Good News From Florida’s CRAs

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — On December 21, 2022, Governor Ron DeSantis awarded more than $35 million to 48 Florida communities through Florida Small Cities Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program for economic development, commercial and neighborhood revitalization, housing rehabilitation, and infrastructure improvements. Making investments in our small communities helps build opportunities for generations to come,” said…

The DeLand City Commission will meet Monday, Dec. 19, to discuss the site plan for the DeLand Commons apartments and more. Developer Atlantic Housing Partners is seeking approval from the DeLand City Commission for DeLand Commons, a 180-unit multifamily project along South Woodland Boulevard in Downtown DeLand that includes the site of the former Save…

When Debbie Marks first took the job as administrator of the Englewood Community Redevelopment Agency in December 2007, it was supposed to be a temporary assignment. That turned into a 15-year fourth act of a career that started when she was an Army reservist working as a congressional liaison, answering soldiers’ concerns at the U.S.…

Lakeland officials will decide what the future holds for South Florida Avenue and the surrounding Dixieland community Monday morning. The city commissioners will vote on what future to recommend for South Florida Avenue’s ‘road diet,’ a roughly one-mile stretch from Lime Street south to Ariana Street, to Florida Department of Transportation. FDOT officials said it…

It’s not a full-fledged, brick-and-mortar store (yet!), but Runrun Kids Store, a new toy shop that debuted last month in a St. Pete Pier kiosk, fills a large gap in downtown St. Petersburg’s retail scene. Although there are some shops in downtown St. Pete that sell a small selection of new toys, such as The…

The Bradenton Beach ScenicWAVES committee, which oversees improvements to the scenic highway portion of Gulf Drive, was asked to consider installing a kinetic wind sculpture by Utah-based artist Lyman Whitaker. Whitaker is a sculptor with more than 30 years of hand-building metal wind sculptures. And members of the Anna Maria Island Garden Club are keen…

12/14/22 Renowned Sculptor Fred Eversley has been commissioned by Related Companies in a public-private partnership with the City of West Palm Beach’s ArtLife WPB public art program and The Community Redevelopment Agency to create a site-specific public art installation in downtown.  Slated for completion in spring of 2024, Portals will include eight parabolic shapes in transparent, violet-hued…

12/8/22 The Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami has announced an open call to South Florida-based artists to submit their work for MOCA’s 2023 Art on the Plaza series. Art on the Plaza was inaugurated in 2021 with a series of temporary public art installations on MOCA North Miami’s front plaza, inviting artists to activate…

12/9/22 At the regular Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting on November 29, 2022, County Planning Administrator Michelle Miller and Connie Green, the President of the Tax Redevelopment Advisory Committee (TRAC), presented two proposed maps of the South Brooksville Community Redevelopment Area (CRA). TRAC created one map, and Miller and her staff created another map.…

12/9/22 Financing and rebate programs, and providing permits in under two days, are among new initiatives City of St. Petersburg administrators hope will encourage homeowners to build accessory dwelling units (ADUs). Councilmembers have increasingly looked to ADUs, also known as garage apartments or carriage houses, to help mitigate the ongoing affordable housing crisis. During Thursday’s…

An engineering firm has been chosen for the redesign of Cassen Park. The Ormond Beach City Commission unanimously approved on Tuesday, Dec. 6, a $202,155 contract proposal from local company Zev Cohen and Associates for the design and required permitting for the project, to be funded with Community Redevelopment Agency dollars, since the park is…

City and state transportation planners have coalesced around a vision for the future of South Florida Avenue that includes two 10.5-foot travel lanes and an 11-foot center strip of turn lanes with some medians. Twelve-foot-wide landscaped sidewalks shared by pedestrians and bicyclists would replace the current narrow walkways and temporary concrete barriers on both sides…

The Delray Beach Downtown Development Authority moved closer to its takeover of the Old School Square campus in November when city commissioners gave the DDA $25,000 to run the Cornell Art Museum. “It’s a short-term agreement,” City Attorney Lynn Gelin said at the Nov. 15 City Commission meeting. It will terminate when the overall deal,…

During the Miami-Dade Economic Advocacy Trust’s (MDEAT) November meeting, trustees approved an action item to double the home-buying subsidy to $28,500 for qualified borrowers. The agency ensures Black residents participate in the county’s economic growth by making the homebuying experience more affordable. The agency is governed by a board of trustees appointed by the Miami-Dade…

In May, the City Commission approved the $600,000 purchase of the former Pinecrest Golf Course property just north of Taylor Lake Park. The goal was to turn the 21.4-acre site into a regional stormwater retention area that could aid private construction in the medical arts district to the north. But before the city would close…