By HILLARY COPSEY
Tradition, the massive master-planned community in western Port St. Lucie, is at the center of plans to turn the Treasure Coast into a biomedical research hub. Residents and retailers are beginning to arrive in Core Communities' 8,200-acre project, but even bigger plans are around the corner as California-based Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies plans to expand here.
Tradition Development president Wes McCurry talked recently about the past, present and future of Tradition and Port St. Lucie.
Q: How does Tradition fit in with the rest of Port St. Lucie?
A: With (Interstate) 95, it's a pretty big barrier and right now you just have one crossing. ... It's a little isolated. But we are seeing people come in here to go to the Publix or jog around the lake.
The customers buying here are pretty much the same as the ones buying across the street (Interstate 95).
Q: The housing market in Port St. Lucie — and all over the country — is slowing. How do you keep people buying?
A: The whole project is an amenity. You've got places to work and shop right where you live. It's something that you can't find in Port St. Lucie, or really much in this region.
Q: Tell me about the development types in Tradition. Are there new ideas or special projects?
A: We're going to be trying some different and innovative things. We're doing green buildings. ... We're also looking at land planning, tightening everything up and getting more density. ... We're turning the whole development inside-out, creating a social infrastructure — allowing (a development) to be a community.
Q: You've got a lot of interest from retailers now. You say Core has talked to these businesses for years, but when did the talking, the "maybes," become "yes, we want to open there"?
A: Port St. Lucie has grown up. It's not your sleepy bedroom town anymore. ... You've got a demographic with money in the north of us in Vero Beach and to the south of us in Martin County. And here, you've got the mass of people.
Q: You've planned for Tradition to be a research hub and a retail center, with a shopping mall, in the next five to 10 years. Where do you see Tradition — and Port St. Lucie — in the next 15 to 20 years?
A: You're just seeing the beginnings of a larger project. ... That's true for the city as a whole as well. I think people are just now beginning to discover it.
Monday, August 28, 2006
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Officials OK downtown Fort Pierce parking garage
By TYLER TREADWAY
By a 3-2 vote, the Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency gave the go-ahead Wednesday to plans for a parking garage on the City Hall grounds that would include a five-story building with retail stores and office space.
City commissioners, who also act as board members of the redevelopment agency, were shown preliminary plans for five-level parking garage with 477 parking spaces and an adjacent building with about 30,000 square feet for businesses on the ground floor and offices above.
Commissioner Christine Coke strongly objected to the plan, saying the inclusion of retail and office space would compete with downtown landlords who already are struggling to fill open spaces.
Coke, a longtime downtown business owner, suggested instead that space in the building be used for city offices 'where most members of the public need to go,' such as the building department.
Told by City Attorney Rob Schwerer that there are limits on how redevelopment agency funds can be used for city facilities, Coke suggested that the city pay for the building and the agency pay for the parking garage.
Bob Chapman, one of the consultants hired by the agency to develop the garage, noted that the retail/office building will be built as a shell, so that its exact use can be determined at a later date.
Commissioner Eddie Becht also voted against proceeding with the plans, noting that 124 parking spaces in the City Hall lot will be lost to build the garage, leaving a net gain of 353 spaces.
Becht also voted against the board's action in May to scrap longstanding plans to build the parking garage at the former JCPenney story site on Indian River Drive.
Commissioner R. 'Duke' Nelson moved for approval of the plan with the proposed retail space, saying he didn't want any more delays in the city's efforts to add much-needed parking spaces downtown.
An estimated price tag for the garage has not been determined; but a complete set of plans, ready to take bids on the project, is scheduled to be delivered by Sept. 15.
In other action, the redevelopment agency board:
• Authorized Jon Ward, the agency's director, to spend up to $16 million to buy land at the fisherman's wharf just north of the South Bridge for the development of a resort hotel.
Ward said that once enough property is obtained, the agency could approach hotel chains and developers for proposals.
• Agreed to let its proposal to pay $5.9 million for the 1.7-acre Rollins property at the South Jetty ride for 30 days. The owners of the property are asking $6.2 million. It's been appraised at $5.82 million.
• Said the redevelopment agency should run its much-delayed downtown trolley itself rather than continue negotiations with the Council on Aging of St. Lucie County to do the job.
Ward said the Council on Aging wanted about $75,000 a year to run the trolley, but that price didn't include fuel, insurance or maintenance. He said an annual budget of $101,376 would do the job.
The trolley was supposed to be running by October 2005.
Commissioner Christine Coke said the trolley's delays were making the city 'a laughing stock.'
By a 3-2 vote, the Fort Pierce Redevelopment Agency gave the go-ahead Wednesday to plans for a parking garage on the City Hall grounds that would include a five-story building with retail stores and office space.
City commissioners, who also act as board members of the redevelopment agency, were shown preliminary plans for five-level parking garage with 477 parking spaces and an adjacent building with about 30,000 square feet for businesses on the ground floor and offices above.
Commissioner Christine Coke strongly objected to the plan, saying the inclusion of retail and office space would compete with downtown landlords who already are struggling to fill open spaces.
Coke, a longtime downtown business owner, suggested instead that space in the building be used for city offices 'where most members of the public need to go,' such as the building department.
Told by City Attorney Rob Schwerer that there are limits on how redevelopment agency funds can be used for city facilities, Coke suggested that the city pay for the building and the agency pay for the parking garage.
Bob Chapman, one of the consultants hired by the agency to develop the garage, noted that the retail/office building will be built as a shell, so that its exact use can be determined at a later date.
Commissioner Eddie Becht also voted against proceeding with the plans, noting that 124 parking spaces in the City Hall lot will be lost to build the garage, leaving a net gain of 353 spaces.
Becht also voted against the board's action in May to scrap longstanding plans to build the parking garage at the former JCPenney story site on Indian River Drive.
Commissioner R. 'Duke' Nelson moved for approval of the plan with the proposed retail space, saying he didn't want any more delays in the city's efforts to add much-needed parking spaces downtown.
An estimated price tag for the garage has not been determined; but a complete set of plans, ready to take bids on the project, is scheduled to be delivered by Sept. 15.
In other action, the redevelopment agency board:
• Authorized Jon Ward, the agency's director, to spend up to $16 million to buy land at the fisherman's wharf just north of the South Bridge for the development of a resort hotel.
Ward said that once enough property is obtained, the agency could approach hotel chains and developers for proposals.
• Agreed to let its proposal to pay $5.9 million for the 1.7-acre Rollins property at the South Jetty ride for 30 days. The owners of the property are asking $6.2 million. It's been appraised at $5.82 million.
• Said the redevelopment agency should run its much-delayed downtown trolley itself rather than continue negotiations with the Council on Aging of St. Lucie County to do the job.
Ward said the Council on Aging wanted about $75,000 a year to run the trolley, but that price didn't include fuel, insurance or maintenance. He said an annual budget of $101,376 would do the job.
The trolley was supposed to be running by October 2005.
Commissioner Christine Coke said the trolley's delays were making the city 'a laughing stock.'
Torrey Pines picks PSL as new home
By ROBERT BARBA AND HILLARY COPSEY staff writers
The city's biotech battles aren't over.
Port St. Lucie and Core Communities President Pete Hegener introduced Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies as a "new neighbor" Wednesday during a news conference at Tradition. The event originally was scheduled with the hope of announcing Burnham Institute's arrival.
Torrey Pines founder and President Richard Houghten and Port St. Lucie agreed on a letter of intent Wednesday morning, even while most city leaders were lamenting the loss of Burnham to Orlando.
"We know you'll love it here," Hegener told Houghten and his family at the news conference that afternoon.
Mayor Bob Minsky gave Houghten a key to the city and other council members gave flowers to his wife, Pam, and daughter, Lacy.
But later in the day, Palm Beach County officials — who have been negotiating with the La Jolla, Calif.-based Torrey Pines — said they don't consider the deal to be done.
Port St. Lucie's letter of intent is a tentative agreement to move Torrey Pines' headquarters and two spinoff companies to a 20-acre campus in Tradition. The deal still must be approved by the research center's board of directors. The move would bring 189 jobs over the next decade, officials said.
The letter of intent is not binding, said Carla Brown Lucas, vice president for marketing of the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County. Torrey Pines still could land in Boca Raton, she added.
