Home Care In Port St Lucie, FL

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — The Treasure Coast continues to grow exponentially, and the latest development will likely come to Tradition.

Last week, Port St. Lucie City Council approved the rezoning of a 41-acre plot of land off Village Parkway and Becker Road, paving the way for a development with homes, retail space and more.

According to the plans, which are in the name of Mattamy Palm Beach LLC, at least roughly a third of the land parcel would be residential, with the other two-thirds being commercial, which could include retail, office space, restaurants and more.

Included in the plan are a 5,915-square-foot convenience store and gas station along with a 136,789-square-foot home improvement store.

"I do have a little concern with both Home Depot and Lowe's being just an exit way," Vice Mayor Jolien Caraballo said.

She worried another home improvement chain would create too much competition.

Mattamy Home's representatives didn't confirm which store it is, but Mayor Shannon Martin said in the city council meeting she doesn't think it will be an issue.

"Especially the way our city is growing by leaps and bounds," Martin said in last week's city council meeting.

Several residents, however, voiced concern about the growing pains that come when the city continues to grow.

"Yes, it's too much, if you ask me," resident Jane Wells said. "More development, more traffic, but it's going to grow whether we want it to or not."

"It's amazing. It’s amazing how much it's grown," added resident Bob Martz. "We knew this growth was coming, but to see it materialize so quickly is really astonishing to see."

WPTV contacted the city of Port St. Lucie to address those concerns. We were told Martin wasn't available for an interview but city staff said in a statement the development of the region was granted 20 years ago as part of an annexation.

The statement in full reads:

"Wilson Groves is a development of regional impact that was approved 20 years ago and all of the development rights were granted at that time. The current City Council cannot take away the rights that were granted and must today work with the developer. The City holds the developer accountable for all infrastructure that is required under the development order."

"For anyone that thinks we're just allowing more residential for the sake of more residential, or that there's some hidden benefit to it by the city council, that's completely false," Martin said in a March 25 city council meeting.

WPTV contacted Mattamy Homes, who declined to comment on the project, but according to the plan, are required to put in a traffic signal within 18 months of the project's approval.

"That's what we wanted to see," Martz said. "We wanted a golf cart community. We wanted amenities surrounding us."

The city said this was just the project's first reading. It has to go through a second reading before being officially approved.

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PORT ST LUCIE, Fla. — Tradition in Port St. Lucie could soon be getting an "entertainment district" full of fine dining and restaurants, nightlife, retail and more.

This month, Port St. Lucie City Council members voted to start a land deal negotiation with Gustavo Lumer, a real estate developer from Miami, for the 100,000 acre plot of land between Southwest Village Parkway and Interstate 95.

The district, if built, would be located north of the Amazon warehouse by the planned Costco Distribution Center.

"With so many homes coming to the area there’s a need for entertainment, a need for places to walk to dinner," said Lumer.

Lumer is already putting in four restaurants, including Bonefish Grill, Outback Steakhouse and First Watch on the empty plot of land near the Panda Express and Dunkin Donuts on Southwest Village Parkway.

"We ran out of room," Lumer told WPTV's Kate Hussey. "We have larger restaurants that want to come, more investment and some entertainment, some indoor sports."

The district would cost about $6.8 million dollars, which Lumer would fund. It's one of several parcels of land in that area that could be developed, and would likely rake in thousands if not millions of dollars to the county and city.

"It’s going to generate some great jobs," said Pete Tesch, economic development council director for St. Lucie County. "We are working with the developer through their site plan and development and we'll consider doing a detailed economic impact analysis once we know the capital investment, jobs and consumer spending habits."

Tradition resident Steven Widows was thrilled to hear about the potential plans.

"This area is growing tremendously, especially the past couple of years, and there’s not enough entertainment so to speak for it," Widows. said “I think having something local would be smart. Maybe a little nightlife action, maybe some shopping, a movie theater, a breakfast spot please?"

David Reeves, who moved to Port St. Lucie recently, said he saw both positive and negatives to the project.

"It's the way it’s wielded, whether for good or for bad," Reeves said. "With the development there’s going to be more congestion, more people, the roads are going to be harder to traverse."

Resident Trina Long, who has lived in Port St. Lucie since 1999, said she feared the added development would bring more congestion and confusion.

"The houses are being built so fast, people are coming and they can't keep up," said Long. "It's so congested and crowded, what used to be a 5 to 10 minute drive can be 15 or 20 minutes now."

Lumer addressed those concerns, and said he took traffic into consideration before planning the project.

