|
New! New Hotel for Downtown Tarpon Springs Clears Hurdle
CRAs build better communities! #redevelopmentworks
A downtown lot the city has spent more than a decade trying to redevelop moved a step closer to becoming a boutique hotel when the Planning and Zoning Board unanimously recommended approval of the Tarpon Registry’s site plan.
The City Commission is scheduled to consider the site plan at its Oct. 13 meeting.
The project calls for a two-story, 11,731-square-foot mixed-use building on the vacant 8,112-square-foot property at 144 E. Tarpon Ave., Planning and Zoning Director Allie Keen told the board. It would include a 15-room hotel above ground-floor retail, a restaurant, event space and an open courtyard.
“The proposed uses will increase downtown activity and benefit the surrounding businesses,” Keen said, adding that the project “not only provides retail and event space but also offers much-needed and desired lodging within the heart of downtown.”
In October 2025, the CRA board selected Infill Studio’s proposal for a boutique hotel with retail and event space on the ground floor. The City Commission approved a development agreement for the project that December, and in July the Heritage Preservation Board granted it a certificate of appropriateness.
Read more here |
|
New! Coral Springs Museum of Art Opens Its Downtown Gallery Next Week With 57 Picasso Prints
CRAs build better communities! #redevelopmentworks
The much-anticipated opening of the Coral Springs Museum of Art’s new downtown gallery is now set for next week with a major exhibition of 57 Pablo Picasso original works.
The opening exhibit, called “Picasso: A Graphic Journey” features comes from the collection of Timothy Collins of Los Angeles.
One series follows a single image, “Tête de Femme au Chapeau,” through proofs that show Picasso’s printmaking process, from early color studies to the final composition.
City officials have said the museum’s move is intended to raise the museum’s profile and bring more visitors.
The project cost about $3.4 million. About $2 million coming from the city’s capital budget, $1 million from the Community Redevelopment Agency’s capital fund and about $500,000 from landlord and tenant allowances.
Read more here |
| New! Plans for an Opera House and Amphitheater Move Forward in East Naples
CRAs build better communities! #redevelopmentworks
One of the more innovative strategies the city of Orlando has taken to help homeless people get off the streets is on track to surpass its goal of housing roughly 400 people over a three-year period.
The city announced Thursday that the city’s “dignity bus” program — offering overnight shelter on two retrofitted Greyhound buses — has already helped 169 people find permanent housing since the program’s launch in August 2025.
The program, dubbed 407 Connect, is a partnership between the city, the Community Redevelopment Agency, and the Christian Service Center, a local homeless service nonprofit that runs a day center for homeless people just west of downtown in Parramore. It’s based off a similar bus shelter program based out of Vero Beach.
According to the city, Orlando’s bus shelter program has provided overnight shelter, case management, and other forms of support to 260 men, women and children total since launch.
Read more here |
|
Orlando’s Bus Shelter Program Helps 169 People Find Permanent Housing in the First Year
CRAs build better communities! #redevelopmentworks
One of the more innovative strategies the city of Orlando has taken to help homeless people get off the streets is on track to surpass its goal of housing roughly 400 people over a three-year period.
The city announced Thursday that the city’s “dignity bus” program — offering overnight shelter on two retrofitted Greyhound buses — has already helped 169 people find permanent housing since the program’s launch in August 2025.
The program, dubbed 407 Connect, is a partnership between the city, the Community Redevelopment Agency, and the Christian Service Center, a local homeless service nonprofit that runs a day center for homeless people just west of downtown in Parramore. It’s based off a similar bus shelter program based out of Vero Beach.
According to the city, Orlando’s bus shelter program has provided overnight shelter, case management, and other forms of support to 260 men, women and children total since launch.
Read more here |
|
City of Bradenton Identifies Redevelopment Areas at Public Hearing
CRAs build better communities! #redevelopmentworks
The Bradenton City Council hosted a public hearing with their Community Redevelopment Agency identifying areas in the city that need to be redeveloped or rehabilitated in the interest of public health, safety, and welfare for the city.
A 2023 study identified and documented the existence of slum and blighted conditions across 16 sites in the city. Conditions like vacant buildings that have sat empty for years, faulty layouts, arrested development or failure to redevelop.
“Six of those sites are actually government owned by the county and the city,” Dr. Jeff Burton, Executive Director of the Bradenton Community Redevelopment Agency, said, “and that’s where CRA can come in and help, it is the bridge between the private sector and the public sector.”
Read more here |
|
Sebring CRA Seeks Gateway Signs
CRAs build better communities! #redevelopmentworks
The Sebring Community Redevelopment Agency discussed and made a decision on gateway signs for placement on North and South Ridgewood Drive for a visual impact in welcoming motorists to downtown.
Apparently now there is no big or small “Welcome to downtown Sebring” sign on Lakeview Drive nor South Ridgewood Drive.
Mayor John Shoop said on Tuesday there is a concrete slag on the triangle area where South Ridgewood Drive starts and branches off from Lakeview Drive. He thinks the slab likely supported a sign at one time.
“There used to be a sign back in the day when Barnett Bank was around,” he said. “They had a ‘Welcome to Downtown Sebring’ sign and they added a little logo on it. Barnett was in the building where the antique mall was (former Bank of America building).”
Read more here |
|
