2014 City Cultural Diversity Awards Application Available The application for the 2014 City Cultural Diversity Awards and additional information is now available online. Please note the new requirement that all projects must be sent via PDF only. The deadline for submission is Friday, January 31, 2014. Visit the website for full details. The award winners…
DEBARY — With an eye toward speeding up development near the new SunRail station, the City Council this week established a brownfield area over the objections of at least one landowner. A 4-1 council vote Wednesday reflected the majority support for the brownfield, an area designated for redevelopment after having real or perceived contamination. Brownfields…
NEW SMYRNA BEACH — The city’s 65-year old central fire station on Faulkner Street, seemingly slated for obsolescence, could be redeveloped for new homes and businesses. Jack White, a partner with White Challis Redevelopment Co., said he’d like to reuse the building at 103 Faulkner St. as part of the company’s proposed downtown housing development…
If you want to park in downtown Delray Beach, you may have to pay for it. At Tuesday’s meeting, the commission will consider a proposal for charging for parking in downtown garages and on downtown streets, places that are mostly free. The rates would vary depending on how close people want to park to the…
SAFETY HARBOR — The Jolley Trolley’s brass rails and wooden benches could soon signal a boon to Safety Harbor businesses. After nearly 18 months of planning and negotiating, an eight-month pilot program to bring a trolley to downtown Safety Harbor will start Feb. 1. “I think it’s more of a business morale boost to see…
We have come so far but have so far to go. Sometimes the cliches are true. That is the best description to describe the city’s Operation Urban Blight. Huge amounts of trash and debris have been collected. It’s as if a tropical storm has hit the city except this blight happens year round. Since October…
Broward County is turning off the tap of property tax dollars that for decades have flowed into blighted communities. In the face of objection from cities all over Broward that have Community Redevelopment Agencies, Broward commissioners voted Tuesday to make clear their intention: When these CRAs expire over the next five to 18 years, they…
Coral Gables Business Improvement District bids farewell to Executive Director Search for replacement begins immediately November 11, 2013, Coral Gables, Florida—The Business Improvement District (BID) of Coral Gables says farewell to Executive Director, Mari Gallet, after nine years in the post. Ms. Gallet will depart in January, having started her own business consulting firm. The…
“Ghost” of Keith London haunts Hallandale Beach Mayor Cooper A tiff between Hallandale Beach Mayor Joy Cooper and Commissioner Michele Lazarow has Cooper hearing voices. And those voices, she thinks, are coming from Cooper’s political enemy, former Hallandale Beach Commissioner Keith London. Cooper says it’s clear Lazarow is in league with London. The mayor and Lazarow are…
Developers lining up to build downtown Fort Myers hotel Prospective developers are lining up to build a hotel in downtown Fort Myers after the initial project fell through last month. Representatives from Acquest Realty Advisors told the Fort Myers City Council during a workshop Monday that they are in serious talks with at least three…
UPDATE: $1.9 million land purchase a big step to move the Tallahassee Shelter Two organizations that provide services for the homeless took a critical step toward moving out of a cramped location along West Tennessee Street and on to a planned location on West Pensacola Street. On Monday, the Community Redevelopment Agency unanimously approved the…
Avon Park CRA to hear request to upgrade cemetery AVON PARK — A façade grant request has been made of Avon Park’s Southside CRA District, but not for a house or business. The request is for fencing at Lakeside Historical Cemetery, 1581 Cummings Ave. in Avon Park. Shirley Johnson and Deputy Mayor Brenda Giles, members…
Leavitt to explain Avon Park art museum plans to CRA AVON PARK – Fred Leavitt, president of the Heartland Cultural Alliance, would like to bring a local artist to Avon Park in the form of a museum. He’d like to put the museum on the second floor of the Avon Park Community Center and tried…
Winter Park withheld public report on historic preservation Don’t trust Winter Park City Hall. That’s the loud-and-clear message I received last week. I asked city staff for a document that should have been made public to anyone who asked. That’s the way access to public records — a right enshrined in Florida’s Constitution — is supposed to work. Not…
Dunedin eyeing options for its waterfront DUNEDIN — Residents would like to see a sailing center, more boat and kayak launches and additions to waterfront parklands along Dunedin’s 37 miles of shoreline. Those are among the key recommendations in a draft report completed this week by the Dunedin Waterfront Taskforce, a group that’s met monthly…
Belleair’s Belleview Biltmore zoning changes net tentative support BELLEAIR — Developers’ plans to bulldoze the Belleview Biltmore appeared to move forward Tuesday as town commissioners threw their tentative support behind proposed zoning changes that would allow the historic resort’s owners to erect condos and townhomes in its place. The Biltmore is currently zoned for only…
Historic Fenway Hotel proposal ties past to future in Dunedin DUNEDIN — The city says bank officials are slated to approve a developer’s bid to purchase the Fenway Hotel “any day now.” James and Christy Bower, a father and daughter real estate development team out of Pennsylvania, plan to tear down the deteriorating structure at…
Panama City CRA Moves to A.D. Harris Learning Village The Panama City Community Redevelopment Agency is hoping to reinvent A.D. Harris Learning Village by moving their offices from Jenks Avenue to right here on campus. The CRA is making themselves right at home in their new location. Complete with boxes, signs, and more boxes. “So…
St. Pete Beach commission hears Corey Avenue ideas ST. PETE BEACH — Ideas for transforming the city’s downtown/Corey Avenue district culminated Thursday with the City Commission endorsing a controversial roadway “couplet” that would dramatically change traffic flow. On Tuesday, the commission will vote on sharply restricting the types of businesses that could operate in the area.…
Revitalization of Leesburg’s Pine Street Children running to a nearby ice-cream truck gave the only sign of activity Friday afternoon along a stretch of boarded-up businesses near dilapidated structures and vacant buildings in the 300 block of Pine Street. Hoping to rejuvenate what’s left of the once flourishing black commercial section in the city, a…
1000 Friends of Florida is presenting its “Community Steward Award” to the Lake Worth Community Redevelopment Consortium at the December 10 meeting of the Lake Worth Community Redevelopment Agency. “Lake Worth is to be commended for its vision and creativity,” says 1000 Friends of Florida President Charles Pattison. “Thanks to a strong and effective partnership,…