FEMA to partially fund Warren sinkhole remediation in Live Oak On Tuesday night at the Live Oak Community Redevelopment Agency meeting, Live Oak’s engineer Lane Lucas informed the board the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would not be fully funding the remediation of the sinkhole on Warren Street. “FEMA won’t pay for the full project…
Climbing out of the Channelside morass (Tampa) The effort to turn around Channelside Bay Plaza in Tampa was daunting enough before this week’s news that its Irish owners have moved the property under the protection of an out-of-state federal bankruptcy court. This is bad news for the Tampa Port Authority, which owns the land under…
PALM COAST — Most cities in Volusia and Flagler counties started with a downtown, grew outward with single-family homes and then worked to revitalize the downtown areas after the suburbs took shape. But in places like Palm Coast and Deltona, where a city was developed by a corporation, the process gets reversed. First come the…
SEBRING — The Sebring Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA), in conjunction with the Downtown Sebring merchants, is bringing two new programs to the downtown Sebring area. First, the CRA recently purchased new audio equipment to play Sirius/XM satellite radio in Circle Park and the merchants are collectively paying monthly service fees and the royalty fees. Sirius…
LARGO — The big vacant lot has tall grass, an assortment of oaks and pines, a bit of crumbling blacktop, and what seems like a billion dragonflies. The city is selling the nearly 1-acre lot at 158 Ridge Road near the northeast corner of Clearwater-Largo Road and West Bay Drive in its ongoing effort to…
LAKELAND | There are many examples of residents who bought homes and property at the wrong time before the real estate crash several years ago. And then there is the $8.4 million purchase in 2005 of 14 acres by the city of Lakeland. The city bought 53 parcels in the neighborhood that backs up to…
Delray Beach officials have heard plenty of noise about the city’s noise ordinance. The problems, and complaints have been around for almost a year, after Delray unveiled a draconian new ordinance in September that featured steep fines, some as high as $15,000 for repeat offenders. Many business owners, who rely on music to keep customers…
Now that the Ocala City Council has approved new Community Redevelopment Areas to remove blight along the city’s gateways, each of the advisory committees for the East Ocala CRA and West Ocala CRA held meetings Tuesday to begin drawing up plans to revitalize those areas. The two committees, prodded by consultant VHB MillerSellen and city…
Casto announces at the August 20, 2013 ICSC Florida Conference, its Casselberry’s CRA Development Project, Concord Village. Casselberry joins neighboring Maitland and Winter Park in developing a new and innovative downtown mixed use project of luxury apartments, restaurants, office and retail tenants, and place making. The Florida ICSC is second largest Shopping Center Conference in…
City of Satellite Beach Seeks Brevard County Approval To Dip Into CRA Funds SATELLITE BEACH, Florida — The City of Satellite Beach wants to return its unused Tax Incremental Redevelopment Trust Fund (TIF) funds from its Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) back to the City at the end of the year to replenish the City’s low…
Plan to reopen historic Miami playhouse clears Florida Cabinet Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Cabinet on Tuesday approved a joint plan by Florida International University and Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez to salvage and reopen the historic Coconut Grove Playhouse as a working regional theater. The approval now triggers a tight deadline for FIU,…
Fisherman’s Wharf revival is in the works in Venice, Florida VENICE – The nearly empty parking lot, shuttered businesses and vacated dock do not suggest a rebirth. But just wait a few months, said owner Stephen Witzer: Fisherman’s Wharf, once the site of thriving businesses, and even bigger dreams, is set to become one of…
St. Pete Beach: Corey Avenue redevelopment attracts interest ST. PETE BEACH – City Manager Mike Bonfield told St. Pete Beach City Commissioners Aug. 13 that the city is getting regular interest from developers concerning the redevelopment of the Corey Avenue district. “We’ve had some preliminary discussions with some very impressive people,” Bonfield said. “They have…
Frostproof Takes First Step Toward CRA Before establishing a community redevelopment agency, city leaders need to know what part of the city can go into it. So the Frostproof City Council took the first step Monday by accepting a $15,000 grant from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity to do a “finding of necessity” study.…
Polk Dips Into North Ridge CRA Funds to Balance Budget BARTOW | Polk County Commissioners voted today to divert $4.4 million from the North Ridge Community Redevelopment Agency’s budget to help balance next year’s county budget. The unanimous vote came as the commission sat as the board of the North Ridge CRA. “We’ve had a…
Jesse Biter shares his downtown Sarasota vision at Lakewood Ranch LAKEWOOD RANCH – Entrepreneur Jesse Biter took his vision for a more vibrant and affordable downtown Sarasota to this master-planned, city-in-the-making. His Thursday breakfast speech went over well, even considering the receptive crowd — about 130 members of the Lakewood Ranch Business Alliance, most of…
All Aboard Florida seeks downtown Miami property for train hub Managers for All Aboard Florida, the project to build an Orlando-to-Miami passenger train service, are about to begin negotiations with Miami’s Community Redevelopment Agency to acquire two parcels in downtown Miami as part of the plan to build a massive train station and transportation hub…
DELRAY BEACH, Fla.—The Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency has selected a proposal for a new office and entertainment complex, including an iPic Theater, for a highly sought after redevelopment site in the downtown core. The CRA Board awarded the Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Downtown Core Business District Fourth & Fifth Avenues Site to…
Pensacola City Council eyes zoning to cut industrial activity downtown Seeking to forever eliminate the unwanted sights and sounds of industrial activity from downtown Pensacola and its surrounding neighborhoods, City Council members this afternoon will discuss tightening the zoning regulations on several downtown lots, including ECUA’s 19-acre Main Street property. In December, the city Planning…
Coral Springs commission: move the school out of downtown The city’s busiest intersection — once a shopping district, then a school — will now likely become a shopping hub yet again. The city commission has agreed that the city-run charter school needs to be moved out of the area destined to become a downtown to…
Boynton CRA may enter lawsuit over unpaid invoice The Boynton Beach Community Redevelopment Agency may be heading to court to battle against a familiar face. On Tuesday, the CRA board unanimously denied former board member Steven Holzman’s request for payback of more than $3,000 in unpaid legal fees for his deposition in the wrongful termination…