After announcing plans to open a North American customer care office in Downtown Winter Haven earlier this year, LEGOLAND® Florida Resort has now started the process of annexing its Polk County property into the city of Winter Haven.

Legoland’s customer care center is located in Six/Ten, LLC’s Inland Fiber and Data Technology Park and is expected to bring more than 50 full time jobs to the area.
​
Six/Ten believes this annexation is further evidence of the company’s integration with Winter Haven. According to the Orlando Sentinel, the annexation process is expected to take about two months.

By: Orlando Sentinel

Two years after completing several murals in Downtown Winter Haven, Spanish artists David De La Mano and Pablo S. Herrero returned to the city to create two new works. The first, titled “The Calm,” is a massive piece which can be seen on the west side of Heartland Church, located at 225 Avenue B N.W.  The second, titled the “Cycle,” was painted on the Mann building now under renovation and located next to the Ritz Theatre.

“Overall, we have received very positive feedback about the artwork. The pieces are thoughtful and provocative, and complement sculpture and other art work which is appearing in public and private spaces downtown,” said Bud Strang of Six/Ten, LLC, the company that owns both buildings where the murals are featured. “We truly enjoy working with these internationally-renowned artists and were happy to coax them back to Winter Haven.”

David De La Mano and Pablo S. Herrero’s work can be seen across the globe in Norway, Peru, Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, Taiwan, Paris, Spain, the UK and Florida. The artists were also the creators of several previous pieces in downtown Winter Haven, tucked away in alleyways and on less prominent walls. “The Calm”, meanwhile is over 60 feet long.

Heartland Church, Winter Haven’s largest church congregation, recently moved into its current downtown location. Now the mural gives interested locals and new visitors another reason to check out the newly constructed 34,000 square foot space.

”The mural project is a kind of on-going joint venture between our church and Six/Ten,” said Ed Kendrick, Lead Pastor of Heartland Church. “We intend for that wall to be the location of various artworks for many years to come.”

These paintings are part of a successful movement to revitalize the downtown area and attract even more businesses, residents and visitors. The recent addition nearby of the Outer Space Gallery, a joint project of the Arts Ensemble of Winter Haven, Polk State College and the Polk Museum of Art, has greatly contributed to this movement.