Workers this morning put final touches on the Heritage Plaza Parking Garage as it opened to the public for the first time. The streets surrounding the garage — Kentucky Avenue, Orange Street and Tennessee Avenue — have been resurfaced and are again open to traffic.

Most of the 836 spaces in the $11 million, six-floor garage are reserved for use by the structure’s investors: the city of Lakeland, Lakeland Regional Health Systems, MidFlorida Credit Union, and Aspyre Properties/BKP Five.

Forty-nine regular spaces and 10 spaces for disabled people will be available to members of the public during business hours at $1 per hour. Payment can be made via pay-by-plate machines on the first floor or via the ParkMobile app, using zone 2701.

In addition, roughly 200 spaces on the first and second floors controlled by the city of Lakeland will be available to the public for free on evenings and weekends.

Work continues on the attached three-story office building on the south side of the garage facing Orange Street. Farm Credit will occupy half of the 40,000-square-foot building. Other tenants will include The Balance Culture, a women’s fitness studio.

The view from the corner of Orange Street and Kentucky Avenue