Good News From Florida’s CRAs

SARASOTA – The Rosemary District, having already proved itself attractive to developers, now has the attention of downtown business owners. The Downtown Improvement District, an association of commercial property owners in Sarasota, is laying groundwork to annex the Rosemary District into its territory. That move would roughly double the area of the DID special taxing…

The Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency is soliciting responses to this Request For Qualifications (RFQ) from interested parties for the purpose of providing professional consulting services to provide an integrated design for the existing Delray Beach Center for the Arts Campus and Old School Square Park; together these are to be referred to as Center…

The brothers who own the coffee cafes inside UF Health facilities have bought two city blocks on the edge of the Porters neighborhood with hopes of drawing people to new shops and events in the area. Bret and Tim Larson of Opus Coffee bought the property at 307 SW Fourth Ave. in 2012 to house…

What the St. Johns Riverkeeper has done for Northeast Florida’s major natural resource, Groundworks Jacksonville hopes to do for redevelopment. That means aggressive advocacy and rallying support for restoring Jacksonville’s ignored and forgotten urban gems. The best illustration of this is something called the Emerald Necklace, the network of creeks and riverfront property that link…

MANATEE — As the U.S. 41 corridor is targeted for redevelopment, some developers may have a perception that there is an environmental problem on potential sites. Manatee County, in partnership with Bradenton, Palmetto and the Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization, has received a $500,000 Brownfields grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA awarded the…

LAKELAND | A registration and inspection program would put rental homes on the code enforcement department’s radar and give the city another tool for maintaining the quality of neighborhoods to the level residents expect. “We are responding, or trying to respond, to pleas from our neighborhoods to improve conditions, improve accountability of landlords and hopefully…

What the St. Johns Riverkeeper has done for Northeast Florida’s major natural resource, Groundworks Jacksonville hopes to do for redevelopment. That means aggressive advocacy and rallying support for restoring Jacksonville’s ignored and forgotten urban gems. The best illustration of this is something called the Emerald Necklace, the network of creeks and riverfront property that link…

SARASOTA – Sarasota’s main redevelopment agency faces elimination next year, and its leaders have begun sketching out a final budget. The Downtown Sarasota Community Redevelopment Agency seeded downtown and Newtown neighborhood projects with more than $95 million over the past three decades, according to a financial update on Thursday. Among them were the Palm Avenue…

BARTOW | Bartow’s Community Redevelopment Agency shifted focus Wednesday in funding for non-profit groups, directing its attention toward housing development while maintaining its commitment to community events. That shift came when Jeff Bagwell, president and executive director of the Lakeland-based Keystone Challenge Fund, offered Wednesday to partner with the CRA to build two houses for…

PLANT CITY City and business leaders are hoping to revive a program that the say will promote and strengthen downtown. Organizers hope to hire a manager who could, among other duties, manage special events downtown and otherwise coordinate merchants and others who have a stake in the business district. David Schultz, manager of the Plant…

TAMPA — A Miami luxury apartment developer has taken a step toward trying to build what city officials believe will be a riverfront residential complex on what is now the headquarters of the Tampa Tribune. The Related Group filed a request with the city of Tampa on Wednesday asking whether removing the Tribune building site…

BRADENTON, Fla. — “I was sitting in my office one night, and a guy was walking down the alleyway urinating,” says Leyon Robinson, for whom it was a common occurrence. The small pedestrian alleyway paved with bricks is lined with chairs for coffee drinkers during the day. At night, Main Street merchants are complaining about people…

BRADENTON — Rolling the political dice against public opposition Wednesday, Bradenton City Council members voted 4-1 to assume control of the city’s three community redevelopment agencies effective Jan. 1. About a half dozen citizens once again asked councilmembers to slow the process, expressing concerns the city is moving forward without an established restructuring plan. There…

BRADENTON — A $16 million building once occupied by the Bradenton Herald is being torn down. This week, a demolition company will begin taking down the two-story building at 102 Manatee Ave. W. that was once home to the Herald’s newsroom, sales force, administration and printing plant. Under a permit issued by Bradenton, Graber Excavation…

TALLAHASSEE — State money for several projects in Central Florida, including $15 million for the University of Central Florida downtown campus, vaporized Tuesday as Gov. Rick Scott vetoed $461 million in spending before signing the budget. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer described the governor’s decision to veto UCF funding as “extremely disappointing, because [Scott’s] mantra is…

DAYTONA BEACH — An oceanfront hotel and condominium project, which could be the biggest in the beachside’s history, probably won’t be opening its doors for at least another three years. But those who’ve been watching to see when things will get moving on the $130 million venture should see some visible progress next month, when…

There could be a much different future in how Winter Park protects its past. The city’s Historic Preservation Board is pushing changes to the way Winter Park creates historic districts and designates historic homes. The board has drafted a proposed ordinance to make those changes. But the effort — and the board itself — is…

Citing concerns about operational legalities and hostility from a board member, Gail Alsobrook resigned last week as executive director of the Port St. Joe Redevelopment Board. Her resignation was accepted on a 3-2 vote (Commissioner Rex Buzzett and former Mayor Mel Magidson dissenting) during the PSJRA’s monthly board meeting. Alsobrook  has served two separate terms…

DAYTONA BEACH — After nearly a year of little visible progress, the planned $812 million development across from Daytona International Speedway is reawakening with new efforts to woo big-name shops, restaurants and hotels — including a Marriott that just cemented its commitment. New leases are being negotiated and infrastructure work could be in full swing…

A $43 million proposal submitted by Miami-based developers to build a hotel and residences on Pensacola Bay waterfront property downtown is about $22 million less than a plan they presented in January. Dated June 8, 2015, the Community Maritime Park proposal from MCM-BAP, LLC, is for an $18 million, 120-room hotel on parcel 4 and…

It could just be an office building. But indications are that Baptist Health Care would like the redevelopment project it is considering at its Moreno and E streets headquarters to be more. The hospital’s project, which is in the preliminary planning phase, is being thought of as catalyst for injecting new economic and social life…