With some mixed messages about how the Ocala City council wants a proposed downtown hotel to look, council members unanimously voted to begin negotiating with Downtown Ocala LLC to build and operate a downtown hotel. Downtown Ocala LLC is owned by Ocala hotelier Danny Gaekwad, who already owns several area hotels and other businesses. Developer…
Redevelopment that built slowly over decades in the heart of downtown Gainesville and in recent years in the nearby University Heights district is starting to spread south on Main Street. More new businesses plan to join others to open in recent months, creating a corridor of activity that stretches to Depot Park ahead of its…
The Escambia County Neighborhood Enterprise Division recently announced that it has extended the fall cycle for its Neighborhood Renewal Initiative Mini-Grant Program, which aims to further encourage community and volunteer-based redevelopment efforts within local neighborhoods. The grant is funded through the county’s Community Development Block Grant Program and is offered to neighborhood organizations located within…
FORT PIERCE — South Florida’s loss is Fort Pierce’s gain. Two superyachts — The Lady Lau and The Freedom — are docked at the Indian River Marine Terminal at the Port of Fort Pierce for maintenance after a shortage of space in South Florida sent the captains and crew north, said Buddy Haack of Taylor…
PALMETTO — Palmetto officials Monday voted unanimously to move an updated five-year community redevelopment agency plan to a public hearing on Nov. 16. It is only the second update to the city’s CRA plan since 1993, but was completely overhauled in 2011 by incoming CRA Director Jeff Burton, who outlined an ambitious plan just two…
Milton City Council has given its blessing to the latest proposed site that could keep the Santa Rosa County Courthouse in downtown Milton — though in a different site than considered in the past. Santa Rosa County Commissioner Rob Williamson presented City Council Monday with a new approach to building a judicial center downtown, using…
If you live in an old building on South Florida’s prime waterfront, don’t get too comfortable: Developers want your sand. In the latest mega-deal to happen on the beach, a New York-based developer said he has struck a $55 million deal to buy a modest Surfside condo building that dates to the 1960s. His plan?…
LYNN HAVEN — The city Commission approved an agreement Tuesday for the acquisition and sale of a roughly 100-acre piece of bay-front property that is being proposed by developers as the future site of a “water-centric, marina-based development.” The Air Force still owns the former fuel depot property, but the city will have the first…
PUNTA GORDA — The influence of Sarasota’s midcentury modern architecture did not stop at the county line. Carl Abbott, a member of the so-called “Sarasota School” of modernist architects, has often said that the Sarasota School “was not just in Sarasota, but the world.” That includes Charlotte County, which is not often recognized as an…
PALMETTO, Fla. – Residents in Palmetto will be able to give their input on what they would like to see done during an overhaul project on Old Main Street. The project is expected to get underway in 2017. It will change the whole downtown corridor by adding more lighting, upgrading stormwater treatment, and putting in…
The attached request for Qualifications/Proposals is for Master Developer Services to for the development of 23 acres of vacant land, Commonly known as the Commerce Park property owned by the City of Lauderdale Lakes Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) that may include a mix of private development types based upon market trends and developer investment preferences.…
Bruce Katz, the Brookings Institution’s globe-trotting guru who believes cities are the innovation engines that will drive the 21st century economy, stopped by Tampa and Hillsborough County for a few days this past week to see how we’re doing and dispense some advice. In a whirlwind of visits with Tampa International Airport CEO Joe Lopano,…
“Fresh, Local & Equitable” initiative seeks to foster economic vitality, cultural expression in low-income communities Kresge will award up to 20 planning grants of up to $75,000 each in the first quarter of 2016 as part of the initiative. Organizations and collaborations that lead food-oriented development initiatives in economically distressed urban neighborhoods are eligible. Planning…
Boca Raton is nearly out of land, so developers are building on small parcels, or redoing existing properties, to make way for new homes and shops. One shopping center under construction now is Park Place by Schmier & Feurring Properties on Military Trail, south of Clint Moore Road and Office Depot’s world headquarters. In addition…
Market Off Main, a quaint restaurant and fresh market, nestled on the banks of the Pithlachascotee River, was a favorite spot for people hankering for locally grown vegetables and comfort food offerings. But there was always a feeling of being on the outskirts of downtown for business partners Rose Mohr, 68, and Jerry Kuss, 73.…
SARASOTA – Hoyt Architects has created a bright, modernist rendering for a new, 10-story, mixed-use apartment building to be built on Second Street in downtown Sarasota. The firm said permits for staging, foundation and demolition have been issued for small buildings at 1401 and 1445 Second St., the latter formerly occupied by United Way before…
SEBRING — During a recent event in downtown Sebring, scores of participants, unable to find Port-O-Lets, crowded restrooms at The Circle Theatre. Susan Macool, theatre general manager, said she’s tried to tell clients when their plans, such as hosting a band, might get overshadowed by, for example, another band on the Circle. This summer, a…
BRADENTON — He swore he wouldn’t get emotional. It might be one of the few times Bradenton Downtown Development Authority Executive Director Dave Gustafson failed to achieve a goal as he struggled to get through his final presentation to the DDA board. Gustafson’s five-year tenure as the head of the DDA will end on Friday…
LAKELAND — City commissioners agreed Wednesday that they want to see what it will take to make downtown Lakeland a test bed for a city-owned gigabit-speed Internet service provider. In that test bed area, the city could build and operate a fiber optics utility and sell Internet access services, with speeds roughly 100 times faster…
DUNDEE — Town commissioners Tuesday unanimously approved an agreement with the Central Florida Regional Planning Council to develop a downtown vision plan. The town will pay the council $25,000 from a Florida Department of Economic Opportunity Community Planning Technical Assistance Grant it received in September. Planning should start in December and be completed in May…
Making bad neighborhoods good takes money and time. Community redevelopment agencies are one way local governments can ensure that struggling areas continue to receive the resources they needed, even through city council turnover and policy changes. Or so went the thinking of state lawmakers when, nearly 50 years ago, they put in place a program…