TAMPA — After years of planning, Timothy Hodge and his business partner opened the Harbourside Animal Hospital on Jan. 31. The downtown Tampa business was welcomed with much fanfare; Mayor Bob Buckhorn and other officials from the city and Tampa Downtown Partnership attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony on opening day. The animal hospital is the latest…
FDEP received record-breaking number of state Voluntary Cleanup Tax Credit applications, highlighting need to address $10M VCTC backlog FEBRUARY 14, 2014 – The Florida Department of Environmental (“FDEP”) received a record- breaking number of Voluntary Cleanup Tax Credit (“VCTC”) applications for the 2013 cycle for environmental work performed at Brownfield sites across Florida. The record…
Architect and historian Rick Gonzalez will conduct an hourlong tour of downtown West Palm Beach starting at 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14, at the Richard and Pat Johnson Palm Beach County History Museum at the old county courthouse, 300 N. Dixie Hwy. Read full story
DUNEDIN — Cleaner waterways, improved way markers and a new marina might be on tap as the city analyzes a citizens advisory group’s recommendations for improved access to and the appearance of Dunedin’s shoreline. The Waterfront Task Force — led by Dunedin residents Diana Carsey, John Tornga and Kim Beaty — gathered hundreds of pages…
Community Maritime Park Associates Inc. won a major victory Wednesday when a federal judge denied a $23 million counterclaim filed by the park’s former developer and awarded CMPA a judgment of $1.62 million. In her ruling, Chief U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers said Maritime Park Development Partners LLC, and its CEO, Scott Davison, fraudulently…
Orlando’s Historic Preservation Board wants Tinker Field to be declared a local landmark — a designation that would stall the city’s plans to tear it down. It would be irresponsible not to try to save the rundown ballpark where Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. once spoke, one member of the preservation board said in voting to start…
AVON PARK – The undertaking to revitalize and economically invigorate Avon Park’s southside has been a bit bumpy but began a process of smoothing out Wednesday night. At a Special Meeting of the Southside Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) Advisory Board, the Citizens Advisory Task Force listened to a presentation by an Avon Park’s Cool &…
DELAND — Two downtown business owners clashed with members of a street-preaching church this week at the DeLand City Commission meeting, saying the demonstrations are chasing away customers. Members of The Bible Baptist Church in Glenwood flock to the corner of New York Avenue and Woodland Boulevard and preach each Friday evening. The preachers have been…
VENICE – A historic apartment building on the island of Venice that seemed destined for the wrecking ball is instead headed on a course toward renovation and revival. When completed, “the building should look like it did in 1926,” said Ernest Ritz, owner of Ritz Construction Corp. in Sarasota — whom the owner hired to perform…
Jon Ward now officially is the executive director of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency. The city commission, sitting as the CRA board, voted 5-0 at its meeting Monday to ratify Ward’s selection. On Dec. 16, the city approved a contract to turn over the CRA’s duties to Broward County-based Redevelopment Management Associates, run by former…
City commissioners Monday night prepared to take the first of two votes on the proposed massive waterfront village at the Rybovich yacht center, City planners spoke Monday night for more than an hour, to be followed by developers, and then the public, in what has become the next city development fight. It’s been just two weeks…
LAKE ALFRED | The City Commission gave a consensus Monday to move forward with designating the area that will be targeted by the city’s planned Community Redevelopment Agency. Officials from the Central Florida Regional Planning Council did a finding of necessity study that identified areas along U.S. 17/92 that fit the conditions for a CRA.…
Archaeologists who for months have been uncovering mounting evidence of an ancient and extensive Native American village in the middle of downtown Miami have concluded it’s likely one of the most significant prehistoric sites in the United States. The archaeologists, under the direction of veteran South Florida archaeologist Bob Carr, have so far painstakingly dug…
SARASOTA – The State Street Garage, already something of an albatross around Sarasota’s neck, just got a whole lot more expensive. City commissioners voted unanimously to modify a proposed system for City Manager Tom Barwin’s upcoming performance review. Because of a special clause in Barwin’s contract, the city must use a third-party “facilitator” in the review…
RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. —A stroll at the Riviera Beach Marina will have people checking out a $10 million facelift it was given in 2013. The marina has a new seawall, underwater LED lighting and new boat slips. Tony Brown is executive director of Riviera Beach Community Redevelopment Agency. He said the next phase will begin…
A housing nonprofit, two churches, a youth program and a local family deserve funding from the Bahama Village Tax Increment Funding, property taxes reserved to alleviate blight in the historic neighborhood of Key West, an appointed committee has said. City commissioners will review the recommendations after their 6 p.m. meeting Tuesday at Old City Hall.…
The FRA Roy F. Kenzie Awards, honor the best programs and projects in Florida redevelopment. Applications will be accepted from any FRA member who meets the award criteria and submits the $150 entry fee. A winning entry is an acknowledgment of excellence for the work an organization is doing. We look forward to seeing and…
There’s a simple solution to this contentious dispute. The potentates of Belleair should simply throw open the gates and allow any resident to go on a guided tour of the bedraggled and dilapidated and crumbling former queen of the Gulf of Mexico, the now forlorn Belleview Biltmore Hotel. They will be able to luxuriate in…
High poverty, frustration in unincorporated central Broward No city will take in this orphaned area of the county Like a 32nd city in Broward County, but with no city hall to turn to for help, an unincorporated pocket of central Broward is one of the neediest areas in the county. The statistics are not pretty.…
City Receives John Nolen Award for Urban Growth and Development The Florida Chapter of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) has selected the City of Delray Beach as this year’s recipient for the prestigious John Nolen Award. This award acknowledges the City’s outstanding achievements in urban growth and development that have transformed our municipality…
Below you will find the 2013 CRA Impact Study produced in conjunction with the Florida Redevelopment Association. This study was adopted and signed by the Mayor of each participating CRA. SUMMARY “This report will illustrate and quantify the effects of public investment in selected CRA districts in Broward County. Seven CRA’s were analyzed during a…