Although the City Council formally approved the 10-year, potentially $55 million downtown waterfront revitalization plan this week, a centerpiece of the design will immediately be stalled in legislative red tape. The Imagine Clearwater plan calls for converting Coachman Park into a garden and relocating its concert band shell to a new 4-acre open green space,…
Two prominent views emerged during the public forum on the proposed restructuring of South Florida Avenue at the Polk Museum of Art Thursday evening. The plan is to reduce the number of travel lanes from four to two, while keeping the center turn lane, from Pine Street to Ariana Street. On the side of proponents,…
The northbound Business U.S. 41 gateway into the city of Palmetto is now redeveloped with an entirely fresh and inviting look. Known as the Riverside Multimodal Project, the expanded park flanking the main road into downtown features towering palms, lush landscaping, wide brick and paver pathways for pedestrians and bicyclists to share, old-fashioned streetlights, 1,000…
As two architectural firms compete to design a new downtown parking garage, Bradenton officials believe its design will set the standard for future downtown development. “We are pretty frugal here but also very entrepreneurial,” said Mayor Wayne Poston. “We understand how iconic this building needs to be, and we are concerned about design in everything…
The owner of the Aquamarina Hidden Harbour and surrounding land in Pompano Beach is seeking a development partner should it receive approval for the property’s mixed-use redevelopment plan. Aventura-based Aqua Marine Partners has a pending comprehensive plan amendment for its nine-acre site on the east side of Federal Highway from Northeast 15th Street to Northeast…
For more than a decade, New Port Richey city officials have tried to walk the walk and talk the talk about attracting prosperous residents with a walkable community downtown. Begun in 2004, the Main Street Landing project will restart construction after a public ceremony 11 a.m. Friday, Feb. 24, at the site at 5500 Main…
Boynton Beach Boulevard is the city’s entryway, but the buildings that line it are outdated — the only destinations that might attract an interest to stop are City Hall and the post office — and the street’s structure emphasizes vehicle use over walking or riding a bike, the Community Redevelopment Agency says. And it’s time…
The late A. Quinn Jones Sr., a legendary and revered Gainesville educator, meticulously kept documents related to his civic, personal, professional and religious life. Those documents and other materials will be displayed inside galleries at the new A. Quinn Jones Museum and Cultural Center at 1013 NW Seventh Ave. The museum is in the house…
The 2011 groundbreaking for Vilano’s Publix was an especially joyous event for the 5,000 residents living east of the Intercostal. No longer would the need for a few groceries require a trip to the mainland. The Publix was also celebrated as the start of a planned commercial center of shops, sidewalk cafes, upper-level residences and…
In hopes of gaining the City Council’s support during its Wednesday, February 15, meeting, the Apopka Community Task Force on Violence presented a document that the group called a community biopsy, urging for a five-pronged approach to solving violence in the area, especially in South Apopka. First unveiled in December 2016 at a press conference, the…
Why does the legislature want to kill CRA’s Way back in 1969, the Florida Legislature passed the Community Redevelopment Act. The new law was designed to prevent and eliminate slum and blighted areas by designating tax dollars from the neediest communities to go back into those areas. In 1993, Apopka created its own Community Redevelopment…
The Florida Economic Consortium on Violence and Crime (FEC) hosted a lunch forum to discuss the role of community redevelopment agencies (CRAs) and how they can be leveraged to address blighted areas and slums in Apopka. Attended by city and county officials and community members, the lunch forum took place at the Fran Carlton Recreation…
