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Sanford plans to turn old Civic Center into enticing venue

SANFORD, Fla. — The city of Sanford wants to be more competitive in the wedding business.

The mayor is pitching a plan to redo the city's old Civic Center, which sits on Lake Monroe.

From inside, one would never know the Sanford Civic Center was waterfront property.

Mayor Jeff Triplett wants to bring the view of Lake Monroe in.

"It sits right on the marina with no windows overlooking the marina. That doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me," Triplett said.

"It's just a perfect asset that we have that's completely untapped right now."

Sanford does have competition.

One city over, Lake Mary's event center has been open for five years and is paying for itself.

The facility is booked every Saturday until November of next year.

"Sanford has a lot of possibilities. Over there they have a waterfront and beautiful areas, too, so I don't see it as competition at all," Bryan Nipe with the city of Lake Mary said.

Nipe said he's certain there is a demand.

As the city of Sanford tears down the old post office next door to the Civic Center, Triplett said it's the perfect time to make changes.

"These are a little bit of pipe dreams but we've always sat on this and now with the turn in the economy right now is the real time to push everybody to get this done," Triplett said.

The city is working with consulting groups to get estimates on costs.

The city broke ground on a streetscape project along Sanford Avenue, where the Civic Center sits, this week.