SARASOTA – Berenise Ahumada wanted to get foot traffic. The owner of leather goods store Eleganza, Ahumada opened a storefront January in downtown Sarasota. She has operated a second store at Tampa’s International Mall for 14 years. By moving downtown, she thought customers would be more likely to stumble upon her store. Ahumada is part…
DELAND — A Courtyard by Marriott hotel could break ground by the end of the year, bringing more than 100 new hotel rooms to downtown DeLand. DeLand City Commissioners cleared the way for the hotel project Monday night when they approved with very little discussion the demolition of two historic buildings on the north end…
SARASOTA, Fla. – The detour signs went up Monday night on 1st Street across from Sarasota City Hall. It’s in preparation for the big change coming Wednesday at the busy downtown intersection at Main and Orange, as city commissioners approved $1.3 million for a roundabout. So how will closing down this major intersection affect nearby…
SARASOTA – The city and county both desperately want something from each other, but it’s unlikely either will get its wish. For the city, it’s an extension of the Downtown Community Redevelopment Agency, which has funneled $76 million into projects in Newtown and the urban core. Commissioners voiced unanimous approval for extending it — perhaps…
PANAMA CITY — After about a decade of living in the heart of downtown Panama City in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Gayle Paynter and Brian Humboldt are eager to get back to where they feel most at home. “It’s a modest home, not huge … but very industrial,” Humboldt said Wednesday, pointing out…
On Monday, Sarasota city commissioners will revisit an issue that has important implications for the future: the community redevelopment district, whose key funding source is scheduled to expire in September 2016. The funding mechanism — known as tax-increment financing — has helped grow the downtown tax base by more than 300 percent since 1986. More…
TAMPA — After decades of growing out, Hillsborough County now wants to grow from within. To get there, the county is jumping onto the latest trend in urban planning: building an innovation district. Hillsborough’s proposed 2016 budget includes $2 million to create a master plan for redeveloping the area around University of South Florida. The…
TAMPA — The group that helped create the Riverwalk wants to pay tribute to three of the most significant events in Tampa’s history. Friends of the Riverwalk unveiled concepts Friday for monuments honoring the introduction of the cigar industry to Tampa, the connection of Henry Plant’s railroad to Tampa’s port and World War II. “We…
HOLLY HILL — The former school property on Center Street just north of LPGA Boulevard may appear nondescript, but Jayson Meyer sees in it a golden opportunity. The owner of Daytona Beach-based Synergy Billing envisions turning the 25-acre former Holly Hill Middle School property into a “Google East”-style office park, similar to those in Silicon Valley. His…
PLANT CITY City code inspectors say Cornerstone Center has removed overgrown vegetation and an infestation of wasps that led to the city issuing code violations last month. A reinspection found that the alleged violations have been corrected at the historic building, City Code Enforcement Manager Tray Towles said. This was the second time this year…
When it comes to downtown neighborhoods, Fort Myers residents are mainly concerned with one thing: getting around. About 70 people attended a public meeting Tuesday about the redevelopment of central Fort Myers, hoping to share ideas, visions and concerns about what the future might hold. Central Fort Myers – which is bordered by U.S. 41,…
The Miami Worldcenter retail and residential complex won approval Tuesday for a special taxing district in the city’s Overtown neighborhood, fending off a fierce challenge by community and labor organizers. At issue was a taxing mechanism designed to let developers fund about $72 million in infrastructure improvements through a special assessment charged on their properties’…
Maitland hot spot Jeremiah’s Italian Ice, along with a long-closed Gooding’s and other businesses, are to be razed in October to make way for apartments, restaurants and a market. Developers say they are finalizing financing, lease deals with tenants, and building permits, with plans for construction to start in about three months on the $65…
Until now, Coral Gables — unflashy, uncool, a Mediterranean-themed bastion of affluent suburban stolidity — seemed a bulwark against the wave of redevelopment that’s swept through neighboring Miami and Miami Beach, turning derelict areas from South Beach to Brickell and Midtown into dense urban enclaves a-glitter with the young and hip. Not that anyone in…
MANATEE — The final piece of the Manatee County Historic Courthouse restorations will be unveiled this week. The original 1913 courtroom, which occupies parts of the second and third floors, has been undergoing restoration since January. Workers with Halfacre Construction Co. of Sarasota have been putting the finishing touches on the $1 million restoration of…
MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. –Dozens of projects in Martin County to improve property values, infrastructure and safety could soon lose their funding. Martin County Commissioners are considering cutting the Community Redevelopment Agencies from the county budget. CRAs are areas in the county that receive extra funding for projects to help revitalize the area. The county appoints…
The Downtown Lakeland Partnership is hosting a T-shirt contest to see which Lakeland resident can capture the essence of downtown Lakeland in an image for new merchandise. The image needs to be something that is immediately recognizable as downtown Lakeland for items such as T-shirts or coffee mugs, according to the Downtown Lakeland Partnership website.…
The $10 million, 55,000 square-foot building for the University of West Florida’s Center for Entrepreneurship proposed for Community Maritime Park joins a slew of new projects under construction or planned for downtown Pensacola, marking a building renaissance for the City of Five Flags. The projects include a new downtown YMCA, Beck Property Company’s multi-use building…
Pasco County is poised to go looking for land tainted with gasoline, motor oil, dry cleaning chemicals and other hazardous contaminants with a $400,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Additionally, the federal government awarded the county a $195,000 grant to clean up contaminated land discovered during the construction of the Lewis Abraham Community…
BRADENTON — A week after voting to take over governing authority of the city’s three community redevelopment agencies effective Jan. 1, Bradenton officials delved into the planning process Wednesday of what that means for the agencies and the CRA communities. Under the existing structure, only the Central CRA board in East Bradenton is a sole…
Mayor-elect Lenny Curry announced Monday he’s tapping Kerri Stewart, a former mayoral chief administrative officer and lobbyist, to be his chief of staff. Curry is also creating a new position — director of blight initiatives, paying $90,000 a year — for City Councilwoman E. Denise Lee, who has led council efforts at tackling blight across…