On Wednesday, the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) will recommend that elected officials authorize the CRA Director to amend a development agreement with Big Bend Cares, Inc. (BBC) to allow BBC to purchase four Wallis Street properties – currently owned by the CRA – for a sale price of $510,000. The price was based on a professional property […]
The Big Bend Community Development Corporation (Big Bend CDC), one of three groups in line to receive part of a $3 million cultural arts grant, lists an executive director that is also a principal with a city vendor that has ties to City Commissioner Nancy Miller. Tom Lewis, the executive director of the Big Bend CDC, […]
Update On Monday morning the CRA Board voted against a staff recommended $450K grant to help Proof Brewing Company renovate a recently purchased building located on South Monroe. After Mayor Gillum and City Commissioner Nancy Miller offered support for the project, the motion failed 3-2 with city commissioners Ziffer, Maddox and Richardson voting against the […]
On Monday, the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) will consider approving $281,660 in pre-development costs as requested by The Frenchtown Redevelopment Partners, LLC. (FRP) A review of public records by TR revealed that Harold Knowles, who was indicted by a federal grand jury in the Middle District of Georgia last August, was listed as a Manager of FRP […]
Even though members of the Community Redevelopment Agency had previously indicated they would not fund any more student housing projects, the members voted 6-1 at their last meeting to give grants totaling $325,000 to two student housing projects. Grants are monies that do not have to be repaid. Roxanne Manning, director of the CRA, told […]
At the January 25th, 2018 Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) meeting, the Board voted to approve changes to the North American Properties (NAP) Cascades project which will result in an additional $1.9 million in tax incentives. The CRA had previously approved tax incentives totaling $13.8 million for the downtown project. The change was due to the […]
The closeout of the 2017 budget for the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) shows that personnel expenses have increased approximately 66% over the last four years. During this period personnel expenses increased from $330,286 in 2013 to $547,872 in 2017. The growth in CRA personnel expenses is approximately nine times the growth rate of personnel expenses […]
The Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) staff is set to recommend that the Board approve a $6.6 million tax rebate for a downtown project amid controversy about the future of the Downtown District. The Washington Square project was added to a list of potential projects even though the CRA Board had previously agreed not to pursue […]
A major assumption used by the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) to secure financial assistance for projects is being challenged by a downtown project that received no CRA financial assistance. This comes as the CRA is defending its existence and advocating for more tax breaks for another major downtown project. The CRA is quick to take credit […]
Tallahassee Reports has learned that the law firm owned by former City of Tallahassee Mayor John Marks, Marks and Marks, LLC., has recently registered to lobby the City of Tallahassee. The individual listed as the lobbyist on the city website is John R. Marks. The Marks law firm is registered to represent Boodskapper LLC, a […]