On October 29, 2025, the Bartow Community Redevelopment Agency convened a joint meeting with the Bartow City Commission to present something the district had been building toward for years: a comprehensive, fully-funded redevelopment package that puts $18 million to work across some of downtown Bartow’s most significant properties and corridors.
This wasn’t a routine board meeting. It was a turning point.
What Was on the Table
The CRA presented its Priority Project Package — a coordinated investment strategy covering six CRA-owned development sites, a major private-sector land assembly opportunity, district connectivity and wayfinding improvements, and a long-awaited plan for one of Bartow’s most historically significant and structurally complicated properties: the Thompson and Company Cigar Factory.
The total investment: $18 million, structured through TIF-supported financing with annual debt service capped at $1.4 million. The board was asked to approve the Priority Project List and authorize staff to proceed with due diligence, negotiations, and financing plan development.
The board approved it.
Six Sites, One Vision
The project package centered on six CRA-owned parcels, each with a defined development purpose and a path to implementation.
At 970 East Main Street, the CRA is pursuing workforce housing through a public-private partnership — attainable units near employment centers and essential services, designed with street-level activation and long-term affordability controls.
At the US Highway 17 gateway site, the plan calls for mixed-use commercial development at the East End’s most visible entry point — a location that can serve as an anchor for corridor investment and signal to the market that Bartow’s East End is open for business.
At 330 East Main Street, the focus is flexible mixed-use commercial space, designed with floor plates that can accommodate food service and retail, positioned to bridge the East End and the downtown walkable core.
At 335 East Main Street, the CRA envisions a community center or listening room — a cultural venue that activates the evening economy, supports local arts and nonprofit programming, and draws people to Main Street after business hours.
At 180 North Central Avenue, the Innovation Center is already under construction. The two-story facility will house the CareerSource Polk service center on the ground floor and CRA administrative offices on the second — bringing workforce support and agency operations together under one roof in the heart of downtown.
At 1095 Martin Luther King Street, the plan is commercial redevelopment anchored by a business incubator concept — potentially built around a commercial kitchen — to create an entrepreneur pipeline and support food-based small business growth in a corridor that has historically been underserved.
The East Main Catalyst
Beyond the six CRA-owned sites, the presentation introduced a larger land assembly vision for the East Main Street corridor: approximately 4.65 acres, assembled through the targeted acquisition of six private-sector properties totaling $9.5 million in assessed value and 6.81 acres of CI-zoned land.
The concept for this site is a modern mixed-use destination combining residential condominiums, an entertainment anchor such as a bowling alley or cinema, dining, and retail. The goal is to close the gaps along Main Street between the West End and the Flamingo area — activating a stretch of corridor that has significant market potential but has lacked the catalyst investment to unlock it.
Connectivity That Ties It Together
The package also included $500,000 for connectivity and wayfinding improvements across the district. East and West End entry features will establish clear gateways and district identity. A Main Street mini-streetscape will create pedestrian connections between the key nodes the CRA is activating. And incentive programming along the MLK corridor will support the neighborhood-to-downtown connectivity that makes a truly walkable district function.
The Cigar Factory: A Decision Long in the Making
The centerpiece of the presentation — and the one that carries the most history — was the Thompson and Company Cigar Factory.
Built in 1925 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002, the Cigar Factory is one of downtown Bartow’s most recognizable landmarks. It is also one of its most complicated. In 2021, the Bartow City Commission considered demolition due to concerns about structural failure. The building has sat in limbo ever since — too historically significant to simply tear down, too deteriorated to easily reuse.
The October meeting brought a concrete path forward for the first time.
The CRA presented three options for the board’s consideration. Option A is full rehabilitation — the most preservation-faithful approach, but also the most costly and structurally challenging. Option B is partial stabilization — retaining the building’s most significant elements while adapting the structure for a new use at a lower price point and with less programming flexibility. Option C is a context-sensitive new build replacement — code-compliant and cost-predictable, but at the cost of the original historic fabric.
Regardless of which direction is ultimately chosen, the CRA committed $2 million toward the project through a public-private partnership structure, covering stabilization and fit-out costs. The commercial reuse model means the Cigar Factory’s future will be tied to a private operating partner — an approach designed to ensure the building generates ongoing activity, not just a one-time renovation.
Why This Package, Why Now
The case for acting on the full package as a coordinated unit, rather than pursuing individual projects in isolation, came down to scale. District-scale impact requires district-scale investment. Isolated projects produce isolated wins. A comprehensive package — six owned sites activated simultaneously, a major corridor assembled, a historic building saved, and the connective tissue between them funded — creates the kind of cumulative momentum that changes how a downtown feels and functions.
The timing also aligned with market conditions, completed feasibility studies, active CRA programming, and the Live Local Act, which created new residential opportunities and incentives for workforce housing linked to CRA sites and mixed-use developments. The legislative tailwind, the available financing, and the foundation of prior CRA work all converged at the same moment. The board recognized it.
What Happens Next
With board approval in hand, the CRA moved into execution. The $18.1 million bond closed on March 13, 2026, putting the financing in place ahead of schedule. Developer RFQs were issued in Q1 2026, and appraisals and environmental reviews on acquisition targets were initiated alongside them. Developer selection, negotiation, and financing finalization are underway through Q2 2026. By Q3 2026, contracts will be executed and phased groundbreakings will begin.