He told WPTV's Kate Hussey that he partially chose the district's location because of its current infrastructure, not in spite of.

"It's an easy way in and an easy way out," Lumer, of Village Parkway, said. "We will build enough parking spots for everybody so there's plenty of space and we wont create a traffic jam.

"So, you don't foresee any backups that would be caused by a project like this?" asked Hussey.

"No, I don't think so," Lumer replied.

WPTV reached out to the city of Port St. Lucie, who declined to comment since no official project plan has been submitted.

However, in the city's meeting earlier this month, Mayor Shannon Martin said the plan fits in with the city's 2018 Master Plan.

Remember, nothing is approved yet aside from the city moving forward to negotiate a potential land sale.

If that eventually goes through, Lumer said the next step would be development.

Copyright 2024 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (CBS12) — A Port St Lucie man contacted the CBS12 News I-Team, angry about what’s happening in his backyard.

He says all the new houses being built around the neighborhood are turning his slice of paradise into water world.

And he wants the city to do something about it before the rains come back.

“There are so many developers in the city,” said Rudy Mosher, “The city doesn’t care about us. My backyard floods because there’s no place for the water to go.”

When the I-Team visited Rudy’s home on southwest Ithaca Street, it was a beautiful afternoon. Everything was dry.

Rudy, who retired from General Motors, takes a lot of pride in his lawn and garden; lots of flowers, a thriving banana tree.

But the photos Rudy sent the I-Team during the height of the rainy season tell a different story. A soggy, sinkhole-riddled moonscape. Rudy has spent thousands of dollars and many hours trying to fix the problem.

Rudy has put in a pump and has installed underground PVC pipes to try to take the water out to the street, since he can’t get any help from the city.

When the Moshers moved here 12 years ago, it was just woods behind their house. Then, over time, the woods were cut down, and new neighbors came in. The last three years have seen rapid development.

The newest house was built by Maronda homes. From his backyard, Rudy can see the pipe that’s supposed to carry water in the neighbor’s backyard to the drainage ditch in front of the lot.

But instead, the water flows backwards. To Rudy.

“It wasn’t graded properly,” Mosher said.

Here’s a quick crash course in “grading” - that’s the slope of a property, which determines which way the water runs when it rains.

Getting it right is down to the homebuilders.

If they do it wrong, they can be fined – or sued or so we thought:

“I called the city and I said I want to sue that developer because of all the water that’s coming on my property. She said you can’t sue the developer. I said what do you mean I can’t sue the developer? She said you can’t, however, she said, after the new owner takes over the property, if he can’t maintain his water, then you can sue him, and I said, that doesn’t make sense, it wasn’t his fault.” Mosher told the I-Team.

Rudy says the city went on to tell him to build a berm in his back yard. A raised embankment to keep the water out, like a dam.

“I bought all the material and I put up the fence myself, and now they want me to put dirt around my fence, to destroy my fence. Right now it’s bad enough that the water is destroying it. It’s not my responsibility to maintain their water. It’s my responsibility to take care of my water, as I have been doing for 10 to 12 years.”

Maronda Homes has not returned calls for comment.

The city sent two statements responding to the I-Team:

“I regret that Mr. Mosher has experienced frustration over the situation with his neighbor. In this regard, my role as Mayor was to connect him with city staff in the department that can help address his drainage issue. I am aware that our team has actively worked on addressing the issues that he raised.

The assertion that developers or home builders are given preferential treatment is completely untrue. Every builder and developer is held to the same standard in Port St. Lucie, and they are given the same consideration as residents when it comes to property rights.” -Mayor Shannon Martin

“The City of Port St. Lucie cares about our residents and it is our mission to provide exceptional municipal services that are responsive to our community while planning for smart and balanced growth that is managed in a financially responsible manner. The City takes our obligations to residents seriously as we work to ensure new homes are built according to our code requirements and regulations. The City has and will continue to require all standards are met for new development.

Regarding Mr. Moser’s claim, a final inspection of the lot drainage was completed and the new property is in compliance with City rules and standards. The City has done everything we can to support the resident with the development of the new home adjacent to his property.” - Sarah Prohaska Director Communications Department (on behalf of the city)

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (CBS12) — Two facilities totaling roughly 1.87 million square feet, employing more than 500 people and requiring hundreds more just to build the depots, were approved by the Port St. Lucie City Council in early December. Sansone Group's Legacy Park at Tradition will be its home.

Phase One of the massive project is estimated to cost over $70 million.

