CRA Board Selects Interim Director

CRA Board Selects Interim Director By Suzie Schottelkotte THE LEDGER BARTOW | Bartow’s Community Redevelopment Agency board agreed Monday to hire Andy Laurent of Bartow Consulting Inc. as interim director while board members and the City Commission continue discussing the agency’s future structure. Laurent, a former Bartow city commissioner, said he and Brian Hinton, another…

Historic Floridan to re-open

Historic Floridan to re-open By Justin George, Tampa Bay Times Staff Writer TAMPA — Shuttered since 1987, the Floridan Hotel, once Tampa’s grandest and tallest building that catered to the likes of Gary Cooper, Jimmy Stewart and Elvis Presley, became a home to vultures and vermin for decades. So when a development group led by…

Re-imagining Leesburg

Re-imagining Leesburg For the original article visit The Daily Commercial Several downtown Leesburg merchants and residents say an inviting streetscape and gateway entrance into Main Street off U.S. Highway 27/441 is what the city needs for economic success and future survival.   “There are still people in Leesburg that do not know that there is…

Taxpayers pay dearly for preservation

Taxpayers pay dearly for preservation For the original article visit TBO.com It’s hard to find many people who oppose the idea of preserving historic buildings. Though often rickety and faded, these weathered artifacts of past craftsmanship forge a tangible link between our world and the one our parents and grandparents inhabited. But preservation can be…