"We're still a player," Lucas said. "This game is not over yet."
Although it's true the agreement is not binding, Hegener said he felt confident Torrey Pines' directors would approve it.
"We've met every one of (Houghten's) conditions," Hegener said. "His quote to me was, 'This is acceptable.' His direct quote to me was, 'We're not shopping this and we would not do that.'"
"He came here with his wife and family," Hegener added. "I take him at his word."
Houghten did not answer questions at the news conference because the deal still awaits his board's vote.
Torrey Pines began shopping for options outside of Palm Beach County in July because of ongoing tensions with county officials, said Larry Pelton, president of the Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County. Enterprise Florida, the state's economic development agency, asked Pelton to assemble an offer for Torrey Pines.
"We have ... a very supportive public sector," Pelton said, "and a very supportive and aggressive private sector."
Port St. Lucie's incentive package, though still being negotiated, is comparable to Palm Beach County's $70 million offer, City Manager Don Cooper said. Both packages include state cash, donated land and public money.
Florida Atlantic University President Frank Brogan has promised Torrey Pines $6.5 million no matter where it locates. As part of the FAU offer, Torrey Pines would have 15,000 square feet of lab space at the school's marine science center at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution as its temporary headquarters.
If the research center comes to Port St. Lucie, a $6 million private endowment intended for Burnham also could be transferred to Torrey Pines.
"We already had plans for Burnham," Vice Mayor Patricia Christensen said. "We just have to rework the numbers and fill in the blanks with Torrey Pines. It'll happen a lot sooner. It'll go very quickly now."
Houghten has said he must have a finished deal by Sept. 5 to secure $30 million in incentives from Florida.
The city is ready to fast-track Torrey Pines' move to the region, City Council members said. Although disappointed to lose Burnham, city officials agreed with Sen. Ken Pruitt, R-Port St. Lucie, who lauded Torrey Pines as a great start to the "Research Coast."
As for a possible counter-bid by Palm Beach County, city officials said they aren't worried.
"We have a letter of intent," Councilman Jack Kelly said. "They don't."
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Personal safety tracking sexual offenders
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Aug. 22, 2006 -- Floridians who want to track registered sexual offenders and predators near them are getting some additional help from the state.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement upgraded its sexual predator and offender Web site to include more detailed information about past crimes and details about their vehicles and boats.
For instance, visitors to the site at www.fdle.state.fl.us can find out more about the seriousness of past crimes along with the case number and end result of the case. A link is also provided to the related circuit court clerk's office that will have the actual file on site with more details about what happened and when.
In addition, the make, model, tag number and color of the person's registered Florida vehicles are also listed, which can be helpful to parents who want to keep closer tabs on offenders who live near them. Those details could also be helpful in finding abducted children in some cases.
The FDLE Web site has information on about 39,000 offenders who have victimized children, adults or the elderly. A particularly helpful feature of the site is that it allows researchers to plug in an address or Zip code and find out just how close an offender lives.
Pictures and addresses of the offenders are provided.
Tom Gallagher, the state's chief financial officer, has suggested the site be modified further to allow parents to do a search on whether a license tag number belongs to a vehicle registered to a sex offender.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement upgraded its sexual predator and offender Web site to include more detailed information about past crimes and details about their vehicles and boats.
For instance, visitors to the site at www.fdle.state.fl.us can find out more about the seriousness of past crimes along with the case number and end result of the case. A link is also provided to the related circuit court clerk's office that will have the actual file on site with more details about what happened and when.
In addition, the make, model, tag number and color of the person's registered Florida vehicles are also listed, which can be helpful to parents who want to keep closer tabs on offenders who live near them. Those details could also be helpful in finding abducted children in some cases.
The FDLE Web site has information on about 39,000 offenders who have victimized children, adults or the elderly. A particularly helpful feature of the site is that it allows researchers to plug in an address or Zip code and find out just how close an offender lives.
Pictures and addresses of the offenders are provided.
Tom Gallagher, the state's chief financial officer, has suggested the site be modified further to allow parents to do a search on whether a license tag number belongs to a vehicle registered to a sex offender.
Monday, August 21, 2006
Fort Pierce spicing up menu options
By TYLER TREADWAY
Will 13 be the lucky number for downtown diners?
If everything happens according to schedule, there will be 13 restaurants in the area Main Street Fort Pierce considers downtown by the start of the winter season. Six eateries on one block alone — Orange Avenue between Second Street and Depot Drive — will offer Italian, Cuban, Greek and nouveau American cuisine, and sandwiches and seafood.
Main Street Director Doris Tillman said the rising restaurant tide should raise everyone's boats, making downtown Fort Pierce a destination for hungry customers from throughout the Treasure Coast.
"People will go where they have the most choices," Tillman said.
Both incoming and longstanding restaurateurs agree — to varying extents.
"I think it'll be great," said Anne Vanmeter, whose Brewer's Café has been at 204 Orange Ave. for seven years. "Anything that will draw more traffic to downtown is great. I'll think we'll all feed off each other's business because we'll all offer different choices."
Helen Fassilis, who with husband Yianni Fassilis will move Yianni's Greek Café from a site on U.S. 1 to 224 Orange Ave. in mid-September, said the variety "will be great for downtown Fort Pierce. And I look forward to trading Greek food with the folks at the other restaurants on the block for Cuban and Italian."
The Cuban arroz con pollo Fassilis plans to get in exchange for Greek souvlaki will come from Mambo Grille, which co-owners Robert Ruiz and Jesse Bailey hope to open across the street from Yianni's in October or November.
But can you have too much of a good thing?
Keith Crandall, co-owner with wife Shelly Crandall of Café La Ronde at 221 Orange Ave. next door to Mambo, said the eateries will make downtown Fort Pierce "over-restauranted."
"Maybe having more restaurants will draw in more nighttime business," he said, "but during the daytime, there's only so many customers in the area; and people can't drive in to have lunch because there's no parking in downtown.
"So, basically, the pieces of the pie that each restaurant gets will get smaller. The good restaurants will stay, and some will have to close up shop," Keith Crandall said.
Will 13 be the lucky number for downtown diners?
If everything happens according to schedule, there will be 13 restaurants in the area Main Street Fort Pierce considers downtown by the start of the winter season. Six eateries on one block alone — Orange Avenue between Second Street and Depot Drive — will offer Italian, Cuban, Greek and nouveau American cuisine, and sandwiches and seafood.
Main Street Director Doris Tillman said the rising restaurant tide should raise everyone's boats, making downtown Fort Pierce a destination for hungry customers from throughout the Treasure Coast.
"People will go where they have the most choices," Tillman said.
Both incoming and longstanding restaurateurs agree — to varying extents.
"I think it'll be great," said Anne Vanmeter, whose Brewer's Café has been at 204 Orange Ave. for seven years. "Anything that will draw more traffic to downtown is great. I'll think we'll all feed off each other's business because we'll all offer different choices."
Helen Fassilis, who with husband Yianni Fassilis will move Yianni's Greek Café from a site on U.S. 1 to 224 Orange Ave. in mid-September, said the variety "will be great for downtown Fort Pierce. And I look forward to trading Greek food with the folks at the other restaurants on the block for Cuban and Italian."
The Cuban arroz con pollo Fassilis plans to get in exchange for Greek souvlaki will come from Mambo Grille, which co-owners Robert Ruiz and Jesse Bailey hope to open across the street from Yianni's in October or November.
But can you have too much of a good thing?
Keith Crandall, co-owner with wife Shelly Crandall of Café La Ronde at 221 Orange Ave. next door to Mambo, said the eateries will make downtown Fort Pierce "over-restauranted."
"Maybe having more restaurants will draw in more nighttime business," he said, "but during the daytime, there's only so many customers in the area; and people can't drive in to have lunch because there's no parking in downtown.
"So, basically, the pieces of the pie that each restaurant gets will get smaller. The good restaurants will stay, and some will have to close up shop," Keith Crandall said.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
St. Lucie landfill could create future without trash
By BRIAN SKOLOFF The Associated Press
Welcome to the future, where trash is fuel and landfills are obsolete.
Trash to power isn't a new idea, but Geoplasma, a sister company of Atlanta-based Jacoby Development Inc., has a grand plan to take it into the science fiction realm and do away with dumps by vaporizing garbage into synthetic gas and steam to create electricity.
