Facility ready for business

EAST COUNTY — Supervisors of the Lakewood Ranch Inter-District Authority Board stood shoulder-to-shoulder and smiled down at the teal ribbon they were about to cut with a pair of oversized black scissors.
It took some time and money to get to that moment — 10 months and $2 million, to be exact.

Cutting the ribbon Jan. 9 marked the grand opening of the Lakewood Ranch Town Hall operations department’s maintenance building that, with planning and construction, took more than a year to complete.

The new building is now home to 20 operations staff members’ offices, and it will fulfill a range of other purposes as well, including storing supplies.

“The new maintenance facility represents a leap forward,” said Eva Rey, executive director of Lakewood Ranch Town Hall. “It’s secure here, and we’ll be able to sublease offices to landscapers; we’ll be able to bring in money from this.”

The facility will serve Lakewood Ranch Community Development Districts 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6. It is constructed to withstand winds up to 150 mph and includes gated areas that protect shelves of supplies; a bay area — the open space where the event took place that connects the storage area and the offices; and a charging station for electric cars by the front parking lot, Town Hall Director of Operations Ryan Heise said.

Tom Green, IDA chairman, pitched the idea for the facility to Heise about five years ago.

“Now, we have a first-class operation here in Lakewood Ranch,” Green said.

Contact Amanda Sebastiano at [email protected].