The wait is over. The Heritage Parking Garage is now open in downtown Lakeland.

Placed at 227 South Kentucky Avenue, the first floor includes 49 standard spaces and 10 ADA-friendly spaces. There’s a fee to park in the garage during business hours. However, there’s free parking in the designated public spaces after business hours and on the weekends.

There are 33 more parking spaces on the edge of the garage on Orange Street, Kentucky Avenue, and Tennessee Avenue. The public can park on the street for free for a maximum of two hours a day. If more time is needed, drivers can use the ParkMobile app to stay longer.

Four separate organizations currently share ownership of the garage, which costs roughly $11 million. The City of Lakeland has 411 spaces, Lakeland Regional Health Systems has 125 spaces, MidFlorida Credit Union bought 175 spaces, and BKP Five LLC (the owner of Heritage Plaza) has 125 spaces.

Farm Credit occupies half of the 40,000-square-foot building. Women’s Fitness Studio, The Balance Culture, also occupies space on the south side of the garage facing Orange Street.

City Manager Tony Delgado shared more information in a press release:

“This parking garage will support one existing and one new office building and will benefit downtown businesses, shoppers, diners and visitors. The dedicated public spaces will be available at an hourly rate of $1 per hour and there will be two Pay Stations on the ground level of the new parking garage. The Pay Stations (Pay-By-Plate) collect coins, dollars and credit cards, or visitors can use the convenient ParkMobile app. The public will also have access to free parking spaces on the first and second floor of the garage after business hours and all day on weekends.”