The company plans to build a $425 million plasma arc gasification facility in St. Lucie County, the first of its kind in the nation and the largest in the world. The facility should be up in about two years.
It will generate heat hotter than the sun's surface and will gasify and melt 3,000 tons of garbage a day by creating an arc between two electrodes and using high pressure air to form plasma. It's a process similar to how lightning is formed in nature.
Molten material much like lava created from melted organic matter — up to 600 tons a day — will be hardened into rock form, or slag, and sold for use in road and construction projects. It also will gasify sludge from the county's wastewater plant, and steam will be sold to a neighboring Tropicana Products Inc. facility to power the juice plant's turbines.
"This is sustainability in its truest and finest form," Geoplasma President Hilburn Hillestad said.
For years, some waste management facilities have been converting methane — created by rotting trash in landfills — to power. Plants also burn trash to produce electricity.
Experts say population growth will limit space available for future landfills.
The facility in St. Lucie County aims to eliminate the need for a landfill. Only two similar facilities are operating in the world — both in Japan — but are gasifying garbage on a much smaller scale.
FUTURE OF LANDFILL
• St. Lucie County officials estimate their entire landfill — 4.3 million tons of trash — will be gone in 18 years.
• The plant will produce enough synthetic gas — a substitute for natural gas — to power up to 43,000 homes annually, and to run the facility free from outside electricity.
Welcome to the future, where trash is fuel and landfills are obsolete.
Trash to power isn't a new idea, but Geoplasma, a sister company of Atlanta-based Jacoby Development Inc., has a grand plan to take it into the science fiction realm and do away with dumps by vaporizing garbage into synthetic gas and steam to create electricity.
The company plans to build a $425 million plasma arc gasification facility in St. Lucie County, the first of its kind in the nation and the largest in the world. The facility should be up in about two years.
It will generate heat hotter than the sun's surface and will gasify and melt 3,000 tons of garbage a day by creating an arc between two electrodes and using high pressure air to form plasma. It's a process similar to how lightning is formed in nature.
Molten material much like lava created from melted organic matter — up to 600 tons a day — will be hardened into rock form, or slag, and sold for use in road and construction projects. It also will gasify sludge from the county's wastewater plant, and steam will be sold to a neighboring Tropicana Products Inc. facility to power the juice plant's turbines.
"This is sustainability in its truest and finest form," Geoplasma President Hilburn Hillestad said.
For years, some waste management facilities have been converting methane — created by rotting trash in landfills — to power. Plants also burn trash to produce electricity.
Experts say population growth will limit space available for future landfills.
The facility in St. Lucie County aims to eliminate the need for a landfill. Only two similar facilities are operating in the world — both in Japan — but are gasifying garbage on a much smaller scale.
FUTURE OF LANDFILL
• St. Lucie County officials estimate their entire landfill — 4.3 million tons of trash — will be gone in 18 years.
• The plant will produce enough synthetic gas — a substitute for natural gas — to power up to 43,000 homes annually, and to run the facility free from outside electricity.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Surplus Becker homes to be sold
By CHRIS YOUNG
Two of the eight surplus houses that the city bought around Becker Road for the Interstate 95 interchange won't go to the auction block after all.
Community Services Director Trisha Swift-Pollard said her department will buy two of the homes and resell them to families on the waiting list for the city's housing program at the same price the city paid originally.
Advertisement "I'm sure for the people approved on the list, we'll find two families who think it's the greatest deal ever," she said.
The applicants need to qualify for a first mortgage, but the city will give them a zero-percent loan on the difference between the home cost and their mortgage, she said. The loan needs to be paid back when the house is sold.
City officials said they will auction off the other houses at a future date and might demolish three of them because of extensive damage.
The city bought the houses from residents several years ago to make way for the interchange, but the onramp design was modified to take up less land, resulting in extra houses the city no longer needed.
The houses are vacant and mostly stripped of appliances, according to city records. Neighbors at a public hearing Thursday on the I-95/Becker Road interchange said they thought mold might have grown in them, especially the houses with roof damage.
Swift-Pollard said her department will pay for inspections, but walk-throughs showed the conditions were "fairly good." "We didn't want houses with a lot of work needed," she said.
The value of the homes is in the $160,000 range, a good deal considering the average price for a local home, she said.
Neighbors also said they heard that St. Lucie Habitat for Humanity was going to refurbish the surplus houses, but Habitat Executive Director Al Rivett said his group wasn't working on any homes in the Becker Road area.
Two of the eight surplus houses that the city bought around Becker Road for the Interstate 95 interchange won't go to the auction block after all.
Community Services Director Trisha Swift-Pollard said her department will buy two of the homes and resell them to families on the waiting list for the city's housing program at the same price the city paid originally.
Advertisement "I'm sure for the people approved on the list, we'll find two families who think it's the greatest deal ever," she said.
The applicants need to qualify for a first mortgage, but the city will give them a zero-percent loan on the difference between the home cost and their mortgage, she said. The loan needs to be paid back when the house is sold.
City officials said they will auction off the other houses at a future date and might demolish three of them because of extensive damage.
The city bought the houses from residents several years ago to make way for the interchange, but the onramp design was modified to take up less land, resulting in extra houses the city no longer needed.
The houses are vacant and mostly stripped of appliances, according to city records. Neighbors at a public hearing Thursday on the I-95/Becker Road interchange said they thought mold might have grown in them, especially the houses with roof damage.
Swift-Pollard said her department will pay for inspections, but walk-throughs showed the conditions were "fairly good." "We didn't want houses with a lot of work needed," she said.
The value of the homes is in the $160,000 range, a good deal considering the average price for a local home, she said.
Neighbors also said they heard that St. Lucie Habitat for Humanity was going to refurbish the surplus houses, but Habitat Executive Director Al Rivett said his group wasn't working on any homes in the Becker Road area.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
FLORIDA: FREE HURRICANE INSPECTIONS & REPAIRS
Want a free hurricane home inspection? Want the state to pay half the cost of any recommended repair to prepare your home for the next storm? As of today, inspection applications are available at http://www.mysafefloridahome.com, a Web site operated by the Florida Comprehensive Hurricane Damage Mitigation Program. If you have an inspection and hurricane upgrades are recommended, the state will pay up to $5,000 in matching funds to qualified Florida homeowners; and low-income homeowners will be eligible for $5,000 grants with no match required. There are rules: The program applies only to Floridians who own a single-family, site-built home with an insured value less than $500,000; or owners in a residential building of up to four units providing all unit owners agree to participate. Mobile homes, manufactured homes, second homes, rental properties, apartments and businesses are not eligible. Interested homeowners should apply as soon as possible -- the program's funding, part of the state budget, has a limit.
For immediate assistance, visit the Web site or call toll-free:
(800) 342-2762 in Florida or out-of-state (850) 413-3089.
For immediate assistance, visit the Web site or call toll-free:
(800) 342-2762 in Florida or out-of-state (850) 413-3089.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Uncertainties hang over St. Lucie County plan
If St. Lucie County commissioners are concerned with any aspects of a proposed new land preservation and development policy, they should seek amendments until everyone is satisfied.
The Rural Lands Stewardship program, if adopted, would be the first on the Treasure Coast and one of the first in Florida.
On Monday, commissioners will consider changing the county's comprehensive plan and land-use regulations that would set the stage for the innovative program. County staff members have recommended approval of the changes and the county's planning board has recommended the comprehensive plan change.
But this is too important an issue to approve unless everyone understands the complicated program — so complicated that three weeks ago Commissioner Doug Coward, a land planner, said he still didn't understand it all. Commissioners, led by expert Coward, must be assured that developers are not getting a sweetheart deal with increased allowances for homes in what is now the middle of nowhere.
The program initially would require project officials to preserve parts of the the 16,466-acre Adams Ranch west of Fort Pierce in exchange for the right to build a new town on the St. Lucie-Indian River County line. But similar projects may occur within the county and serve as a model throughout the Treasure Coast and Florida.
Under the program, the Alto "Bud" Adams Jr. family would receive credits for setting aside parts of the ranch, barring the land from ever being developed. Those credits would be sold to Lennar Corp. and Centex, major national builders. They would create the town of Cloud Grove on a 6,000-acre tract in northern St. Lucie.
