Cocoa Main Street recipient of race Proceeds from the Village Idiot Pub’s 2nd Annual “Village Has Lost Its Idiot 5K Run” in Historic Cocoa Village will go to the Cocoa Main Street program. The April 1 race begins at 7:30 p.m. in front of the Village Idiot Pub, located at 4 Harrison Street, and across…
Palm Beach County commissioners got a sobering update Tuesday on efforts to revitalize urban areas along Okeechobee Boulevard and Congress Avenue. The county had designed a 29-mile section of the county an urban redevelopment area with special rules and requirements designed to spur economic development. But the Great Recession and ongoing storm water retention problems…
A recent Sun Sentinel article looked at South Florida suburbs building downtown centers. We spoke with the executive director of the Margate Community Redevelopment Agency, Diane Colonna, about that city’s plans. Listen to the interview
Naples City Attorney Bob Pritt, who previously agreed that a three-story building with an underground garage violates the city’s charter, now has changed that opinion, arguing that a similar downtown development proposal is consistent with the charter. In the city’s first filing responding to a lawsuit by two downtown property owners in Collier County’s Circuit…
TAMPA — The First Friday block party has long been a fixture of St. Petersburg’s thriving downtown social scene. Now Tampa is poised to launch its own monthly social happening, focused mainly on the museums and theaters that run the length of the city’s Riverwalk. Fourth Friday starts Friday in downtown Tampa with nine cultural venues…
ST. PETERSBURG — Preservationists say they will prolong their battle to save a historic downtown block earmarked for demolition and redevelopment. St. Petersburg Preservation, which works to save historic sites and structures, will file an application this week asking that the “cheese-grater” buildings in the 400 block of Central Avenue be designated historic, said its…
Branding a blighted downtown as an arts and entertainment district, making streets more pedestrian-friendly and luring new restaurants helped redevelop the urban cores of Delray Beach and West Palm Beach, according to two former community redevelopment leaders who have turned their experience into a book. Christopher Brown, former Community Redevelopment Agency director in Delray Beach,…
A new four-story, 521-space parking garage to bolster access to St. Armands Circle received its first endorsement from the City Commission on Monday night. The $15 million project would add another 334 parking spaces by the end of 2018 to the city-owned lot at North Adams and Madison drives on the northeast side of the busy…
MADEIRA BEACH — The Tom Stuart Causeway is the gateway to this beach city, taking motorists over the Intracoastal Waterway past a vacant lot, condo complexes and a 1950s-era strip mall with aqua awnings that is home to a tattoo parlor, nail spa, e-cigarette shop and other small businesses. The entrance to Madeira Beach could…
JUPITER — Climb the 104 steps to the top of the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and the past, present and future of the town are in plain view. There’s DuBois Park, where Jupiter’s first residents built on land once occupied by Native Americans. Nearby, $8 million in upgrades are ongoing on A1A. Waves along the Jupiter…
Salt-life residents in Jupiter are stunned at the pace of new construction in their city. The new Harbourside shopping center, with its walls of concrete towering over the Intracoastal bridge on Indiantown Road, is the surest sign their city no longer is a sleepy fishing village. Indeed, Jupiter’s once laid-back vibe now is a selling…
This oceanside enclave is brimming with a funky vibe, a vibrant energy, a lively spirit like no other in Palm Beach County. But what do you expect from a city filled with colorful characters that could easily fill an Elmore Leonard novel? Lake Worth is … different. But in good way. Residents will tell you…
There’s the historic train depot with peeling, yellow pant that stands near a rusty real line. Sidewalks empty of runners, strollers or dogs. A few vacant, city-owned lots populated by palm trees and the occasional lamp post. The area around Station Street and Central Avenue in downtown Apopka doesn’t look like much now. But to some, it’s…
DAYTONA BEACH — The most expensive private beachside development in the city’s history is planning to break ground this spring. The key players behind the Daytona Beach Convention Hotel & Condominiums, a $130 million project located at the eastern tip of Oakridge Boulevard, say they just need to go through the final steps of securing a building permit…
The City of Zephyrhills is requesting proposals from interested firms, licensed in the State of Florida, to provide architectural/engineering services in connection with the design and construction of a new city hall building. The new City Hall shall consist of approximately 16,000 square feet located adjacent to the existing facility at 5335 8th Street, Zephyrhills,…
The CRA Advisory Board—CRAAB—consists of a group of Fernandina Beach residents who advise the City Commission in its dual role as Community Redevelopment Agency on issues including implementation of the CRA Plan by providing recommendations and assistance in identifying and prioritizing projects to be undertaken as consistent with the CRA Plan. The focus of this…
For Immediate Release: May 17, 2016 Contact: DEO Communications, 850.245.7110, media@deo.myflorida.com DEO SEEKING PROPOSALS FOR COMMUNITY PLANNING TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE GRANTS TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) is seeking proposals for Community Planning Technical Assistance grants from communities across Florida. The purpose of the grants is to assist counties and municipalities in…
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) are hosting a listening session for bank examiners. The listening session is a group discussion between local community-based organizations and FDIC and OCC Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) examiners and community affairs staff. The goal is to help the examiners…
Leading up to a recent decision to build a futureSanta Rosa County judicial center in downtown Milton, Property Appraiser Greg Brown presented a case to commissioners for a different site on U.S. 90 — one he says is an opportunity to reduce the burden on taxpayers. Brown sent a letter Feb. 3 to all five County Commissioners…
Boynton Beach’s redevelopment agency will for the first time Tuesday hear about its newly created citizen advisory board’s progress. In October, the city voted to change the makeup of its redevelopment agency board. It’s now made up of the city’s five commission members, a change from its former composition of five commissioners and two independent…
There are no classes taught at the University of Florida’s East Campus along Waldo Road. Instead, the majority of the 450 or so employees working in the complex of brick buildings behind a wrought iron fence handle mostly administrative duties. Departments such as payroll, Web and data services were moved here to free up room…