St. Lucie County Civic Center being torn down

By Jim Reeder
FORT PIERCE — The St. Lucie County Civic Center has gone from opera house to warehouse in its 29 years.

It's been the scene of performances by Ray Charles, the Royal Lipizzaner Stallions, the Charlie Daniels Band and high school graduates marching down the aisle.

Now, a new phase is starting for the county-owned building. Its bricks will soon provide a habitat for fish.

A huge hole was knocked out of the civic center's northeast corner Tuesday, the official start of demolition for the building whose prime of life ended when Hurricane Frances damaged its roof. The demolition is expected to take about three months.

The civic center was providing shelter for special needs patients in 2004 when Frances peeled off its roof, allowing water to pour in on people with medical problems.
After that it was used to store tarps, meals-ready-to-eat and water that would be needed when the next storm struck.

But on Tuesday people were only talking about the good times had there, despite the bad acoustics and uncomfortable seats.

"When it was good, it was real good," county recreation manager Patti Raffensberger said. "A lot of people came through here and had good times. "We're going to miss it," she said. Havert Fenn, who served on the county commission 16 years, remembers performances by Ray Charles and B.B. King, as well as boxing matches.

"I must be getting old, seeing history like this," Fenn said. "I remember when it was built and now I'm seeing it come down."

The Treasure Coast Opera Society staged operas there for years before the building was damaged.

"It was great for horse shows, but not so good for music," Jack Connolly, an opera supporter and member of the county's Cultural Arts Council, said. "If you love opera, you have to make allowances, you have to go with what you've got."

He remembers the night the opera audience wrapped itself in blankets because of chilly weather in an unheated building. The Opera Society has moved its performances to the Sunrise Theater in downtown Fort Pierce.

County Commissioner Chris Craft remembers attending concerts by Johnny Paycheck, Mel Tillis and the Oak Ridge Boys.

"When you're six or seven years old you don't care about the acoustics," Craft said. "As bad as the acoustics and the roof leaks were, we all have good memories of the civic center.
County Administrator Doug Anderson said the site will be used temporarily for a parking lot while the county studies what to do with the space. One possibility is to build a new commission chambers.

The county's hurricane shelter for people with special needs will remain this hurricane season at Dan McCarty Middle School in Fort Pierce, as it was last year. But the special needs shelter eventually will be moved to a gymnasium that will be built in the Lawnwood Recreation Complex, across 23rd Street from the civic center site.