Port St. Lucie City Council to set date to auction homes at interchange

By CHRIS YOUNG
PORT ST. LUCIE — With buyers dictating the local housing market, officials wonder how much taxpayer money they can recoup on a handful of houses originally purchased for an Interstate 95 access ramp.

The City Council is scheduled to set a date for an auction at its meeting on Monday. But with every passing day, the six homes near Becker Road the city bought are sitting without maintenance. Neighbors wanted the houses sold a long time ago.


"We need to sell them, now that they're totally worthless," said Michael Tomaselli, who lives across from several of the houses.

Some have swimming pools in the backyard, but Tomaselli said someone stole the metal enclosures for scrap several weeks ago. Tomaselli, 63, remembers them being "beautiful" when they were occupied, but time and weather has made them eyesores.

The city bought dozens of houses and vacant lots in 2004 for the I-95 interchange at Becker Road but found itself with the extra property when the interchange was redesigned in late 2004 with a smaller footprint.

Some former owners bought their homes back from the city and the city Community Services department is buying two for its housing program.

The city paid between $150,000 to $230,000 for them, according to county property appraiser records. City Manager Don Cooper suggested the auction use a minimum bid priceof what the city paid for each house.

Large white signs posted in the front yards read, "Property of City of Port St. Lucie. No trespassing. Violators will be prosecuted."

"All of a sudden, you're in a desolate area," Tomaselli said, gesturing at the block. Residents have said they couldn't sell their own houses with the expansion of the Becker Road area still being planned.

After inspecting the properties in June, the building department recommended demolishing two homes in the 4500 block of Cacao Street because of their poor condition, but those houses are still on the proposed auction list.

Councilman Christopher Cooper, whose district includes the houses set for the auction block, said he was worried the process had taken too long.

The auction company said the holidays are not a good time for an auction anyway, Cooper said.
"We probably will take a loss," he said. "They're fixer-uppers. Let's just get rid of them. I say, 'cut your losses and move on.'"