The Bayshore Community Redevelopment Agency is on the move.

Nearly two years after moving to its current location at 2740 Bayshore Drive, Collier County leaders recently approved the agency’s relocation to bigger digs farther up the road.

The Bayshore/Gateway Triangle Redevelopment Agency’s Advisory Board unanimously approved the relocation at its May 6 meeting.

The move couldn’t come at a better time, agency executive director Dave Jackson said.

It will help the growing agency better serve the redevelopment area.

“It makes for a more professional environment,” Jackson said.

Also known as the CRA, the agency currently works out of two 900-square-foot spaces that aren’t connected. The offices are separated by 250 feet.

The new site at 4069 Bayshore Drive has 2,300 square feet of space, a general meeting room, four offices, a conference room and a kitchen.

“It’s one location, not two separate units,” CRA operations coordinator Shirley Garcia said. “So its easier and more accessible for the public.”

In addition, the new site has enough parking to accommodate residents when a hot-button issue comes up at a meeting.

The two-year lease with Palmyra Club Investors gives the CRA an option to rent the space for an extra year once the current lease is up and the right of first refusal if the firm wants to sell the building.

The new $3,450-a-month lease will cost the CRA $13,800 -- $10,350 for rent with a $3,450 security deposit, from July to September. The new fiscal year starts in October and the CRA’s tentative budget has enough money to cover the rent.

According to county government documents, the CRA’s 2008 operating budget will cover the relocation.

But unlike the last move, this time around residents won’t have to wait long for the new office to open.

Instead of closing for a few days, the agency plans to do the bulk of the move after the end of business on Friday, July 19, and open up at the new site on Monday, July 21.

“There is no break for us,” Garcia said with a laugh. “It’s a 40-hour work week and that’s what they (the public) are going to get,”

The CRA was created in 2000 to encourage redevelopment in the formerly blighted areas of Bayshore Drive and the Gateway Triangle — which includes commercial and residential properties between Davis Boulevard, Airport-Pulling Road and U.S. 41 East.

Although it started as a part of county government, the CRA has grown to a four-person operation with a nine-member advisory board.

For Commissioner Fred Coyle, whose district includes a portion of the redevelopment area, the CRA’s continuing growth is good news.

“They have a lot of business to do there,” Coyle said.

For more information on the CRA call (239) 643-1115 or visit www. colliercra.com.