BUSINESS
Port St. Lucie Magazine 13
4261 SW Martin Hwy, Palm City, FL 34990
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Come in and see the Club Car range of vehicles,
including the Onward PTV in 2, 4 and 6 Passenger,
Plus the Full Line of Carryall Utility Vehicles
In Sands Commercial Plaza
Sales, Service
and Parts.
ST. LUCIE COUNTY OFFICE OF TOURISM
Club Med bought the 200-acre property from GDC in 1986 and created a
Caribbean-style resort with hotel, conference center and a white sand beach
in a lagoon off the St. Lucie River.
complex was renamed Sandpiper Bay. Guest accommodations
were increased to 276 rooms around this time.
Sandpiper Bay continued the reputation as a premier golf
destination. Along with the Perry Como Invitational, the
courses hosted the Western Seniors, PGA Winter Tournament
Series, the Sears LPGA Classic, the PGA Series and the
Florida PGA Open.
SOLD TO CLUB MED
In 1986, GDC decided to sell the property to French company
Club Med. It was rather an odd marriage right from the
start. Club Med was trying to gain a foothold in North America
after great success in Europe and elsewhere as the purveyor
of alternative, freewheeling vacations. Its resorts sprang up in
France and Greece, often located right on the beach and using
primitive huts for sleeping. It was a no-car, no-phone type
lifestyle that sometimes included nude sunbathing.
That was most definitely not what the company and city
fathers had in mind for Port St. Lucie. In an April 1986 article
in the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel, Councilman Frank
Alexander said he doubted that Club Med’s carefree and bohemian
lifestyle would follow it to the retirement community.
“Club Med is promoted as a place for singles and nude
sunbathing. That wouldn’t go down here,” Alexander stated
in the news article. “They don’t look good in bathing suits,”
he said of Port St. Lucie residents. “We’re not the jet set!”
Club Med purchased the property for $32 million and
spent the next three decades catering to small family groups
and conventions. There is no record of any nude sunbathing
taking place on the premises.
In the 1980s, the Sun Sentinel noted, Club Med only had
two U.S. properties the other was a ski resort in Colorado,
and was looking to bring its unique brand stateside. Yet the
initiative failed, despite the company’s success in operating
vacation villages in 31 countries around the world.
In 2001, Club Med sold the Saints golf course to the city for
$3.6 million. And now, Sandpiper Bay is about to undergo yet
another change in ownership and direction.
The site was the first to put Port St. Lucie on the map and
to attract both the famous and regular folks to the city. The
new owners’ business plan looks to extend their mission at a
slightly different tangent.
Residents have to wait for more details of exactly how Altitude
International plans to do that in the coming months. E
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