Clearwater launches incentive program to help revitalize downtown
Lloyd Sowers reports
CLEARWATER, Fla. - Often recognized as having one of the world’s best beaches, Clearwater wants its long-overlooked downtown to share the love. We hope that it’s going to pop here shortly with everything that the city is doing, said Margaret Cleveland.
She and her husband just opened the 5:30 Pub & Grill on Cleveland Street where a sleepy downtown is waking up. The 400 block is working, insisted Mayor Frank Hibbard. There’s seven different restaurants on that block with all different cuisines at different price points.
Hibbard says a new city grant program aims to turn vacant downtown storefronts into thriving businesses. It is a 50-50 match, so there’s skin in the game from the property owners themselves.
Scientology continues its domination of Clearwater coast: Church submits proposal to build on the downtown bluff after buying 60 properties in the Florida city
The church was one of five developers to bid on a project to develop three city-owned parcels of waterfront land
The other developers who bid on the properties are City Center Development LLC, Elevate Clearwater, Office America Group, and SROA Capital
The revelation comes as the Church of Scientology has worked to buy up commercial real estate in Clearwater - where the church is headquartered
The document does not specify what the church wants to build in downtown Clearwater - where it already owned 49 other properties by 2019
Five developers want to build around Clearwaterâs downtown waterfront. Scientology is one.
The city called for residential, hotel and retail projects to surround the cityâs 22-acre waterfront park, which is about to undergo a $64 million makeover.
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Seven developers responded to the city s request for proposals to build residential, retail and hotel projects on three city-owned sites on the downtown waterfront. [ City of Clearwater ] [ City of Clearwater ]
Updated 1 hour ago
CLEARWATER â Five developers submitted proposals for the chance to build mixed use projects on up to three city-owned parcels surrounding the soon-to-be transformed downtown waterfront park, according to a bidding document released on Tuesday.
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One of the sites is next to the Clearwater Main Library. (City of Clearwater)
CLEARWATER, FL The city of Clearwater has issued a Request for Proposals to redevelop three key downtown waterfront parcels.
Investment in Clearwater s waterfront presents an opportunity for redevelopment on properties with scenic views of the Gulf. The sites are situated downtown on an elevated bluff along the Intracoastal Waterway, overlooking the Clearwater Harbor and Marina.
The Clearwater City Council is seeking a combination of residential, retail and parking on the sites, with the possibility of a hotel, to complement the bordering redevelopment of the roughly 22-acre Coachman Park.
Clearwater taking bids for developers to build on downtown bluff
The city hopes to select one or multiple developers by April 30 to build residential, retail and hotel projects on three sites around the Imagine Clearwater site.
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The city released a request for proposals on Jan. 11 for developers to submit bids to build residential, retail and hotel projects on three city-owned sites on the downtown waterfront. [ City of Clearwater ]
Updated Jan. 19
CLEARWATER â On paper, the three city-owned properties on the downtown bluff make up what could be a real estate venture unparalleled in Tampa Bay.
They overlook the Intracoastal waterway. Theyâre a couple of miles across a bridge from one of the nationâs top ranked beaches. Amid the reality of climate change and rising seas, they are perched well above the federal flood zone.