Category Archives: Redevelopment News

FPL’s economic development team to offer hands on training for local economic development organizations

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.…

Redevelopment brings benefits, questions

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 approves grant for support of new craft beer brewery

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…

Efforts to redevelop Miami’s Coconut Grove waterfront face scrutiny

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…

Demolition in full swing at Coconut Grove’s Grand Bay Hotel

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,…

City skyline set to rise nine stories downtown

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…

Former developer of historic downtown dies at 62

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…

DeLand considers building transportation hub downtown

DELAND — For nearly a decade, the city has proposed building a transportation hub on the southern edge of downtown, but the project has faced repeated delays. City commissioners may vote Wednesday night to accept a $1.365 million bid from APM Construction of Port Orange to build the Intermodal Transportation Facility on 3.5-acres of city-owned…

CRAs fight decay but divert millions in taxes from counties

Chef Clay Butters was thinking first-class when he opened Martini’s Chophouse. He wanted a modern cuisine experience, with lots of local and organic ingredients and an Art Deco setting that wouldn’t be out of place in South Beach. He wasn’t in South Beach, though. He was in South Daytona, on a street better known along…

Proposed land swap deal to redevelop Fisherman’s Wharf may die

FORT PIERCE — After more than six months of negotiations, the proposed land swap deal to redevelop Fisherman’s Wharf will likely die. City commissioners are meeting Tuesday evening as the city’s Redevelopment Agency board to talk about the proposal for the first time publicly with the new mayor, Linda Hudson, but there may not be…

Ohio firm joins Titusville town center project

TITUSVILLE — A Tampa-based developer has teamed with an Ohio-based design-build firm to build an open-air town center to replace the nearly empty Miracle City Mall. AG Development Group Inc. intends to build a $55 million Miracle City Towne Centre with about 300,000 square feet of stores, restaurants, a medical facility and a multiscreen theater.…

Historic St. Petersburg hotel nearing its rebirth

ST. PETERSBURG — Downtown’s popular stretch of real estate along Beach Drive may have no vacancies left by the time renovations are complete this spring on a historic boutique hotel. Getting into one of the hottest locations in a growing downtown was one reason Chuck and KathyPrather believe they got a good deal buying the…