2022 FRA Awards: President’s Award Winner – City of Niceville, CRA, Old Town Landing Redevelopment Plan

Congratulations to the City of Niceville, CRA, for winning the 2022 FRA President’s Award for the Old Town Landing Redevelopment Plan.  The concept of the revitalization of the Niceville historic downtown was first identified in the original Niceville CRA Plan in 2015. Since then, the concept has been expanded to include a 6-acre site for…

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Free On-Demand Ride Service Freebee is Coming To Another Broward City

Residents and visitors in several South Florida cities, including Hallandale Beach in southeastern Broward County, will soon have access to free door-to-door rides they can order from their smartphones. Freebee, an electric vehicle shuttle headquartered in Miami, currently provides service to 24 Florida cities and Virginia Beach, Virginia. Plans call for the service to soon…

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USF Awarded a $1.5 million National Science Foundation Grant to Help Build More Equitable Communities

A team of researchers from the University of South Florida has received a $1.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation to help build more equitable communities.  The award, which also includes researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, will fund a project to establish practices to improve civil and environmental engineering curriculum by providing…

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Lealman’s Future Includes Festivals, Fireworks

There’s a buzz around Lealman. The unincorporated area of central Pinellas County has a population of approximately 34,000 people, lots of greenspace – and countless honeybees. Since anyone can remember, there have been numerous private honey-supplying apiaries within the 5.7 square-mile community. That’s reason enough for a newly-formed advisory committee to title an upcoming event…

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Ballooning Costs, Inability to Find Operator Hamper West Palm Beach’s Efforts to Revive Historic Sunset Lounge

The city of West Palm Beach and its community redevelopment agency are creating a new African American cultural tourism destination. The publicly-funded redevelopment of the Sunset Lounge in the city’s historic Northwest neighborhood hopes to “pay homage to the rich jazz and Black history of the area.” “This was the entertainment hub,” Robbie Littles said.…

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Hallandale Beach CRA Allocates $1 Million for Rent Stabilization Program to Provide Financial Assistance to Low to Moderate Income Tenants

In the wake of South Florida experiencing the largest year-over-year rent increases in the state at 57.2%, the Hallandale Beach Community Redevelopment Agency’s (CRA) Board of Directors voted unanimously on Wednesday, August 24, 2022, to approve the Rent Stabilization Program. The Program allocates $1 Million in rental assistance for qualifying tenants living within the CRA…

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