The problem is that developers would be able to build as many as 12,000 homes or more, serving a population of about 25,000, on land currently designated for only 1,200 homes.
The policy changes being considered by commissioners include complex formulas for determining the size of credits that the developers may acquire. County officials, however, say the total credits would represent a maximum and the county would still have the option of restricting the number of units in the project.
In addition to preserving portions of the land in Cloud Grove, the developers would have to make the new town self-sufficient — thus far a subjective measure and unlikely occurrence — requiring the expenditure of no county funds. Infrastructure and maintenance needs might be financed by a special tax within the town, another potential pitfall.
Some general observations:
• The new preservation and development policy was largely drafted by the developers themselves and their representatives.
• There has been little public input on the policy. Meetings with the public have been held, but they have been largely seeking input on how the town should be developed rather than on the policy itself. There has also been little input from Indian River County, which is likely to be impacted if the new town is built.
In fact, developers own adjacent land in Indian River County. What would they do with it?
• The developers have yet to present a detailed plan for Cloud Grove showing that it can meet requirements of the program, including the town's self-sufficiency. They have not been required to do so, but that plan would be helpful in determining the feasibility of the program.
Still, County Administrator Doug Anderson said this week that he is comfortable with the comprehensive plan changes and the land-use regulations being considered by commissioners, noting, "There are going to be a lot of checks and balances along the way."
Don't be so sure. The goal of the program — to preserve agricultural land in Florida in exchange for giving leeway to developers — is admirable. Ensuring that it works for the benefit of the community in addition to those directly involved, however, is another matter.
Downtown at the Gardens' success inspires new center near Port St. Lucie
By Eve Samples
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 11, 2006
To understand why a Palm Beach Gardens-based developer is planning a $100 million-plus shopping-and-dining district just west of Port St. Lucie, one needs to look no further south than Downtown at the Gardens.
There, eight months after the open-air mall opened off PGA Boulevard, visitors are flocking to restaurants including the Yard House and opening their wallets at stores such as Whole Foods Market.
The scale of the project's success is something market studies never could have predicted, said Rob Jacoby, chief operating officer for Downtown at the Gardens' developer, Menin Development Corp.
And that's adding fuel to Menin's newest proposal, Main Street Village, a similar retail hub that's slated to sprout more than 30 miles north.
Menin revealed this week it intends to develop the 260,000-square-foot open-air "lifestyle center" on 22 acres at the northwest corner of Interstate 95 and St. Lucie West Boulevard, just west of Port St. Lucie's city limits.
"There are tens of thousands of rooftops there and more coming soon, so it's a terrific area," Jacoby said.
Main Street Village will include 40 to 50 shops and restaurants, Jacoby estimated, slightly smaller than the 70-tenant Downtown at the Gardens.
Already, some of Downtown's tenants have bought into the new venture.
Though Main Street Village is more than two years from opening — Menin is aiming for late 2008 or early 2009 — the Irvine, Calif.-based Yard House committed to opening there.
Sales at the Yard House's 12,000-square-foot Downtown site have been 50 percent higher than expected, restaurant founder and Chief Executive Officer Steele Platt said.
"We just feel that, with the success of Palm Beach Gardens, that Port St. Lucie would be the next natural city," he explained.
The restaurant, known for its lively atmosphere and a bar that includes some 150 types of beer, also is considering opening in Aventura and Boca Raton, Platt said.
Main Street Village won't include a movie theater like Downtown at the Gardens, but the shopping and dining selection will be similar, Jacoby said.
As at Downtown, he said, Main Street Village is likely to include several national chains that are looking to expand their Florida footprint.
"Several of the people you would expect from Downtown are going up and doing tours of it now," he said.
Yet Main Street Village won't be a clone of the Palm Beach Gardens project. Unlike Downtown, where visitors park in large lots at the perimeter of the development, Main Street will include on-street parking for quick access to specific stores, a hallmark feature of the increasingly popular lifestyle-center design.
"It will have the feel of a downtown area without height," Jacoby said. "It will be a place where people can come together, shop, dine."
Port St. Lucie's swift expansion — it has consistently ranked among the fastest-growing cities in the country — has attracted more retail developers to the area, said Anne Roman, a Boca Raton-based retail researcher for CB Richard Ellis.
"It is an underserved market, from what we've been able to tell," she said.
Just south of Main Street's planned site, Tradition developer Core Communities is building its own retail hub.
The Landing at Tradition will include 600,000 square feet of mostly big-box retailers including Target, and a nearby 75,000-square-foot lifestyle center of shops also is in the works.
"With what Core is doing and what we're planning, people are going to start thinking of that as a center of shopping, dining and entertainment," Jacoby said of western Port St. Lucie.
The company is refining its plans for Main Street Village and intends to submit an application to St. Lucie County this fall.
It has a contract to buy the 22-acre parcel, one of the last large undeveloped swaths in the PGA Village development, from Kolter Property Co. Jacoby declined to reveal the price. "It's vastly different than anything else in the county now," Kolter spokeswoman Mary Kay Willson said of Menin's plans. "So we think it becomes a destination of sorts."
Board set for 'lab' school in Tradition
By CHARLIE REED and MARGOT SUSCA
The governing board that will guide the construction and management of a new laboratory charter school in Tradition formed Thursday.
The school, a joint effort between the St. Lucie County School District and Florida Atlantic University, is scheduled to open as a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade facility in 2008, with plans to add a small high school in the future.
A laboratory school must be anchored by a state university — in this case, FAU — and offers educators the opportunity to research, evaluate and demonstrate new teaching methods and philosophies.
"We'll be able to offer kids things they've never been able to partake of," said Deborah Hawley, chairwoman of the seven-member governing board of the nonprofit FAU-Treasure Coast University Schools Inc.
Members were chosen by the FAU board of trustees and the St. Lucie County School Board, said Hawley, a citrus grower and lifelong county resident.
With $15 million in state funds earmarked for the school in 2004, a construction contract must be signed by February or the money will revert to the state.
The new board now must decide whether the school district or FAU will finance the other $15 million needed to build the school.
"We've looked at a wide variety of options," said Glenn Thomas, who oversees FAU's other two laboratory schools in Boca Raton. "But no strategy has been finalized yet."
What has been firmed up is the land for the project.
In exchange for $2.7 million in school impact fee credits, the developer of Tradition officially deeded 33 acres of land in the master-planned community to the school district.
The donation by Core Communities will cover the educational impact fees on each home built until the $2.7 million dries up. At the current fee of $4,996, about 550 homes could go up without any money going directly to school district coffers.
Still, the deal is a windfall for the district because the land is worth about $12 million, said Shawn Reilly, vice president of marketing for Core.
"We're really putting a lot of money on the table," Reilly said. "It's good for Tradition and good for the area."
School Board Chairwoman Kathryn Hensley agreed.
"I think the exchange is fair," she said. "Would I like more? Sure. But it's fair."
A total of 18,696 homes have been planned for Tradition, according to the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council Web site. That means the community could generate more than $90 million in school impact fees — at the current rate.
Although the school will be located within the sprawling residential and commercial subdivision west of Interstate 95, it will not be limited to Tradition residents.
Enrollment must mirror the demographics of the state and will be pulled from all over the county, Hensley said.
"State law on a lab school is very clear," she said. "It cannot be an elitist school."
charlie.reed@scripps.com margot.susca@scripps.com
AT A GLANCE
Enrollment: 1,600 in grades kindergarten through eighth, opening for 2008-09 year.
• 33 acres inside Tradition.
• School could look like West Gate K-8 in St. Lucie West.
• Site eventually will host a small high school.
• Paid for in part by a $15 million line item from 2004 Legislature.
The governing board that will guide the construction and management of a new laboratory charter school in Tradition formed Thursday.
The school, a joint effort between the St. Lucie County School District and Florida Atlantic University, is scheduled to open as a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade facility in 2008, with plans to add a small high school in the future.
A laboratory school must be anchored by a state university — in this case, FAU — and offers educators the opportunity to research, evaluate and demonstrate new teaching methods and philosophies.
"We'll be able to offer kids things they've never been able to partake of," said Deborah Hawley, chairwoman of the seven-member governing board of the nonprofit FAU-Treasure Coast University Schools Inc.
Members were chosen by the FAU board of trustees and the St. Lucie County School Board, said Hawley, a citrus grower and lifelong county resident.
