As the fifth-largest city in Florida and home to more than 250,000 residents, St. Petersburg is an active and mobile community. We have a thriving downtown. We have an emerging Innovation District. We have art. We have sports. We have jobs by the thousands and the ability to grow more of them with smart planning.…
CLEARWATER — It has been a missed opportunity on a prime patch of Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard for almost seven years. A nearly 10-acre shopping plaza lot, the longtime home of Kmart, has been a vacant eyesore since the retail giant left in March 2009 after 30 years. If all goes to plan, that could change as…
The The Town of Century held a second special workshop Monday with county officials to learn more about the possibility of forming a Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA). Upon declaration of an area as blighted, the CRA works to improve conditions. As property tax values rise, most of the increase is funneled back into the redevelopment…
BRADENTON — The Bradenton Downtown Development Authority and the three city community redevelopment agencies are locked into 2015-16 budgets with few expendable revenues, which could change in the next budget cycle with an expiring $1.3 million annual interlocal agreement with Manatee County freeing up money sooner than expected. That possibility has put pressure on Bradenton…
In pitching a $45 million bailout for the Frost Science Museum’s beleaguered construction effort, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez said the infusion of cash would be the last money the nonprofit should ever expect to receive from the county. But that doesn’t mean millions of dollars in county property taxes won’t provide Frost with a crucial operating subsidy…
The City of Bartow, Florida (the City) is interesting in working with the development team (the Proposer) that has the vision and capacity to transform the former Thompson & Company Cigar Factory (T&CCF) into a signature redevelopment project. The City is also attentive to the future prosperity of the surrounding area; this may result in…
As city of Miami commissioners begin talks about extending the life of the Overtown Parkwest Community Redevelopment Agency, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez is seeking changes that could increase county participation and change the agency’s scope. Miami officials aren’t exactly cool to the idea, saying that the idea, which has the support of county commissioners, interferes…
SEBRING — The city of Sebring’s long-awaited sale of Harder Hall appeared to be imminent Monday. As of late Monday afternoon, South Florida Senior Living had not notified the city that it wants to back out of purchasing the historic hotel and transforming it into an independent senior living facility. The Monday deadline was the latest…
TEMPLE TERRACE — A proposal by longtime city dweller Roy Eriksson that could bring life back to the town’s stalemated redevelopment effort is music to the ears of the Temple Terrace City Council members and Mark Sharpe, director of the Tampa Innovation Alliance. Eriksson, the founder and president of Eriksson Technologies, an expanding engineering and software…
Residents voice concern over increased traffic, density. MADEIRA BEACH – Some scale-down appears likely to a controversial multi-use development proposed for the Holton property on the west end of the causeway bridge in Madeira Beach. The Madeira Beach Planning Commission took no action in a Jan. 11 meeting on the development as proposed. They acted…
NEW PORT RICHEY — The city will begin negotiating with well-known developer Frank Starkey to build upscale apartments on a key piece of downtown property the city bought more than a decade ago. During a meeting Tuesday night, the New Port Richey Community Redevelopment Agency, composed of members of the City Council, voted unanimously to…
Readers: Mizner Park is 25 years old! Here’s more from a 2011 column: Once, downtown Boca Raton was a ghost town, with just 73 housing units and the lowest office rents in the county. That changed with the arrival of one of the first, and most popular, of Palm Beach County’s iconic outdoor shopping and entertainment…
LEESBURG — Leesburg’s Economic Director Mike Rankin worked in Branson, Missouri, for 14 years — back in the days, he said, when the waterfront area was “desolate and the least utilized location.” It has since been filled with retail locations, restaurants, hotels and a convention center. Rankin said he sees a parallel between Branson’s former…
TAMPA — Last year, two doctors pitched an unusual project to Hillsborough County officials. Drs. Gogi and Renuka Ramappa, husband and wife, wanted to build 20 apartments next to single-family homes and trailers on a quiet street in Carrollwood. It looked dead on arrival. A team of planners said the project didn’t meet guidelines. Neighbors…
A.J. Brockman, co-founder and curator of The Brewhouse Gallery in Lake Park, is off to a fast start in raising money to revitalize the Kelsey Theater on Park Avenue. So far, the digital artist has raised $27,611. View the story in The Palm Beach Post.
Think how long it has been since the St. Petersburg City Council voted on a hot July afternoon in 1986 to take a leap of faith and build a domed stadium in hopes of attracting a Major League Baseball franchise and rejuvenating a dying downtown. It was a risky bet on the future by a…
As a downtown Lake Worth resident for nearly 25 years, I am neither a fan of unbridled growth nor a fan of “Lake Worth should just be a dune.” I spent a decade in sales/marketing with two national hotel chains, and I’ve always felt this little gem called the Gulfstream Hotel was such a missed…
The Marlin Hotel, once a hangout for Jay-Z, Pharrell Williams and Aerosmith, unveiled its new look Wednesday. Gone is the Caribbean-hip vibe that British fashion designer Barbara Hulanicki brought to the Marlin when it was owned by Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, and the spare style that replaced it after Blackwell sold the hotel in 2004.…
STUART — The city is expected to move ahead with growing its redevelopment area, over the strong objection of Martin County. “I think the main thing is to get over any inertia and get going with it, which is what the commission most likely will do,” Mayor Jeffrey Krauskopf said. Preliminary vote on the redevelopment…
You’ll be greeted by a new sign when driving into Boynton Beach now. The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency spent about $240,000 on new entry signs for the city and landscaping on Federal Highway. Eventually, the signs will be illuminated at night. Read full article
NEW PORT RICHEY — A Pasco County city focused on growth is saying no to a particular kind of store in downtown. The New Port Richey City Council recently voted in favor of a new ordinance that would prohibit convenience stores from opening downtown. “We think convenience stores are a deterrent to traditional businesses in…