By CHRIS YOUNG
After years of planning and bureaucratic hurdles, a developer may soon break ground on the last corner of one of the city's busiest intersections.
The southeast corner of Port St. Lucie and Westmoreland boulevards boasts a stretch of foot-high grass and a cluster of palm trees, but new billboards announce a Hurricane Grill And Wings with eight retail spots and a bank.
City Council members said the City Fountain Center parcel finally is coming together, though not exactly as they wanted.
"I wanted a more upscale restaurant than the Hurricane Grill, but it does have probably the best wings in St. Lucie County," said Councilman Jack Kelly. "I'm glad to see it moving forward. That property has been an eyesore as long as I've been in Port St. Lucie."
Kelly said the line of rental houses that used to be on the property "never looked right" for the city's vision for Riverwalk.
Neighbors on adjacent Petunia Avenue recalled that tenant turnover was high, and the houses weren't well-maintained. Betty Keele, 74, said that the neighbors across from her property even sold used appliances from their back porch.
Developer Frank Poma agreed to buy the lots for about $2.1 million and razed the houses.
The city, Poma said, has dragged its feet on approving his rezoning and replatting, taking a couple of years.
Kelly agreed, saying the property was tied up in the planning of a special assessment district that would fund intersection expansions and Riverwalk South — city land bordering the St. Lucie River including a botanical gardens.
The project was complicated further by the corner wedge, a perennially vacant city-owned parcel that Poma committed to furnish with a 20-foot-wide fountain as part of his sale agreement.
Talks between Poma and the neighbors about the restaurant, at one point a sushi restaurant, led one resident to circulate a letter about the Hurricane Grill.
"A beer and wings place attracts a different crowd than a sushi restaurant," said the letter's author, Harvey Glatt, who was concerned about noise.
Hurricane Brand Holdings chairman Michael Matakaetis said the new location would be family-friendly and not a true bar, selling beer and wine only.
Betty Keele said she was waiting for a sound wall that city officials promised would be built.
Poma said he would build it before constructing the building, but the site plan has needed revision because of city staff requirements. He is submitting a revised plan in the next several weeks.
Keele said it's about time.
"Every year they've come up with something new," she said. "We were looking forward to the doggone thing getting started."
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