With $15 million in state funds earmarked for the school in 2004, a construction contract must be signed by February or the money will revert to the state.
The new board now must decide whether the school district or FAU will finance the other $15 million needed to build the school.
"We've looked at a wide variety of options," said Glenn Thomas, who oversees FAU's other two laboratory schools in Boca Raton. "But no strategy has been finalized yet."
What has been firmed up is the land for the project.
In exchange for $2.7 million in school impact fee credits, the developer of Tradition officially deeded 33 acres of land in the master-planned community to the school district.
The donation by Core Communities will cover the educational impact fees on each home built until the $2.7 million dries up. At the current fee of $4,996, about 550 homes could go up without any money going directly to school district coffers.
Still, the deal is a windfall for the district because the land is worth about $12 million, said Shawn Reilly, vice president of marketing for Core.
"We're really putting a lot of money on the table," Reilly said. "It's good for Tradition and good for the area."
School Board Chairwoman Kathryn Hensley agreed.
"I think the exchange is fair," she said. "Would I like more? Sure. But it's fair."
A total of 18,696 homes have been planned for Tradition, according to the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council Web site. That means the community could generate more than $90 million in school impact fees — at the current rate.
Although the school will be located within the sprawling residential and commercial subdivision west of Interstate 95, it will not be limited to Tradition residents.
Enrollment must mirror the demographics of the state and will be pulled from all over the county, Hensley said.
"State law on a lab school is very clear," she said. "It cannot be an elitist school."
charlie.reed@scripps.com margot.susca@scripps.com
AT A GLANCE
Enrollment: 1,600 in grades kindergarten through eighth, opening for 2008-09 year.
• 33 acres inside Tradition.
• School could look like West Gate K-8 in St. Lucie West.
• Site eventually will host a small high school.
• Paid for in part by a $15 million line item from 2004 Legislature.
Becker Road questions still blurred
By CHRIS YOUNG
Residents hoping to get clarification of the city's plans for expanding Becker Road were disappointed Thursday evening at a public hearing for the Becker Road interchange with Interstate 95.
They said they were generally in favor of the interchange, but questions they asked about the impacts of the interchange went unanswered.
"What's going to be at the dead-ends (where streets now intersect Becker Road)? Will there be something to keep noise down?" resident Eric Brown asked after the hearing, echoing a previous query.
"The study is taking too long — it's putting us in limbo," Claudia Gentile told officials at the meeting. She wondered how the delay would affect the value of residents' homes.
An informational meeting will be held this month or in September to address those issues, said Tanzer Kala, engineer with Keith & Schnars, the firm designing the interchange.
About 50 people showed up for the hearing, the last chance for public input on the interchange before workers break ground early next year.
Officials said the interchange, plus another at I-95 and the Crosstown Parkway, will reduce traffic on Port St. Lucie and St. Lucie West boulevards and ease future congestion on I-95 at those interchanges. The two interchanges are planned to be finished by 2009, but Becker Road might still be a two-lane road by then, according to City Engineer Walter England.
Plans for the Becker Road widening are a couple of months behind schedule, but city staff is working on a four-lane design by the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council.
The City Council is scheduled to discuss whether to buy 187 lots and three acres of undeveloped land required for that plan at Monday's council meeting.
That design includes roundabouts, but a funding source hasn't been identified, said City Manager Don Cooper. It could cost $24 million to buy all the land, he wrote in a memo to the City Council.
The two interchange public hearings will be shown at 5 p.m. every day from today to next Thursday on PSL-TV20. The channel is available to Adelphia and Hometown Cable Plus subscribers in the city.
• Cost: $15 million.
• Construction start: early 2007, finish 18 months later.
Residents hoping to get clarification of the city's plans for expanding Becker Road were disappointed Thursday evening at a public hearing for the Becker Road interchange with Interstate 95.
They said they were generally in favor of the interchange, but questions they asked about the impacts of the interchange went unanswered.
"What's going to be at the dead-ends (where streets now intersect Becker Road)? Will there be something to keep noise down?" resident Eric Brown asked after the hearing, echoing a previous query.
"The study is taking too long — it's putting us in limbo," Claudia Gentile told officials at the meeting. She wondered how the delay would affect the value of residents' homes.
An informational meeting will be held this month or in September to address those issues, said Tanzer Kala, engineer with Keith & Schnars, the firm designing the interchange.
About 50 people showed up for the hearing, the last chance for public input on the interchange before workers break ground early next year.
Officials said the interchange, plus another at I-95 and the Crosstown Parkway, will reduce traffic on Port St. Lucie and St. Lucie West boulevards and ease future congestion on I-95 at those interchanges. The two interchanges are planned to be finished by 2009, but Becker Road might still be a two-lane road by then, according to City Engineer Walter England.
Plans for the Becker Road widening are a couple of months behind schedule, but city staff is working on a four-lane design by the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council.
The City Council is scheduled to discuss whether to buy 187 lots and three acres of undeveloped land required for that plan at Monday's council meeting.
That design includes roundabouts, but a funding source hasn't been identified, said City Manager Don Cooper. It could cost $24 million to buy all the land, he wrote in a memo to the City Council.
The two interchange public hearings will be shown at 5 p.m. every day from today to next Thursday on PSL-TV20. The channel is available to Adelphia and Hometown Cable Plus subscribers in the city.
• Cost: $15 million.
• Construction start: early 2007, finish 18 months later.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
SLW board will meet to consider study
By staff reporter (TCPalm)
August 9, 2006
The St. Lucie West Services District Board of Supervisors will meet 9 a.m. today at Sunlight Community Church on Cashmere Boulevard to consider a $142,000 study of the 7,500-customer of the utility.
Port St. Lucie requested the study as it considers taking over the St. Lucie West utility, which has struggled with water quality and management problems over the last year. For the study, consulting firm Culpepper & Terpenning would research the district's finances and daily operations.
The city would cover the entire cost of the study if it takes over the utility. If Port St. Lucie does not buy the utility, the city and St. Lucie West Services District would split the cost.
A majority of supervisors agreed to the study last month, however, officials expected the study to cost only $70,000.
August 9, 2006
The St. Lucie West Services District Board of Supervisors will meet 9 a.m. today at Sunlight Community Church on Cashmere Boulevard to consider a $142,000 study of the 7,500-customer of the utility.
Port St. Lucie requested the study as it considers taking over the St. Lucie West utility, which has struggled with water quality and management problems over the last year. For the study, consulting firm Culpepper & Terpenning would research the district's finances and daily operations.
The city would cover the entire cost of the study if it takes over the utility. If Port St. Lucie does not buy the utility, the city and St. Lucie West Services District would split the cost.
A majority of supervisors agreed to the study last month, however, officials expected the study to cost only $70,000.
Petitioners want judge to intervene in St. Lucie development dispute
By staff reporter
August 9, 2006
A group of St. Lucie County residents formally filed a petition in Tallahassee on Tuesday, asking a judge to intervene in a dispute over a controversial plan to develop the north county.
They joined the state Department of Community Affairs which filed its own petition against the Towns, Villages and Countryside comprehensive plan Monday. They are asking a judge with the state Division of Administrative Hearings to find the county is not in compliance with several state rules and regulations and violated the law by approving the plan.
No hearing dates have been set, records say.
The DCA has already notified the county that it did not think the plan was in compliance and cited a lack of drinking water, not enough transportation facility enhancements and too few low-income, very-low income and moderate income housing opportunities as some of the flaws.
The TVC, which covers about 18,000 acres in north St. Lucie County, makes developers build mixed-use towns and villages with higher density rather than sprawling subdivisions. The controversial plan is the result of two years of planning, public meetings and negotiations with land owners in the plan area, but some property owners have fought against it claiming it takes away property rights.
Martin attempting to block western PSL development
By staff reporter (TCPalm)
August 9, 2006
The Martin County Commission directed attorney David Acton to draft a legal document to challenge any approval that would allow Port St. Lucie to develop its western corridor.
Martin County would like to see Port St. Lucie take steps to make developers pay their southern neighbors for the impact of the city's rapid growth on Martin's roads, boat ramps and beaches.
Port St. Lucie is planning seven developments, totaling more than 17,000 acres, which would bring 38,000 new homes to the area.
