Coral Springs seeks public input on future downtown CORAL SPRINGS— There will be special meetings this week to discuss what the city commission — and the public — envisions for creating a downtown near University Drive and Sample Road. On Wednesday, city staff and members from the Urban Land Institute, a nonprofit land use group,…
DetailsWinter Park right to be snobby about counter service Winter Park didn’t become Winter Park by putting up with bourgeois counter service. And it has no intention of starting now. Go ahead, insert your own Winter Park snob joke here. Because this is the same place where you can glance into a passing baby…
DetailsCity of Frostproof to Revisit CRA, Impact Fees FROSTPROOF | City Council members have decided to set up a workshop in the near future on impact fees and a community redevelopment agency. The last time the Frostproof City Council talked about those two funding mechanisms, the recession hadn’t happened. Now that it’s 2013, the city…
DetailsDelray Beach frowns upon too many street festivals It is official: There are too many special events in Delray Beach. Once conceived as a way to attract visitors to downtown shops and restaurants, special events are now viewed as a nuisance keeping regular patrons and Delray residents from visiting businesses downtown. “We don’t need them…
DetailsWest St. Pete business district gaining steam ST. PETERSBURG – A gateway from the beach onto what’s been called the city’s central business artery isn’t much to look at. There is a small waterfront park, then a broad four-lane strip of asphalt, a few trees, convenience stores, strip centers, a scattering of boutique stores and…
DetailsDowntown’s Good Vibes Tampa Tribune – It started out as a circled date on the calendar: May 4. The occasion: the Saturday night performance of “War Horse” at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts. It ended with hailing a late-night cab on Tampa Street. Variations, as it turned out, on a theme. The Tony…
DetailsFlorida City sells lots for redevelopment in ‘Snakepit’ neighborhood Florida City officials plan to sell 22 lots in a neighborhood known as the “Snakepit” to a developer who will build up to 100 apartments on them. The city’s Community Redevelopment Agency wants to sell the lots, totaling about 5.2 acres, to Blue Heaven Villas…
DetailsAnother big project in growing Bradenton BRADENTON – Coastal Orthopedics, well-known nationally for its work in sports medicine, is seeking approval to build an office building on a prime piece of land near downtown Bradenton, further enhancing the rejuvenation and image of the area. The business has proposed a 55,000-square-foot medical office on the corner…
DetailsBradenton: Old buildings make way for a new bank BRADENTON – A century ago, the now-busy corner of Manatee Avenue West and 19th Street housed a beekeeping operation that was outside of city limits. Not many people lived in the area when J.J. Wilder cultivated bees at 1915 Manatee Ave. W. The house, built in…
DetailsTemple Terrace: Town center developer defaulting on agreement TEMPLE TERRACE – City leaders and a developer of a $150 million downtown district project are having trouble seeing eye-to-eye. While Vlass Temple Terrace officials suggest it may be time to pull out of the project, city leaders said this week they are still waiting for construction…
DetailsBonita bosses pitch to create downtown Community Redevelopment Area The Lee County commission decided Monday to hold a public hearing at an upcoming regular meeting on whether to delegate authority to Bonita Springs to create a downtown Community Redevelopment Area. Bonita officials propose spending $15.6 million to spur business activity — $8.3 million for a…
DetailsMainStreet DeLand director leaving It will be a bittersweet parting for Mary Beth Harris, when she leaves her job this summer as executive director of the MainStreet DeLand Association. Harris notified the organization’s board of directors May 3 that her family would be moving to Punta Gorda, after her husband, Ty Harris, accepted a job…
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