Good News From Florida’s CRAs

A Moderncities.com comparison of 1943 and 2016 aerials illustrating the impact of expressways penetrating through various Jacksonville neighborhoods and districts. Read full article

The original plan for a mural on the ocean-facing wall of Fat Kahuna’s Beachside Grille in Cocoa Beach called for a shark. However, Cocoa Beach, which provides matching funds for murals and other artistic beautification efforts, nixed the shark idea. While the city did want a beach/ocean motif, sharks were not the image Cocoa Beach…

LAKELAND — Claudia Tritton and other members of the Lakeland Economic Development Council recently met with some of the city’s largest employers. Part of the LEDC’s mission is to generate jobs and capital investment by attracting companies to the area and helping existing businesses expand. Tritton said one of the biggest takeaways from those recent…

Development at the current pace could gobble up too much of Florida’s farmland and natural areas over the next half century, according to a report released Thursday. Suburbia threatens to cover nearly double the amount of land now claimed by neighborhoods and shopping centers, according to the Florida 2070 report. The study calls for allowing…

A local developer bought an Orlando Publix-anchored shopping plaza and now plans to invest millions in upgrades. Williamsburg Downs Investors LLC, an entity of Maitland-based Equinox Development Properties Inc., bought the Williamsburg Downs Publix-anchored plaza at 5350 Central Florida Pkwy. for nearly $14 million on Sept. 12. The plaza is less than 2 miles east…

Jacksonville has well-documented blight issues: so well documented, in fact, there was a city council special committee to deal with that issue alone. Though legislation was passed earlier in 2016 regarding the city’s inventory of 436 tax-reverted parcels, the reality is that the number of properties with active liens on them dwarf that. Liens can…

The Zona Village mixed-use project would bring apartments, retail, restaurants and office space near the South Florida Education Center multi-campus hub in Davie. Broward Collage, Florida Atlantic University, Nova Southeastern University, University of Florida and McFatter Technical College all have campuses in the area, so it’s a prime location to serve students, faculty and college…

The groundbreaking was a decade in the making. On Tuesday, a boxed frame collected ceremonial concrete that was churned and smoothed. The inaugural foundation symbolizes the start of construction of Care Point Health and Wellness Center, which will stretch along an entire city block at South Monroe and Adams streets and Magnolia Drive. For the…

Boca Raton City Councilman Scott Singer filed Sept. 8 to run for his own seat, putting to rest rumors he might run for mayor against Mayor Susan Haynie, who has the chance to run again. Candidates have until January to file for the March 14 Municipal Election in Boca Raton. No one else has filed…

Proposals are due Friday afternoon for a prime piece of city-owned real estate in the heart of downtown Tampa. The city has requested proposals for a surface parking lot at 405 E. Kennedy Blvd — a 1-acre city block that is north of Jackson Street, east of Florida Avenue, south of Kennedy Boulevard and west…

Miami’s Historic and Environmental Preservation Board wants the Coconut Grove Playhouse, empty and unused since closing 10 years ago, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, citing its authentic design and associated standards for the designation in a resolution scheduled for a hearing Sept. 9 in City Hall. In January 2014, Miami-Dade won state…

TAMPA —  The transformation of the southern edge of downtown Tampa has started. Barricades up in downtown Tampa in Channelside area Expect detours initially for next 18 to 24 months Downtown Tampa Grid – News and information on the Channelside project From street layouts to sidewalks to lighting, work has started on reforming the street…

LAKELAND — There’s a new vision for the industrial area east of downtown and the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency wants ideas for branding what could be Lakeland’s home for startup companies. The agency is holding a competition to come up with a sign that will announce entry into the recently named “Design District” surrounding East…

The window of the Apopka Florist shop looks out onto a strip mall parking lot and the afternoon traffic rolling down East Main Street. “Sitting right here, what do we have out there for our landscaping?” store owner Bill Vincent said with a tired glance toward the road. “Cars.” And like the shrubs and palm…

Would you park your Porsche or Maserati in Overtown? Developers plan to build a condo — for cars, not people — on mostly vacant land in the historic neighborhood struggling with high crime and low employment. The seven-story storage facility would include a members-only social club and roof-top restaurant. No one will live there. It’s…

A downtown is a city’s heart, it’s lifeblood. “If you don’t have a vibrant downtown,” said City Commissioner Andy Amoroso, who has operated a novelty gift shop on Lake Avenue for more than two decades, “it dies.” Lake Worth’s historic downtown — Lake and Lucerne avenues — is filled with art galleries, restaurants, boutiques, vintage…

The City of Panama City is moving forward with the redevelopment and make-over of the downtown area. With that, comes change in the form of the Harrison Avenue street-scape project. That project will completely re-vamp the heart of downtown Panama City. To do that, city leaders said they will need to chop down all of…

To understand why the Delray Beach City Commission celebrated its approval Tuesday night of the special events policy, you needed to hear the discussion earlier in the evening. At a special meeting with the Community Redevelopment Agency, the topic was Old School Square. About 15 months ago, the commission and the CRA were at odds…

When David Fry bought a vacant lot in downtown Fort Myers in 2012, he wasn’t thinking about a $15.75 million development project – he just wanted to live downtown. “A vacant lot on First Street was unique,” said the former WCI CEO who traded corporate real estate development to follow his building muse under the trade name…