In the meantime, the county will send a letter to both the Department of Community Affairs and to Port St. Lucie asking them to take into account the impact of additional population on public facilities in Martin County.
August 9, 2006
The Martin County Commission directed attorney David Acton to draft a legal document to challenge any approval that would allow Port St. Lucie to develop its western corridor.
Martin County would like to see Port St. Lucie take steps to make developers pay their southern neighbors for the impact of the city's rapid growth on Martin's roads, boat ramps and beaches.
Port St. Lucie is planning seven developments, totaling more than 17,000 acres, which would bring 38,000 new homes to the area.
In the meantime, the county will send a letter to both the Department of Community Affairs and to Port St. Lucie asking them to take into account the impact of additional population on public facilities in Martin County.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Another research center looks to follow Scripps
By ROBERT BARBA
Another California-based research center has Florida on its mind, but life-science seekers are too tied up to take notice.
Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies is the latest La Jolla, Calif.-based research center to announce intentions of expanding into Florida. The entity, similar to Scripps Research Institute expanding into Palm Beach County, has its eye on Boca Raton, but has also looked at Port St. Lucie, Orlando and Tampa, said Richard Houghten, Torrey Pines' founder and president.
"We are still deciding where the best place for us to be is," Houghten said. "But nothing is fixed in stone."
The research institute expects interested cities to submit bids to Enterprise Florida by the end of the week, Houghten said, adding that a site would likely be selected "soon."
Torrey Pines wants to add about 180 jobs over the next decade in Florida and its new research center would be focused on drug discovery, Houghten said. Torrey Pines would bring along two companies. One is working on a finger-prick test that could detect a heart attack with 95 percent accuracy. The other is developing a treatment for chronic pulmonary obstructive disease.
With Palm Beach County still reeling from the political and financial experience of attracting Scripps, and Port St. Lucie locked in a battle with Orlando for Burnham Institute, Torrey Pines might be without a local suitor for now.
Scripps, Burnham and Torrey Pines are within a 10- to 15-minute walk of each other in La Jolla and have collaborated over the past 20 years, Houghten said.
According to the Sun-Sentinel, the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County is trying to assemble a $70 million deal for Torrey Pines that includes a county contribution of $25 million, 10 acres from the city of Boca Raton valued at $10 million and matching state incentives. However, Palm Beach County commissioners are lukewarm about a possible deal.
Port St. Lucie City Manager Don Cooper said the city will not submit a plan for Torrey Pines because of an existing bid to Burnham.
"We are not in a position to make a play for it," Cooper said. "You have got be able to afford to do so."
For Burnham, the city has assembled a $70 million to $80 million offer funded by impact fees paid on new homes. Core Communities would donate 140 acres valued at $40 million for the center.
To compete with Orlando's philanthropic muscle, a group of local well-heeled investors, led by H. Wayne Huizenga, have pulled together $6 million to sweeten the deal.
Burnham's decision is expected as early as the end of the month. Cooper declined to speculate if the city would go after Torrey Pines if Burnham picks Orlando.
Houghten said he and his team have visited Florida five times since deciding to expand in the state after conversations with Governor Jeb Bush. Of those trips, two of them have included "driving and looking around" Port St. Lucie, without any meetings with officials of biotech's largest local stakeholders: the city, St. Lucie County, Core Communities and the Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County.
EDC president Larry Pelton could not be reached for comment.
Another California-based research center has Florida on its mind, but life-science seekers are too tied up to take notice.
Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies is the latest La Jolla, Calif.-based research center to announce intentions of expanding into Florida. The entity, similar to Scripps Research Institute expanding into Palm Beach County, has its eye on Boca Raton, but has also looked at Port St. Lucie, Orlando and Tampa, said Richard Houghten, Torrey Pines' founder and president.
"We are still deciding where the best place for us to be is," Houghten said. "But nothing is fixed in stone."
The research institute expects interested cities to submit bids to Enterprise Florida by the end of the week, Houghten said, adding that a site would likely be selected "soon."
Torrey Pines wants to add about 180 jobs over the next decade in Florida and its new research center would be focused on drug discovery, Houghten said. Torrey Pines would bring along two companies. One is working on a finger-prick test that could detect a heart attack with 95 percent accuracy. The other is developing a treatment for chronic pulmonary obstructive disease.
With Palm Beach County still reeling from the political and financial experience of attracting Scripps, and Port St. Lucie locked in a battle with Orlando for Burnham Institute, Torrey Pines might be without a local suitor for now.
Scripps, Burnham and Torrey Pines are within a 10- to 15-minute walk of each other in La Jolla and have collaborated over the past 20 years, Houghten said.
According to the Sun-Sentinel, the Business Development Board of Palm Beach County is trying to assemble a $70 million deal for Torrey Pines that includes a county contribution of $25 million, 10 acres from the city of Boca Raton valued at $10 million and matching state incentives. However, Palm Beach County commissioners are lukewarm about a possible deal.
Port St. Lucie City Manager Don Cooper said the city will not submit a plan for Torrey Pines because of an existing bid to Burnham.
"We are not in a position to make a play for it," Cooper said. "You have got be able to afford to do so."
For Burnham, the city has assembled a $70 million to $80 million offer funded by impact fees paid on new homes. Core Communities would donate 140 acres valued at $40 million for the center.
To compete with Orlando's philanthropic muscle, a group of local well-heeled investors, led by H. Wayne Huizenga, have pulled together $6 million to sweeten the deal.
Burnham's decision is expected as early as the end of the month. Cooper declined to speculate if the city would go after Torrey Pines if Burnham picks Orlando.
Houghten said he and his team have visited Florida five times since deciding to expand in the state after conversations with Governor Jeb Bush. Of those trips, two of them have included "driving and looking around" Port St. Lucie, without any meetings with officials of biotech's largest local stakeholders: the city, St. Lucie County, Core Communities and the Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County.
EDC president Larry Pelton could not be reached for comment.
Menin to build in St. Lucie
South Florida Business Journal
by Brian Bandell
Menin Development Cos. will build a 260,000-square-foot retail center in fast growing Port St. Lucie.
It will be the final piece of the more than 6,000-acre PGA Village golf community built by Kolter Property Co. The center will also be connected to the 8,300-acre Town of Tradition where Core Communities is developing about 17,000 homes.
"With the regional draw provided by virtue of this site sitting at one of the busiest I-95 exchanges on the Treasure Coast, and with our history of providing an exceptional level of architectural design, site amenities and an unsurpassed mix of retailers and restaurants, Main Street Village will become a landmark project for us and for the area as a whole," said Craig Menin, president of Palm Beach Gardens-based Menin Development.
The open-air Main Street Village is expected to open in late 2008 along the northwest corner of St. Lucie West Boulevard and I-95. The project architect will be the Baltimore firm of Design Development Group.
His company is best known for building the 345,000-square-foot Downtown at the Gardens retail center in Palm Beach Gardens with new-to-Florida restaurants such as Strip House, RA Sushi, Yard House, the Grape and Rose Mexicano.
Menin said several of the restaurants at his Palm Beach Gardens complex will expand to Main Street Village.
by Brian Bandell
Menin Development Cos. will build a 260,000-square-foot retail center in fast growing Port St. Lucie.
It will be the final piece of the more than 6,000-acre PGA Village golf community built by Kolter Property Co. The center will also be connected to the 8,300-acre Town of Tradition where Core Communities is developing about 17,000 homes.
"With the regional draw provided by virtue of this site sitting at one of the busiest I-95 exchanges on the Treasure Coast, and with our history of providing an exceptional level of architectural design, site amenities and an unsurpassed mix of retailers and restaurants, Main Street Village will become a landmark project for us and for the area as a whole," said Craig Menin, president of Palm Beach Gardens-based Menin Development.
The open-air Main Street Village is expected to open in late 2008 along the northwest corner of St. Lucie West Boulevard and I-95. The project architect will be the Baltimore firm of Design Development Group.
His company is best known for building the 345,000-square-foot Downtown at the Gardens retail center in Palm Beach Gardens with new-to-Florida restaurants such as Strip House, RA Sushi, Yard House, the Grape and Rose Mexicano.
Menin said several of the restaurants at his Palm Beach Gardens complex will expand to Main Street Village.
Monday, August 07, 2006
Plans for I-95 exits in PSL on display
By HILLARY COPSEY
Two new Interstate 95 exits into the city will make traffic flow more smoothly through the whole region, transportation engineers say.
