Lake Wales Connected - Park Avenue Streetscape Design and Market Plaza

Park Avenue Streetscape is Phase I of the Lake Wales Connected – Downtown Revitalization Plan that the City of Lake Wales (City) has adopted to transform the downtown area. Chastain-Skillman (CS) was contracted by the City to provide civil engineering design for improvements to Park Avenue from Scenic Highway to Wetmore Street. The improvements include the conversion of a one-way street with angled parking to a two-way street with parallel parking. The new design will include wider sidewalks and additional landscaping, which includes trees, planters, and rain gardens.

CS worked closely with our team member to provide Low Impact Development (LID) design elements such as pervious pavers and rain gardens, which capture and filter stormwater while beautifying the downtown area. Additionally, in accordance with the Lake Wales Connected Plan, the City engaged the design team to develop construction documents for the redevelopment of Market Plaza which was integrated into the project. On November 18, 2020, the City hosted a public open house to display two potential redevelopment plans. The primary goal of the project is to create a quality public open space that helps activate Historic Downtown Lake Wales.

The City’s design team has incorporated feedback from the community into the design and the project is now under construction. The completed design brings to life the Lake Wales Connected plan inspired by the Olmsted/Phillips vision of a “City in a Garden.”