CLEARWATER —Nearly 17 months after a panel of urban planning experts presented an array of ambitious recommendations for reviving downtown Clearwater, city leaders have completed just under half of the 13 priority projects. The city has so far created a stakeholder advisory group; launched an incubator to foster technology companies; built a science, technology, engineering…
Casselberry’s longstanding efforts to create a downtown moved forward with the launch of a 203-unit apartment complex to be part of the planned 20-acre Concord Village. LandSouth Construction, of Jacksonville, started work on the $19.3 million complex to be built on 7.5 acres at 88 Triplett Lake Drive, near City Hall. Associated Consulting International of…
PLANT CITY Sculptures created by artist J. Seward Johnson are likely to be on display in and around downtown from Dec. 1 through mid-March. The city is being asked to donate $6,000 to pay half the expenses for the display of the bronze sculptures. The Plant City Arts Council is sponsoring the display and has…
With some mixed messages about how the Ocala City council wants a proposed downtown hotel to look, council members unanimously voted to begin negotiating with Downtown Ocala LLC to build and operate a downtown hotel. Downtown Ocala LLC is owned by Ocala hotelier Danny Gaekwad, who already owns several area hotels and other businesses. Developer…
Redevelopment that built slowly over decades in the heart of downtown Gainesville and in recent years in the nearby University Heights district is starting to spread south on Main Street. More new businesses plan to join others to open in recent months, creating a corridor of activity that stretches to Depot Park ahead of its…
The Escambia County Neighborhood Enterprise Division recently announced that it has extended the fall cycle for its Neighborhood Renewal Initiative Mini-Grant Program, which aims to further encourage community and volunteer-based redevelopment efforts within local neighborhoods. The grant is funded through the county’s Community Development Block Grant Program and is offered to neighborhood organizations located within…
FORT PIERCE — South Florida’s loss is Fort Pierce’s gain. Two superyachts — The Lady Lau and The Freedom — are docked at the Indian River Marine Terminal at the Port of Fort Pierce for maintenance after a shortage of space in South Florida sent the captains and crew north, said Buddy Haack of Taylor…
PALMETTO — Palmetto officials Monday voted unanimously to move an updated five-year community redevelopment agency plan to a public hearing on Nov. 16. It is only the second update to the city’s CRA plan since 1993, but was completely overhauled in 2011 by incoming CRA Director Jeff Burton, who outlined an ambitious plan just two…
Milton City Council has given its blessing to the latest proposed site that could keep the Santa Rosa County Courthouse in downtown Milton — though in a different site than considered in the past. Santa Rosa County Commissioner Rob Williamson presented City Council Monday with a new approach to building a judicial center downtown, using…
If you live in an old building on South Florida’s prime waterfront, don’t get too comfortable: Developers want your sand. In the latest mega-deal to happen on the beach, a New York-based developer said he has struck a $55 million deal to buy a modest Surfside condo building that dates to the 1960s. His plan?…
LYNN HAVEN — The city Commission approved an agreement Tuesday for the acquisition and sale of a roughly 100-acre piece of bay-front property that is being proposed by developers as the future site of a “water-centric, marina-based development.” The Air Force still owns the former fuel depot property, but the city will have the first…
PUNTA GORDA — The influence of Sarasota’s midcentury modern architecture did not stop at the county line. Carl Abbott, a member of the so-called “Sarasota School” of modernist architects, has often said that the Sarasota School “was not just in Sarasota, but the world.” That includes Charlotte County, which is not often recognized as an…
