Haines City working to construct more downtown parking as community grows

HAINES CITY, Fla. — With growth comes traffic, and with traffic comes cars and the need for a place to park them. That’s the dilemma facing Haines City.

But a solution is on the way. The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency is making way for a new parking area.

Piece by piece, putting together Lego sets are therapeutic for Jory Engel.

“You can kind of sit down, build a Lego set and the entire world fades around you,” he said.

He is one of the store managers at Brick Heads Florida in Haines City.

Peyton Derhak is another. Her dad opened the store about a year ago. “We really wanted to give people the ability to be hands on,” she said.

They are creating a space for people of all ages to enjoy.

But they said there has been a barrier to making it happen — parking. “People are hesitant when they can’t find parking somewhere to go to that place,” Engel said.

The manager and consultant for the Community Redevelopment Agency, Dr. Alexander Abraham, said creating more parking is part of a larger project aimed at revitalizing all of Haines City.

“This is not the end vision for this particular site,” he said. “The surface parking will provide an immediate relief of pressure on merchants while preserving the flexibility that we have of future redevelopment in the area.”

City leaders say this project also looks ahead to the possibility of a SunRail stop in the city. That project is currently being studied.

Abraham says the demolition at 401 E. Main St. will make it easier for people to visit and enjoy downtown.

Derhak said changes to downtown are needed, and she hopes it has a long-term impact that will mean new businesses too.

“We have a lot of people interested in coming and visiting us,” she said. “It’s definitely up and coming and it feels very homey.”

As the city continues to grow, so do hopes for a booming downtown and enough space to make everyone feel welcome.

The Community Redevelopment Agency says there is no exact date for when the parking spaces will be completed but that it will be open sometime this year.