A new study confirms the latest chatter from real-estate watchers: Miami’s sizzling downtown condo market is cooling down. Skyrocketing construction costs, overheated land prices and falling foreign currencies have finally caught up with a housing market that boomed after the lean years of the recession. But unlike the last go-around, when highly leveraged projects brought…
CRAs drive investment, improving lives and creating jobs right in the neighborhood. Carol Westmoreland, Florida League of Cities cwestmoreland@flcities.com Community Redevelopment Agencies (CRAS) are incredibly successful tools for breathing new life into areas that have been forgotten- the “ghost towns” in the centers of our cities. They uniquely gather all the participants in the urban…
BOYNTON BEACH — It’s a go. On Tuesday night, the Boynton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency board approved giving the 500 Ocean developers about $4.39 million in incentives over the next 10 years to help support the cost of the project. Read full article
BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. – Bonita Springs could be explained in one street — Bonita Beach Road. Read full article
Drive across the city’s downtown, and it’s easy to see a city about to grow expansively. The clanking of construction can be heard from the sites of four buildings that will reach heights of seven to 12 stories. When completed, they’ll provide 1,181 new rental apartments. Two other 12-story buildings are poised to begin construction:…
The month before he died in 2013, Bud Asher, longtime Daytona Beach city commissioner and mayor from 1995 to 2003, called to talk about a list of topics, including community redevelopment areas, known by their initials as CRAs. “I can’t believe the county wants to stop CRAs! Nothing would be happening on the beachside without…
NAPLES – Condos, a pool, gym, café and offices planned for the old Naples Daily News site and waterfront townhomes at Mangrove Bay are among the developments and issues the Naples City Council will discuss during public hearings Wednesday. Read full article
MOUNT DORA—A city initiative to help downtown businesses during the upcoming streetscape project by having raffles will not go forward because it would be against the law. The city was looking at a monthly raffle where people who made a downtown purchase would be eligible for a Mount Dora weekend experience worth up to $750,…
TAMPA — Mark Mathiason will live in his newly finished home only a few weeks before having about 1,000 visitors. That’s because he volunteered his Craftsman-style home to be among the eight Hyde Park residences open Feb. 28 for the annual Historic Hyde Park Home Tour. “Brave is one word, stupid is another,” he quips about…
INVERNESS — City Manager Frank DiGiovanni said he welcomes the county as a partner in the city’s endeavor to expand its community redevelopment area boundaries, but stressed that Inverness will move forward in the best interest of its citizens. “We’re going to take steps with or without the county’s support to help this city,” he…
FORT LAUDERDALE — Thousands of new condos and apartments are coming to downtown, and the county wants them to include places where regular workers can afford to live. The city is seeking Broward County‘s permission to add 5,000 residential units downtown, and officials say they will reserve 750 of them — or 15 percent — for housing…
Gainesville is considering setting up a Community Redevelopment Area in a northwestern part of the city that includes the Koppers Superfund site, a move that could bolster efforts to improve that troubled sector. The Koppers site, Gainesville High School, Stephen Foster Elementary School, nearby shopping centers and the city’s Public Works Complex all fall within…
MOUNT DORA—The City Council approved ordinances Tuesday night needed for Epic Theatres to come to Mount Dora, but that also allow for taller buildings in part of the city. Structures as tall as 65-feet are now allowed in C3 zoning, the highway commercial zoning district that is allowed on U.S. Highway 441, County Road 19A…
ArtPlace America has recently announced a new grant program, the Community Development Investments, designed to provide $3m in funding along with assistance to organizations interested in leveraging arts and cultural strategies to support ongoing and upcoming projects and plans in their communities of focus. ArtPlace America (www.artplaceamerica.org) is a ten-year collaboration of major foundations, federal agencies,…
In the circles of Key West city government, two words have become shorthand for “Big plans talked about for years that never materialize.” Truman Waterfront — as in the grand park Key West officials have promised for well over 15 years. Read full article
Crystal River officials are looking for a sign — literally. Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) board members will discuss the possibility of installing corner signs inside the CRA District. With the installation of signage posts at to-be-determined corners, businesses will have the chance to order a uniformed sign to better guide potential customers. The city would…
ORMOND BEACH – A nearly $1 million effort to revitalize medians and sidewalks along another portion of Granada Boulevard marks the second phase of a project to refurbish Ormond Beach’s main thoroughfare. City commissioners approved a $939,400 project last month to landscape medians and sidewalks along Granada from Orchard Street to State Road A1A. The majority…
MOUNT DORA — Residents can learn details of the third phase of the downtown-streetscape project at a meeting at 6 p.m. Monday. The joint meeting of the City Council and the Community Redevelopment Agency Advisory Committee will be held in the Donnelly Park Building. Read full article
BOYNTON BEACH — A retail and residential development was approved for the corner of Federal Highway and Ocean Avenue in Boynton Beach months ago, but the land remains vacant. Negotiations of a financial agreement between the Boynton Community Redevelopment Agency and the project’s developer has held back any progress. That’s expected to change Tuesday, when the…
PLANT CITY — Postal officials have decided that the downtown post office, closed since 2013 due to safety issues, should be shuttered permanently. The U.S. Postal Service cited “dire economic times” in making the call to close the nearly 80-year-old landmark at 301 W. Reynolds St. A postal regulatory commission has until Feb. 27 to file…
Lauderdale Lakes has apparently avoided another financial crisis — one that would have been of the commission’s own making. The city averted bankruptcy in 2011 through agreements that have been allowing it to pay $11.7 million in debt to the Broward Sheriff’s Office and the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency over an extended number of years.…