CRA Approves New Cascades Park Development

In a vote on Monday, the Tallahassee Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) approved to move forward with the project that cost over one hundred million dollars.

The Cascades Park project is set to bring in a revenue of over 1.5 million dollars, a year, in property taxes. The project will align Gaines Street and feature restaurants, apartments, office spaces, and even a five-story boutique hotel. Not to mention, amenities such as: a waterfall staircase, a festival street, and additional public parking spaces.

“We are building a multi-use development on Cascades that is two city blocks, which is two and a half acres a piece,” said Lindsey Magura, the Cascades project manager for the project’s developer, North American Properties.

“We’re really excited for this project. We want it to be a place where people can come, live, and gather.” Magura continued.

Tallahassee resident, Sydney Otis is a frequent regular at Cascade Park.

“I like the distance of it and I like that there are families out here because I feel like there is not a lot of places around FSU where I can see families and not just college kids,” said Otis.

But soon, Otis will see new changes to the park that will help increase attraction to benefit Tallahassee’s economy.

“My biggest concern with more development going on around Cascades, is that the Gaines Street area has already become really expensive to live in,” said Otis.

New renovations will be made to the Capitol City Amphitheater which will house dressing rooms
and additional rehearsal space for performances | Photo credit: Brea Hollingsworth 

Even though new developments will be taking place, the CRA wants to ensure that attractions like the Edison and the Capital City Amphitheatre are here to stay.  

“We’re not actually doing anything to the park itself. This project has been specifically designed to complement the park, and to work with it, and bring things that we don’t have in the park,” said Roxanne Manning, the Executive Director of the CRA.

Renovations to the amphitheater is also included in the budget. The city plans to bring in new space for dressing rooms and reception areas.

North American Properties is no stranger to Tallahassee or Gaines street. It is the same company that created, Stadium Centre: Student Apartments, on Gaines. The company is currently working on another student housing project on Gay Street.

Magura says the goal is to build the development all in one phase. The company has ideas to build an underground parking garage and maybe reverse the flow of traffic around the project, although decisions are not finalized.

The city plans to break ground in April of 2018 and will open in 2022. It will bring over one hundred and eighty- five jobs to the area.