The first phase in the multi-step plan includes construction of a 595,000-square-foot cold and dry storage facility. This building will require around 265 employees with an average income of $55,350, a news release said. Labor income from Phase One's construction is expected to exceed $25 million with indirect, direct and induced labor income surpassing $35 million.

"The reality is that the jobs this Costco depot will bring us, at well above our county’s average wage, will make a huge, positive difference in the lives of 265 local families and the lives of the many others these families touch – and that’s for the first phase alone," Port St. Lucie Mayor Shannon Martin said.

The cold and dry storage facility will cost around $55 million with equipment costing $16 million, according to the Economic Development Council (EDC) of St. Lucie County news release.

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Phase Two is another colossal undertaking: development of a 1.06-million-square-foot dry goods distribution center. Additionally, two future expansion areas for cold storage and dry storage buildings are part of the plan, sized to be 60,000 and 147,500 square feet, respectively.

President of the EDC of St. Lucie County Pete Tesch praised developments from the past five years in Southern Grove, a large 200-acre piece of land housing other manufacturing giants in Port St. Lucie.

What was once a "financial liability" is now a "vibrant jobs engine," benefitting the municipalities' residents for future generations, Tesch said about the Southern Grove area.

The mayor expressed her excitement about the addition of another globally recognized company coming to the area, which holds facilities for FedEx and Amazon. Local and regional employers are also in the same "Jobs Corridor," like OCULUS Surgical, TAMCO and Cheney Brothers, the news release said.

The Port St. Lucie City Council approved an incentive package Monday for Costco.

This includes tax exemptions for real and tangible personal property for five years at 100 percent. Once that time is up, it will decrease to 90, 80, 60, 40 then 20 percent for the next five years, according to the news release. Projects with incentives are still required to fully pay school, fire, voter-approved debt and other taxes.

PORT ST. LUCIE — A nearly 200-acre development could be coming to Southern Grove, the largest chunk of land within the area that already boasts major companies such as FedEx and Amazon.

As with other companies that have been lured to Port St. Lucie, this one has not been identified publicly, but its code name hints at its scope: Project Everest.

Including past projects?

Adding to the secrecy and intrigue, a map included in city documents appears to show Project Everest includes a smaller area previously assigned to another code-named project: Project Apron. City documents also mention Project Green in connection with Project Everest.

The city approved site plans for Project Apron and Project Green in 2022. Each was to exceed 1 million square feet.

Details and impact of Everest

While the ultimate occupant of the land remains a closely guarded secret, documents shed some light on what could be coming.

The unidentified company is publicly traded, 40 years old and is on the Fortune 50 list. It is an international wholesaler, distributor and retailer that exceeds $200 billion in annual revenue. It has more than 300,000 employees worldwide with more than 800 locations supplied by 24 depots, according to an executive summary prepared for the city by the Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County.

The Economic Development Council projects the company would create 265 jobs with an average wage of $55,350 plus benefits. Total economic impact of construction is estimated at nearly $85 million, while the impact of the new jobs is estimated at about $198 million annually.

Two city votes on Monday

The city is to hold two votes Monday related to Project Everest.

At 11 a.m., the Government Finance Corp. — which comprises city councilmembers — is to vote on the sale of about 133 acres of city-owned land to developer JDN Enterprises for about $16.24 million. When combined with the land labeled as Project Apron, the property would reach about 192 acres.

At the same time, the city has plans to approve giving the buyer an infrastructure credit of almost $18.7 million to facilitate infrastructure development. The buyer is agreeing to fund infrastructure improvements as part of an agreed "Road Project" in excess of that credit, and plans to borrow $11,357,156.98 to do so, according to a draft of the contract.

Then, at 1 p.m., the City Council plans to vote on a package of tax breaks. In years one through five, the company would be exempt from all ad valorem taxes to the city and to St. Lucie County. In the sixth year that exemption drops to 90%, then to 80% in year seven, 60% in year eight, 40% in year nine and 20% in year 10.

The company also would be given a five-year grant of $2,100 per new employee by the county and a $3,500 per new job impact and mobility fee waiver by the city.

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Expanding Southern Grove

Southern Grove is a 3,605-acre stretch of land acquired by the city in 2018. The city quickly made plans for what it dubbed its jobs corridor, splitting the land up into separate plots. In addition to industrial sites already in operation, the city has plans for commercial, retail and entertainment development in the future, according to its master plan.

The Project Everest property is a combination of several of those original lots.

The City Council meeting will be the first of the new year, and the first held under a new schedule.

Wicker Perlis is TCPalm's Watchdog Reporter for St. Lucie County. You can reach him at [email protected] and 504-331-0516.