Lonnie Ballard, assistant city manager over development and transportation, resigned today. Ballard — whose last day will be Jan. 29 — led the Aviation, Public Works, Growth Management, Planning Land and Community Enhancement and Economic and Community Development departments since former City Manager Anita Favors Thompson hired him in April 2014. Ballard also provided oversight to the Capital…
FROSTPROOF — Building a grocery store, improving roads and attracting Dunkin’ Donuts topped the list of projects a potential Community Redevelopment Agency should work on, according to residents. Before city commissioners vote on whether to form a CRA, the Central Florida Regional Planning Council held a workshop Monday to get community input for what problems…
Port St. Lucie, a disparate series of residential developments and strip malls, had little to boast beyond its proximity to a nuclear plant and its fame as the spring training home of the New York Mets. Then Lily Zhong came to town, plunked down $500,000 for vacant land and promised to finally build a real…
SPRINGFIELD — Springfield commissioners want 2016 to be the year the city comes clean. “We need to get everything in this city cleaned up,” Commissioner Phillip Dykes said during a recent board meeting. “Things have been let go in Springfield. We need to get to work on our city.” As a result, the commission is…
BRADENTON — In its first workshop since assuming control of three community redevelopment agencies, the Bradenton City Council inched forward this week with the transition, focusing mostly on creating a new economic development department. The goal is to create the department and hire an economic development director to work closely with the CRAs and the…
CRYSTAL RIVER — So this is what Main Street looks like. Quaint downtown shops and restaurants, signs along a landscaped-divided U.S. 19 that point out parking and areas of interest, a boardwalk along the bay that intersect with bike trails, and decorative crosswalks to get visitors safely from one side of the highway to the other.…
ST. PETERSBURG — For decades, the three vacant buildings have been encased in aluminum grillwork that makes them look like enormous cheese graters. As the rest of downtown roars back to life, the block they sit on remains a dead zone in the heart of the city. But that soon could change. Once-warring owners of…
ST. PETERSBURG — The frontiers of condominium development in downtown St. Petersburg continue to push farther south and westward. With Beach Drive condos in short supply and extremely pricey, the proposed eight-story, 20-unit Vela near Fourth Avenue S and Seventh Street will bill itself as a more affordable, if less central, alternative. “There’s not a…
TAMPA — Strategic Property Partners went out to bid Friday for a contractor to do up to $35 million worth of work on roads, utilities and amenities for its $2 billion downtown redevelopment project. “To get the master infrastructure in place” is “going to be the first tangible sign of major progress that you’re going…
ST. PETERSBURG — Mayor Rick Kriseman is confident that his tentative deal with the Tampa Bay Rays to allow them to look for a new home outside of St. Petersburg will eventually persuade the team to stay. And with City Council chairwoman Amy Foster, a key swing vote, announcing Friday that she supports the deal,…
NEW PORT RICHEY — The city has taken another step toward its goal to redevelop downtown into a vibrant mixed-use residential, commercial and recreational hub. During a meeting Tuesday night, the New Port Richey City Council approved changes to the land-use and zoning designations for 18 acres in the heart of downtown, allowing increased residential…
The residential real estate boom in downtown St. Petersburg is going strong as two new buildings get ready to rise along the ever growing skyline. This month the NRP Group, which built Beacon 430 on Third Avenue, started construction on a nine-story residential building. Situated across the street from the Tampa Bay Times building, the new structure…