.
According to the city’s Planning Department, five of the approximately 12 hotels, motels and campgrounds in the greater Lake Wales area are actually in the city limits.