Residents can see whether they agree with that assessment of the Becker Road and Crosstown Parkway interchanges during public hearings this week.
"Without the ramps, there would be significant failures at various locations in the city's overall roadway network and on I-95 itself," traffic engineers wrote in a report to the Florida Department of Transportation.
The department decided in June that growth justified building the interchanges. Construction on the ramps is expected to begin in early 2007 and finish by 2009.
Transportation planners expect the new interchanges to change the way people move through the region, alleviating gridlock on the city's existing roadways. When motorists can take Crosstown Parkway and Becker Road to I-95, Port St. Lucie and St. Lucie West boulevards will have less traffic.
Also, once Martin County completes its $30 million Western Palm City Corridor, Becker Road will open up to Martin County residents and lighten I-95 traffic using the Martin Highway interchange. Work is expected to begin next year on the Palm City roadway.
"One of the keys to improving the entire region is connectivity, because what's unique to this area is you have many natural and man-made barriers," said Andre Groenhoff, transportation planning director for project consulting firm Keith & Schnars. "You now need to correct some of the shortcomings of the past."
Planning experts also say the Becker interchange will alleviate traffic on local roads.
"I think it will divert some of those trips heading south, seeking access," Treasure Coast Regional Planning Director Michael Busha said. "They'll no longer have to make those trips on local streets through the city or Martin County."
Increasing connectivity and making sections of the city easier to get to from I-95 also is expected to jumpstart economic development. Western developers — including Core Communities, which is working to build a regional mall south of Gatlin Boulevard — are paying for the interchanges. Each is expected to cost about $15 million.
"We can't develop the commercial side of this county without having the necessary infrastructure and road systems," St. Lucie Economic Development Director Larry Daum said.
THE HEARINGS
• Crosstown Parkway: 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Community Center, 2195 S.E. Airoso Blvd.
• Becker Road: 6 p.m. Thursday at the Community Center.
• For more information, call the project hotline at (866) 785-8243.
• To review the interchange plans, visit the Engineering Department at City Hall, 121 S.W. Port St. Lucie Blvd.
Two new Interstate 95 exits into the city will make traffic flow more smoothly through the whole region, transportation engineers say.
Residents can see whether they agree with that assessment of the Becker Road and Crosstown Parkway interchanges during public hearings this week.
"Without the ramps, there would be significant failures at various locations in the city's overall roadway network and on I-95 itself," traffic engineers wrote in a report to the Florida Department of Transportation.
The department decided in June that growth justified building the interchanges. Construction on the ramps is expected to begin in early 2007 and finish by 2009.
Transportation planners expect the new interchanges to change the way people move through the region, alleviating gridlock on the city's existing roadways. When motorists can take Crosstown Parkway and Becker Road to I-95, Port St. Lucie and St. Lucie West boulevards will have less traffic.
Also, once Martin County completes its $30 million Western Palm City Corridor, Becker Road will open up to Martin County residents and lighten I-95 traffic using the Martin Highway interchange. Work is expected to begin next year on the Palm City roadway.
"One of the keys to improving the entire region is connectivity, because what's unique to this area is you have many natural and man-made barriers," said Andre Groenhoff, transportation planning director for project consulting firm Keith & Schnars. "You now need to correct some of the shortcomings of the past."
Planning experts also say the Becker interchange will alleviate traffic on local roads.
"I think it will divert some of those trips heading south, seeking access," Treasure Coast Regional Planning Director Michael Busha said. "They'll no longer have to make those trips on local streets through the city or Martin County."
Increasing connectivity and making sections of the city easier to get to from I-95 also is expected to jumpstart economic development. Western developers — including Core Communities, which is working to build a regional mall south of Gatlin Boulevard — are paying for the interchanges. Each is expected to cost about $15 million.
"We can't develop the commercial side of this county without having the necessary infrastructure and road systems," St. Lucie Economic Development Director Larry Daum said.
THE HEARINGS
• Crosstown Parkway: 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Community Center, 2195 S.E. Airoso Blvd.
• Becker Road: 6 p.m. Thursday at the Community Center.
• For more information, call the project hotline at (866) 785-8243.
• To review the interchange plans, visit the Engineering Department at City Hall, 121 S.W. Port St. Lucie Blvd.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
What's next for housing?
By ROBERT BARBA, NADIA GERGIS and KATE GRUSICH
The housing market is slowing. Sales of existing homes are slowing and fewer homes are being built. The $100,000 question: How will the local housing market play out?
We asked nine Realtors, builders and analysts who work or have professional ties to the housing industry in Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties. They agreed that the days of double-digit percentage increases in monthly prices are over. Most said the market is shifting.
Here's what they see for the next six months to one year.
REALTORS
Mark Seeberg, president, Realtors Association of Indian River County and partner at The Professionals Realty
Six months: Prices will stay where they are now, pretty much but I definitely see it improving in the future. I think by then prices will have been regulated.
One year: Barring any major obstacles we'll see an improvement in prices. We're not going to se the bottom fall out, like everyone's been saying. The cysle will have run it's course by then and I see an improvement in the market.
Jerry Mabus, president, Realtors Association of St. Lucie County
Six months: I think the residential real estate market is going to stay level or drop a little bit lower in the next six months. However, if Burnham Institute announces it is coming to Port St. Lucie, it becomes a different game. While that wouldn't open for another year and a half, my understanding is that related industry will move in immediately. That will have a direct impact on the housing market. If not, we can expect to be down about 6 percent from last year estimated by David Lereah, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors.
One year: We have also seen some Realtors leaving the business, we have had between 50 and 75 Realtors leave the association this year. This is not a bad market, though. Two things make a bad market, high interest rates and high unemployment. The interest rates are still at a decent level and we have low unemployment in the area.
Dale Armor, president, Realtors Association of Martin County
Six months: Right now, there is a lot of inventory in the marketplace and there has definitely been a correction in the pricing. A lot of sellers have reduced their prices so I think its a favorable buyer market. With that in mind, there are still a lot of people moving here and the area is still very desirable. I think our numbers are going to be fine. What I would like to see for us in the next six months is a steady market with good choices for consumers.
One year: I'd like to see a nominal, maybe 10 percent increase, over where we were in October. Steady growth would be great. Same with the appreciation of the homes. If annual appreciation of the homes outweighs inflation than Martin can keep going along."
ECONOMISTS
Brad Hunter, director, Metrostudy South Florida division
Six months: In a nutshell, still slow but better. It (housing market) will be a tad stronger than it is now, barring that there are no hurricanes this year. We'll be more than halfway through the process of filling empty homes.
One year: Demand will be stronger but we still will not have absorbed all of the empty supply. There will still be homes built between now and then, so we'll have to absorb those units too.
Pamela Peterson-Drake, associate dean, Florida Atlantic University
Six months: You should see a slow absorption of the houses that are currently unsold. I think some of the speculators have learned their lesson and realized that flipping does not always pay. And I think the builders are already realizing that the market just has too many unsold houses and that they need to slow down. We've seen some price appreciation continuing even though we've had a glut of houses. This is still a very good market in terms of growth, so I don't think you'll see all of them pull away.
One year: I think there will be a national pullback. It may actually level off for awhile but people shouldn't get discouraged because it's a national thing."
Bill Fruth, economist and president, Policom Corp.
One year: The housing situation will be one of the most severe recessions South Florida has seen in the last 20 years. The combination of overbuilding, the changing climate of financing and interest rates and speculators' excessive ownership in the inventory create a perfect storm.
The last housing recession began in 1988 and lasted until 1992. Based on what we saw then, we will likely see at least a third of the jobs in construction cut. In addition, we will see significant slow down in sales and an overall decrease in values. We can expect to see as much as 20 percent less in value in May 2007 than what they values were May 2005. There will be devaluation of property in St. Lucie County because there was such a race to go there and people paid more than they should have.
One year: It will take about two years for the inventory to absorbed. Taxes and insurance will also contribute to the inventory as second-home owners decide they can't afford to carry it and are not eligible to homestead their home. In addition, we are seeing something we have not seen before: out migration. For places like Tennessee and North Carolina, Florida is their marketplace.
St. Lucie County's economy will weather the downturn in construction better than Martin County will because they have done a good job at recruiting industry. What occurred in the last two years should not have happened and the market is adjusting itself and it will take one or two years of pain to get what the market will truly support.
