Developers of PSL's Riverwalk South want to step up process

By CHRIS YOUNG
PORT ST. LUCIE — Developers of a hotel and commercial strip at Riverwalk South are trying to keep their projects from stalling any longer.

Innkeepers USA and Gladstone Realty Investments plan to build a seven-story hotel off Westmoreland Boulevard, though city officials said their $4 million land purchase hasn't closed. Frank Poma of Palm City Holdings plans a commercial strip called City Fountain Center at Westmoreland and Port St. Lucie Boulevard.

Steve Ball, agent for both developers, said all the fees they have to pay was "much greater" than anticipated.

In lieu of paying for road improvements directly, they have proposed paying into a Community Redevelopment Area to cover the improvements. But the CRA, which currently includes the City Center project on U.S. 1, hasn't been expanded to include the Riverwalk area.

The City Council is scheduled to hear from the public on whether to expand the CRA at Monday's meeting, but a consultant report justifying the expansion is full of flaws, according to city staff.

Those flaws mean the CRA expansion will be delayed anyway.

City Manager Don Cooper said regardless of what the developers do, the city needs to get on with the road improvements the developers were supposed to contribute to.
"This is a project that needs to get done, it needed to get done yesterday," he said.
The city has planned to widen Westmoreland Boulevard to four lanes, add sidewalks and landscaping, and add turn lanes onto Port St. Lucie Boulevard.

Cooper recommended borrowing $1 million and using $1 million from a Conservation Trust Fund to help pay for the project.

He wrote in a memo that the City Council can compel the developers to pay the estimated $1.1 million of their share as part of their site plan approval or in another taxing arrangement called a special assessment district at a later time.

Poma said the special assessment district the City Council is considering on Monday should include other properties in the area that will benefit from the Westmoreland project.
"I just want to pay my fair share," he said. "I'm not the only one in that (intersection) who will benefit."

He said he plans to break ground on his project early next year.

Friday afternoon, Vice Mayor Patricia Christensen said the developers met with her and other council members individually, but they wanted to talk with Don Cooper about his memo, which they hadn't seen

Cooper said late Friday he hadn't met them.

"They may ask for another delay (Monday) to review Don's response," Christensen said.