And just like that, back on the Belle Isle beat…

t’s been five years and six months since our last update, and so much has happened on Belle Isle and surrounding neighborhoods

We’ve seen all kinds of development, from the demolition of the Belle Isle Key apartments and the seemingly never-ending construction of its replacement, to new spaces in Sunset Harbour and the building boom (hotels and retail) in the triangle framed by 17th Street, Dade Boulevard and Alton Road.

We’ve endured lane closures on the Venetian for sewer line blow ups and bridge fixes. And we’ve witnessed the pandemic’s impact on our neighborhood restaurants, shops and fitness centers.

We wound down the blog in August 2016 when work and other commitments simply made it impossible to provide timely posts on the issues and hidden secrets of our neighborhoods. But circumstances have changed, and we’re back to try to provide insights and updates about what’s happening in this corner of the world.

We’ll be spending the next few weeks cleaning up and updating the site, as well as tackling a variety of topics that affect our neighborhood. Generally speaking, we consider that to be Belle Isle, Venetian Way and its islands, Sunset Harbour and the West Avenue corridor.

To help get us started, please share your questions, observations and tips. We’ll do our best to follow up.