BUILDERS
Jeff Logsdon, president, KB Home Treasure Coast
Six months: We believe we'll continue to see a stabilizing of prices. The fundamentals for housing demand remain intact and the economic outlook remains healthy.
One year: In this market, investors played an important a role in the housing demand over the past few years, which acerbated the downturn as they have exited the market. That will correct itself over time and we will begin to see supply and demand more in balance and the inventory back to normal levels.
Don Santos, president, Santos Construction, and past president of Treasure Coast Builders Association
Six months: In a word, the new home market is slow. I think we are at the lowest point right about now and I don't think 2007 is going to be much better. Our impression is that it will take about a year for the high inventory to be absorbed. We should start rebounding in late 2007 and into 2008.
One year: With the slowdown, everybody is thinking about how to reposition in the market and delaying projects where they can. In some cases, that might mean lowering home prices. If the supply is a function of affordability, the quickest way to fix it is to lower prices. It is a great time to buy a house.
We have delayed our project to late 2007 because we hope to come into a market that is stronger than it is presently. As builders, we have suffered threw these cycles before, but this will be the longest in recorded history. The affect on the economy could be enormous and we will likely see unemployment spike up significantly, because there is not going to be the volume that there was in the last few years. We are now seeing subcontractors laying off people. The slowdown will cause a ripple effect for mortgage and real estate brokers. I think the waves are starting to touch our shores.
Dennis Buford, owner, Buford Construction in Stuart and past president of Treasure Coast Builders Association
Six months: I'm a custom homebuilder so I've seen less downturn than most of the others. I think production builders are seeing a greater percentage of their work disappear. This is a downturning construction market. Housing starts across the nation are down. I can put my magical cap on and be optimistic and say 'things will be better in six months,' but I'm not sure if that will be the case.
One year: I study the home sales in Martin County and there are still a lot of sales there. I think we're definitely in a glut. But, last year we were seeing property values go up 20 to 30 percent a year. We basically saw a 100 percent increase in value in a short timeframe. Those properties now for sale at last year's levels are having to reduce their price, but it's still a pretty good bargain for land investment."
The housing market is slowing. Sales of existing homes are slowing and fewer homes are being built. The $100,000 question: How will the local housing market play out?
We asked nine Realtors, builders and analysts who work or have professional ties to the housing industry in Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River counties. They agreed that the days of double-digit percentage increases in monthly prices are over. Most said the market is shifting.
Here's what they see for the next six months to one year.
REALTORS
Mark Seeberg, president, Realtors Association of Indian River County and partner at The Professionals Realty
Six months: Prices will stay where they are now, pretty much but I definitely see it improving in the future. I think by then prices will have been regulated.
One year: Barring any major obstacles we'll see an improvement in prices. We're not going to se the bottom fall out, like everyone's been saying. The cysle will have run it's course by then and I see an improvement in the market.
Jerry Mabus, president, Realtors Association of St. Lucie County
Six months: I think the residential real estate market is going to stay level or drop a little bit lower in the next six months. However, if Burnham Institute announces it is coming to Port St. Lucie, it becomes a different game. While that wouldn't open for another year and a half, my understanding is that related industry will move in immediately. That will have a direct impact on the housing market. If not, we can expect to be down about 6 percent from last year estimated by David Lereah, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors.
One year: We have also seen some Realtors leaving the business, we have had between 50 and 75 Realtors leave the association this year. This is not a bad market, though. Two things make a bad market, high interest rates and high unemployment. The interest rates are still at a decent level and we have low unemployment in the area.
Dale Armor, president, Realtors Association of Martin County
Six months: Right now, there is a lot of inventory in the marketplace and there has definitely been a correction in the pricing. A lot of sellers have reduced their prices so I think its a favorable buyer market. With that in mind, there are still a lot of people moving here and the area is still very desirable. I think our numbers are going to be fine. What I would like to see for us in the next six months is a steady market with good choices for consumers.
One year: I'd like to see a nominal, maybe 10 percent increase, over where we were in October. Steady growth would be great. Same with the appreciation of the homes. If annual appreciation of the homes outweighs inflation than Martin can keep going along."
ECONOMISTS
Brad Hunter, director, Metrostudy South Florida division
Six months: In a nutshell, still slow but better. It (housing market) will be a tad stronger than it is now, barring that there are no hurricanes this year. We'll be more than halfway through the process of filling empty homes.
One year: Demand will be stronger but we still will not have absorbed all of the empty supply. There will still be homes built between now and then, so we'll have to absorb those units too.
Pamela Peterson-Drake, associate dean, Florida Atlantic University
Six months: You should see a slow absorption of the houses that are currently unsold. I think some of the speculators have learned their lesson and realized that flipping does not always pay. And I think the builders are already realizing that the market just has too many unsold houses and that they need to slow down. We've seen some price appreciation continuing even though we've had a glut of houses. This is still a very good market in terms of growth, so I don't think you'll see all of them pull away.
One year: I think there will be a national pullback. It may actually level off for awhile but people shouldn't get discouraged because it's a national thing."
Bill Fruth, economist and president, Policom Corp.
One year: The housing situation will be one of the most severe recessions South Florida has seen in the last 20 years. The combination of overbuilding, the changing climate of financing and interest rates and speculators' excessive ownership in the inventory create a perfect storm.
The last housing recession began in 1988 and lasted until 1992. Based on what we saw then, we will likely see at least a third of the jobs in construction cut. In addition, we will see significant slow down in sales and an overall decrease in values. We can expect to see as much as 20 percent less in value in May 2007 than what they values were May 2005. There will be devaluation of property in St. Lucie County because there was such a race to go there and people paid more than they should have.
One year: It will take about two years for the inventory to absorbed. Taxes and insurance will also contribute to the inventory as second-home owners decide they can't afford to carry it and are not eligible to homestead their home. In addition, we are seeing something we have not seen before: out migration. For places like Tennessee and North Carolina, Florida is their marketplace.
St. Lucie County's economy will weather the downturn in construction better than Martin County will because they have done a good job at recruiting industry. What occurred in the last two years should not have happened and the market is adjusting itself and it will take one or two years of pain to get what the market will truly support.
BUILDERS
Jeff Logsdon, president, KB Home Treasure Coast
Six months: We believe we'll continue to see a stabilizing of prices. The fundamentals for housing demand remain intact and the economic outlook remains healthy.
One year: In this market, investors played an important a role in the housing demand over the past few years, which acerbated the downturn as they have exited the market. That will correct itself over time and we will begin to see supply and demand more in balance and the inventory back to normal levels.
Don Santos, president, Santos Construction, and past president of Treasure Coast Builders Association
Six months: In a word, the new home market is slow. I think we are at the lowest point right about now and I don't think 2007 is going to be much better. Our impression is that it will take about a year for the high inventory to be absorbed. We should start rebounding in late 2007 and into 2008.
One year: With the slowdown, everybody is thinking about how to reposition in the market and delaying projects where they can. In some cases, that might mean lowering home prices. If the supply is a function of affordability, the quickest way to fix it is to lower prices. It is a great time to buy a house.
We have delayed our project to late 2007 because we hope to come into a market that is stronger than it is presently. As builders, we have suffered threw these cycles before, but this will be the longest in recorded history. The affect on the economy could be enormous and we will likely see unemployment spike up significantly, because there is not going to be the volume that there was in the last few years. We are now seeing subcontractors laying off people. The slowdown will cause a ripple effect for mortgage and real estate brokers. I think the waves are starting to touch our shores.
Dennis Buford, owner, Buford Construction in Stuart and past president of Treasure Coast Builders Association
Six months: I'm a custom homebuilder so I've seen less downturn than most of the others. I think production builders are seeing a greater percentage of their work disappear. This is a downturning construction market. Housing starts across the nation are down. I can put my magical cap on and be optimistic and say 'things will be better in six months,' but I'm not sure if that will be the case.
One year: I study the home sales in Martin County and there are still a lot of sales there. I think we're definitely in a glut. But, last year we were seeing property values go up 20 to 30 percent a year. We basically saw a 100 percent increase in value in a short timeframe. Those properties now for sale at last year's levels are having to reduce their price, but it's still a pretty good bargain for land investment."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
