ST. PETERSBURG — A group of community leaders is forming to help give Central Avenue a unified feel, while emphasizing the unique traits of its adjoining neighborhoods. The Conversation on Central group started about two years ago to help the city with its Central Avenue Revitalization Plan, adopted last fall. The plan calls for banners…
Integrity Florida report questions Enterprise Florida’s fairness Integrity Florida will release a report this morning questioning Enterprise Florida’s performance over the past 16 years and whether it’s fairly picking business partners. Dan Krassner, executive director of Integrity Florida said Enterprise Florida has failed to meet the goals it set to achieve when the state’s public-private…
The Use of Incentives in Economic Development Competition among states and cities for new business projects is nothing new. Economic development incentive use accelerated as the federal government cut back on economic development programs in the late 1980s early 1990s. The impact of the recession during that period resulted in plant closures, lay-offs, fewer new…
The Ocala City Council reached consensus at Tuesday’s workshop meeting to give a group of local developers an exclusive six-month right to assess the feasibility of building a boutique hotel on the former Chamber of Commerce site downtown. This will include discussions with the city about a conference center and possibly a parking garage. After…
Brand showcases Florida’s status and reputation as a super-state for business (TALLAHASSEE, FL) January 31, 2013 – Today, Enterprise Florida (EFI) and Governor Rick Scott unveiled Florida’s first-ever business brand in front of EFI’s board of directors and key stakeholders. The brand reflects the state’s existing business foundation, economic power, capabilities and resources, all of…
We would like to highlight Florida Power & Light’s (FPL) presentation at the Stakeholders Council meeting regarding the launching of their new Resource Center website for EDO’s across the state: www.poweringflorida.com<http://www.poweringflorida.com> FPL’s economic development team will be traveling around the state in the coming months to offer hands on training for local economic development organizations.…
The Volusia County Council seems likely to cast a weary and skeptical eye on any further requests for Community Redevelopment Areas, or CRAs. A CRA takes new property-tax revenue from a blighted area and pours it into improvements. That diverts new property-tax revenue from Volusia County government and some other taxing districts, causing controversy through…
BRADENTON — The Bradenton Downtown Development Authority approved $13,000 in grant money Tuesday to support a new craft beer brewery coming to Bradenton. The projected two-story, 15,000-square-foot brewery at 1014 Ninth St. W. will include brewery tours, a tasting room, an outdoor patio and a beer garden. The beer manufacturing facility, which has yet to…
When Miami last invited businesses to submit proposals for a restaurant and marina on city-owned property, companies with outstanding property taxes were automatically disqualified. The rule no longer exists, according to a revamped version of the request for proposals published this month. That’s good news for the current operator, Scott Wessel. Wessel bid on the…
Passersby paused to take in a “bittersweet” moment as a wrecking ball swung into Coconut Grove’s iconic Grand Bay Hotel on Tuesday, clearing ground for a pair of twisting glass condo towers. Danish architect Bjarke Ingels has designed the $400 million project being developed by the Terra Group. Construction is slated to begin this spring,…
BOCA RATON— — Tower One Fifty Five will rise nine stories in Boca Raton‘s downtown as the mammoth condominium development received its final city approval Tuesday — with a unanimous vote. This time, the City Council — meeting as the Community Redevelopment Agency — gave the proposed 209-unit building its seal of approval, but not…
PLANT CITY — David Hawthorne, who played a key role in historic downtown’s redevelopment, was discovered dead Jan. 17 at a South Pasadena condominium. Pinellas County sheriff’s deputies who were called to check on Hawthorne’s welfare found the 62-year-old’s body shortly before 11 a.m., sheriff’s spokeswoman Cecilia Barreda said. He died from a gunshot wound…
