Drummond, Casto Team on $50M Lakeland Village

LAKELAND, FL-The Don M. Casto Organization, a Columbus, OH-based trend-setter in the development of family lifestyle centers, is joint venturing with Birmingham, AL-based Drummond Corp. on Lakeland Village, a planned $50 million, 450,000-sf mixed-use retail venture at Polk County Parkway and Hardin Boulevard in Polk County.

The developers plan to break ground on the retail-restaurant-office enterprise in the 4Q. The site is 60 miles south of Downtown Orlando. Casto created the 500,000-sf Winter Park Village in Winter Park, FL two years ago.

Besides a mix of shops, Lakeland Village will offer a 60,000-sf department store, a major supermarket and a multi-screen cinema complex, says Rick Barber, Drummond’s vice president of development.

“The opening of Lakeland Village will put Lakeland on the forefront of a major national trend,” Barber says. “All across the country, communities are clamoring for family lifestyle centers.” He says, “They are one of the most desirable amenities an area such as Lakeland can have, with popular entertainment, shopping and dining, all in the same location.”

Drummond developed Oakbridge in Lakeland. The company is joint-venturing with Casto Southeast LLC, a Sarasota, FL-based division of the Don Casto Organization.