As 2015 comes to a close, more small businesses are encouraged to see Tallahassee’s economy strengthening and that will likely lead to more new hires, expansions and relocations. Owners may also decide to invest back into the business with major purchases. Key economic factors point up. Business are seeing increased sales. There’s more population. Property…
BELLEAIR — The demolition of an iconic hotel and the legal battle waged to try to save it has put the Belleview Biltmore Hotel on the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s top 10 Wins and Losses List for 2015. Built in 1897 along Clearwater Harbor, the 400-room Biltmore played host to royalty and business magnates…
The Renaissance Tampa International Plaza Hotel recently revealed a new look after $10 million in renovations that took nearly a year to complete. The 293-room hotel, which is connected to the International Plaza shopping mall in Tampa, updated the hotel lobby, guest rooms, outdoor patios and the private dining room at the hotel’s in-house restaurant, Pelagia…
PANAMA CITY — Panama City is paving the way for a series of non-ad valorem special assessments to be considered next year, including a measure aimed at incentivizing business growth within the city. If approved, the assessments would be placed on the property owner’s tax bill as a separate charge from the property taxes levied…
The Ocala Farm Market’s days using the lot next to the city square are numbered. In a few months the Saturday morning event will be relocated as the city makes way for an upscale hotel that will help anchor a revitalized downtown. The move, which could come as early as the spring, would be the…
The Bank of America Plaza has been sold in what’s called Florida’s largest office building sale since 2012. MetLife Inc. sold the 42-story tower at 101 E Kennedy Blvd. to a joint venture between Miami-based Banyan Street Capital and Los Angeles-based Oaktree Capital Management. The parties did not disclose the price but a trade journal, Real…
AUBURNDALE — Work has begun on the city’s community redevelopment project to add more parking downtown. At a budgeted cost of $125,000, this is the second largest redevelopment project this year. The largest will be the PK Avenue stormwater runoff project designed to reduce runoff and flooding from Lake Lena. The city has budgeted $400,00…
DAYTONA BEACH – For nearly a decade, Diane Lessard has been a regular at the Peabody Auditorium for Broadway musicals, comedians such as Jerry Seinfeld and singer Johnny Mathis, among others. “I like the intimate setting,” said Lessard, 66, of Daytona Beach, a Peabody subscriber. “I like that there’s really not a bad seat in…
VENICE – VENICE — More than a thousand people have already weighed in on the future of Venice as part of the city’s 10-year upgrade to its comprehensive plan. This week, the city with one of the oldest populations in America solicited a constituency that sometimes struggles to be heard in Venice: young people. At an…
The Town of Century will early next year consider forming a Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA). Upon declaration of an area as blighted, the CRA works to improve conditions. As property tax values rise, any increase is funneled back into the redevelopment area for further improvements. Additional tax incentive and redevelopment funds are available within a…
PANAMA CITY — The Panama City Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) moved Tuesday to loosen the requirements for a residential grant program targeting low-income homeowners. Launched by the agency last year, the pilot program provides 100 percent grants to qualifying residents, while standard CRA grants require owners to pay upfront for improvement projects for which they…
Among the latest good signs on the vibrant local real estate landscape is that noted developer Guy Harvey is interested in investing in Boynton Beach. In contrast, recent weeks have brought questions as to whether something finally will happen on the long-shuttered jai alai property in Mangonia Park, whose only claim to fame of late…
BRADENTON — With about two weeks left before the Bradenton City Council assumes control of the city’s three Community Redevelopment Agencies, the Bradenton Downtown Development Authority met for the final time Tuesday as the overseers of the Bradenton and 14th Street West CRAs. The city council voted in June to take control of the CRAs.…
Demolition of a nondescript white building is clearing a path for new development within the “golden blocks” of downtown Tallahassee. The property is owned by the Florida Retail Federation, which in 2008 began purchasing downtown parcels with the hopes of spurring mixed-used development. Plans were thwarted by an anemic economy that drained the real estate…
MOUNT DORA — Officials hope to clear the final hurdles this week to make way for the Golden Triangle’s first movie theater since 1996. The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission is expected to discuss a variance for the proposal at its meeting at 5:30 p.m. today at city hall. Afterward, EPIC Theatres officials can begin…
The surge in downtown redevelopment was temporarily stalled Wednesday when Naples City Council, in a rare flex of its building oversight, asked for a change of plans from a developer who wants to erect two residential buildings in Crayton Cove that exceed the height limits in the city code. The project would demolish the 63-foot…
DELAND — Salvage work is underway at two historic buildings in downtown DeLand set to be demolished next month to make way for a Courtyard by Marriott hotel. Workers with Florida Victorian Architectural Salvage & Antiques are pulling out everything from floors to doors in the Gould Building, at the northwest corner of Wisconsin Avenue…
SARASOTA – An 18-story Embassy Suites on Wednesday formally joined a string of ongoing construction projects expected to alleviate Southwest Florida’s hotel room shortage. But it’s not the only project easing the load. Developers expect the 180-room hotel at the corner of North Tamiami Trail and Fruitville Road will take about 15 months to open…
At Monday’s meeting of the Community Redevelopment Agency (a body made up of the five Council members and focused on urban redevelopment), Jonson brought photos he snapped at the city’s Dec. 5 Winter’s Miracle on Cleveland Street event. He gave gave them to public communications director Joelle Castelli, who put them on the overhead projector…
Sanford commissioners this week selected Torre Development Group to develop a stagnant pocket near the Lake Monroe waterfront into an area filled with homes, restaurants, shops and offices. The roughly three-block area — bordered by East Seminole Boulevard, Sanford Avenue, First Street and Palmetto Avenue — is owned by the city and mostly being used…
FORT PIERCE — The city lost $992,700 on a gamble to improve blighted areas and boost first-time home ownership for low- to moderate-income residents. City Commissioners on Monday heard a plan to recoup some of the money by selling 14 of the 76 mortgages to Harbor Community Bank for $729,300, about 53 percent less than…