The new owners of City Market Place want to jack up rent on Palm Coast city offices by 33 percent, and slam similar increases on Hollingsworth Gallery and other long-time anchors of the strip mall, making every one of those tenants question whether they will be there much longer–and placing a cloud on the future of some tenants, such as City Repertory Theatre.
Business & Economy
Palm Coast Will Expand Indian Trails Sports Complex Again to Capitalize on Tournament Growth
The Indian Trails Sports Complex is expanding for the second time in three years, a reflection of Palm Coast’s success in attracting quality sports tournaments that draw thousands of out-of-town visitors to the county, filling restaurants and hotels. The Palm Coast City Council Tuesday evening unanimously approved expanding the complex from eight fields to 10, just three years after the complex was expanded from four fields to eight.
Palm Coast Council May Consider Red-Light Camera Referendum, But Wants More Talk
There were no dramatic moves Tuesday evening among council members or from the city manager. A dozen members of the public addressed the issue, as did City Manager Jim Landon, as did most of the council members and the mayor. But in the end, the most conclusive action was that the council should talk the matter over more thoroughly at a workshop soon.
Joint Restaurant Experiment Ends as Palm Coast’s Red Lobster Closes and Olive Garden Grows Larger
Three years after Darden Restaurants opened a combined Red Lobster and Olive Garden restaurant at the Target shopping center, the company announced that it would close Red Lobster as it prepares to either sell or spin off the brand, which has been losing customers.
Mayor and City Manager Rethink Red-Light Cameras’ Fate as Council Member Proposes Referendum
With City Manager Landon saying drivers are feeling harassed by red-light cameras, Mayor Netts losing faith in their original purpose and council member Bill McGuire proposing an outright referendum on the matter, the backlash against ATS’s cameras has become so strong that the council will next week discuss the possibility of eliminating them.
A Film Studio Grows in Palm Coast: 10th Voyage Nurtures Zombies and Ambitions
Operating from a plain-looking office complex in Palm Coast’s Hargrove Grade, 10th Voyage Studio is the creation of three young men–Patrick Appolonia, Scott Nance, and Lenny Mosco–who believe that the days of bigness in film-making are over: they’re poised to make technology and versatility pay in a city with little competition.
Single-Family Home Permits Up 29% in 1st Quarter as Construction in Palm Coast Churns
Some 126 construction permits were issued for single-family homes in Flagler County in the first three months of the year, 88 of them in Palm Coast and 34 in the unincorporated part of the county.
Farewell To Bookstores:
Why I Won’t Miss Books-A-Million
The closure of Books-A-Million is not as bad as it sounds: the chain bookstore was not living up to its billing as a cultural hub, and bookstores these days are becoming irrelevant thanks to Amazon, audio books and Google, which make the world’s libraries immediately accessible at a click.
Flagler Unemployment Creeps Up Again, to 9.4%, But Labor Force and Net Jobs Grow
Flagler County’s unemployment rate again rose in February, to 9.4 percent, a decimal-point increase over the previous month and some 80 more people went on unemployment. But The county’s overall employment went up sharply, by 364 (for a total of 31,976), and the county’s labor force went up even more, by 442–both signs of growing strength in the local economy as more workers seem encouraged to join the labor force, and more workers are actually finding jobs.
The End: Palm Coast’s Books-A-Million, Flagler’s Only General-Interest Bookstore, Is Closing
Books-A-Million in Palm Coast on Wednesday announced an everything-must-go sale ahead of closure, ending the town’s very brief romance with a bookstore larger than an attic. The company lost money in 2013. There is no known replacement for the store, a mainstay of the Target shopping center.